March 2, 2021

Dear Ones,

Hope you are having a joy-filled day! This morning I did food prep and cleaned the apartment and took choc covered raspberries downstairs for our coffee time.  This afternoon we are going to the store and then for our walk in this beautiful sunshine! 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Each of us is a miracle and have eternal value. No one else is quite like us and we were born at the right time in God’s time table. Every birth is an awesome mystery that God brings about. My nephew’s wife recently had their first baby and even though they anticipated the birth around the date of 40 weeks, it’s not like anyone could know the exact moment of little Gloria Rose’s birth; or who of us will know when she will smile or say her first word? None of these things we can take credit for anyway. I was reading some of Eugene Peterson’s sermons that he gave to his congregation over a 29- year span of being their pastor. He preached about the miracle of Isaac’s birth and how long his parents had to wait. (It is the first detailed birth story in the Bible.)  The promise of a son was given to Abraham and Sarah long after child bearing age. But Abraham had faith and believed God’s promise and God fulfilled it in giving them a son, Isaac whose name meant laughter. Their lives must have been radically changed but so full of joy after waiting so long; Sarah was 90 years old and Abraham was 100. My dad lived to be 100 and my mom almost 89 and I can’t imagine them bringing a baby into the world at that age. But we are all a person brought into being by God. Think about it! He knows our name and the exact moment we would be born for He created life. When I was a young RN, I worked the last months of my pregnancy in OB and with the newborns in the hospital nursery, so as to avoid heavy lifting of patients etc. Believe me, no baby is just an ordinary occurrence for the parents. As they watched me through the nursery window bath their baby, they beamed with pride of how beautiful their baby was. Perhaps when you held a newborn baby for the first time, you might have also been overcome with the awesomeness of the miracle. That little bundle comes with a personalized plan from the Lord and has all the necessary gifts to fulfill it. Each of us are also programed by the Lord and our part is to receive Him and His love, and seek to follow His individual plan for our lives. He says in Jer. 29:11 (God’s Word), “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.” God’s plan for us is the very best and let us participate in His specific plan for us, all the while growing in our love for Him,

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord if you are in the place He has programed for you at this time in your life.