March 10, 2021

Dear Ones,

Hope you are enjoying this day. This morning I cleaned our apartment and did food prep and went to my exercise class. Al had  Band of Brothers which meets early. We hope to go to Lenten service tonight but heard we may get up to 4″ of snow!

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Everything has a beginning and an end and most of our enthusiasm is at the beginning and then jubilation at the end. But what about the middle? That is where we need the greatest patience and endurance to keep on and to not give up. Maybe we can think of times we didn’t persevere and never got the degree we wanted, or were unwilling to do the hard work to save our marriage etc. It’s in that between time that we need strength and wisdom to see it through all the way. I have especially been mindful of this as my cousin Linnea and her daughter Erin and son-in-law Chris are walking across America from Delaware to California. This has been a dream and their enthusiasm has been building over years to do this. Finally, the day has come and they began carrying out this dream last week; perhaps you are following the Minnesota Crossers. But even though it is exciting now they are beginning the middle time in walking out their dream. They have experienced people’s kindness in giving them food and shelter at times but also have experienced sleeping in the cold and being hungry as they search for a place to eat. They never know what each day will bring. They have slept on boards at a shelter built for American Discovery Trail people, as well as, a nice hotel, extremes from freezing cold to basking in a hot tub. Their trip will be full of beautiful scenery, new friendships, surprise discoveries, and times of plenty and times of scarcity. But one thing is certain, they need to place their dependency on the Lord at all times. For now, they need lots of endurance and to keep their eye on the end goal. Even more importantly is the eternal goal of life with God forever and Gal. 6:9 (Amplified) says, “And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.” We are all in the between season of our lives right now and we need to hang on and not grow faint or give up. God is using whatever we go through to make us complete and give us character and hope. Let us all finish strong and weather our circumstances with grace and courage. As we say to the Minnesota Crosses and to ourselves, “Don’t give up, keep strong, walk with your eye on the goal, and one day you will reap a sure reward.”

Challenge for today: Think of a dream God has given you in the past, and ask Him to help you walk it out with courage and His strength