June 3, 2021

Dear Ones,

Hope you are enjoying this day. I cleaned the apt. and went down for donuts and soon Al will lead the Bible Study here. Then we are looking forward to his sister arriving from Michigan. Please pray for Jodi’s family as the funeral is today in CA and her dad will be doing the service. The sudden death of Jodi’s husband is hard and they all need prayers. Thank you!

Devotions from Judy’s heart

We all need rest for our souls and the Lord invites us to come away with Him and to get refreshed. Doesn’t that sound wonderful to our ears? Maybe we have just finished a project at work that took untold hours of our time; or maybe we have been entertaining guest for many days, along with our other duties and we are tired. Perhaps the disciples felt a little that way as they returned from a time of ministry and reported all the things that they had done and taught. They were excited to share the results of their mission with Jesus and probably exhausted as it said they didn’t even have time to eat. Jesus’ response to them was the invitation in Mark 6:31, “Come away with me to a quiet place and rest a while.” Yes, we might even call it a holy rest and we all have times when we need to cease working and doing, and just spend some restful time with the Lord.  Jesus has given us a special day to do that for and He initiated the Sabbath day as a day of rest; after 6 days of creating, He rested on the 7^th day. In Exodus 20:8-9 (God’s Word) He says, “Remember the day of worship by observing it as a holy day. You have six days to do all your work.”  There is a time to quit working and to we can keep the Sabbath Day as we spend time in worship, meeting with others who know Him, reflecting, meditating, and maybe just having a silent time. If we did that regularly I think we would find rest for our souls. Perhaps we will even find more joy in our work, more creativity and motivation to do our best. I grew up in a home where Sunday was all about going to church, not working, relaxing and getting refueled for the week.  We often had company for dinner and mom prepared all she could the day before so we could just enjoy  fellowshipping with the guests. Then after the company left there was likely a nap. Too often today, we try to squeeze in as much work as we can on Sunday and never find that place of rest. The Lord wants relationship with us more than He wants our work. As we spend time with Him, we will find the work flows with greater ease and our hearts get lighter. If Jesus rested, why not us?!

Challenge for today: Take a holy rest and spend time letting the Lord refresh you.