Dear Ones,
  Hope you have a peace filled day! I just finished making cookies and sweet potato rounds and soon going to Aldi’s before my exercise class. Tonight is Bible Study and we are in a good series called, Now We Live. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  When we went to the lake recently, Al picked up 12 different looking rocks to use for his meditation for the residents at Assisted Living today. Our daughter collects rocks, polishes them, and hopes to make jewelry and other things from them. Rocks seem to portray a message of strength, solidness and firmness, and of something that won’t change. When I see a large rock, I am reminded of Hannah’s praise song to the Lord as she was thankful for the God’s sovereign control, and especially for her son Samuel. She says in I Sam 2:2: “There is no Holy One like the Lord, no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.”                                                                                                                       Rocks are mentioned in scripture in many ways. Al will use the example of the rocks as those being taken from the middle of the Jordan River to be a sign of what God had done. Joshua had 12 men, (one from each tribe) carry a rock to their camp site after they crossed the river on dry ground as a reminder of God’s saving power. Then when their children asked what those stones meant, they would share the story of God saving them and the Egyptians being drowned in the sea. Al is going to also tell the residents that they also should be ready to answer the questions of their children and grandchildren and point them to the Rock of Ages.                                                           Rocks can speak a message of protection, a place to hide, a refuge. On Palm Sunday the Pharisees wanted Jesus to hush the crowd’s praises of Him and He told them that if He were to silence them, that even the rocks would cry out. Today we can find rocks with scriptures engraved on them in the bookstores. When looking at rocks, they can remind us to focus on the One who is our Rock, our fortress, our safe place.
Challenge for today: Pick up a rock today and put it in a place where you will be reminded of God’s saving power.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy