Dear Ones,
Hope you wake to a day of sunshine and peace. Today we are invited to friends for coffee and fellowship!  Your question this week is: What repeat lesson has the Lord taught you and did you learn from it? 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
    Sometimes the Lord just gives us a repeat lesson to be sure that we get what He is trying to teach us the first time; or perhaps it is to take us to a deeper level of understanding that He wants us to get. There may even be times He speaks a similar thing for the 3rd time and we know, pay attention!
   Recently I read in my personal devotions about David and a battle with the Amalekites, next we discussed it at Bible Study and then I read on Crosswalk.com what Pastor Chris Reed had to say about David in moving from Tragedy to Triumph. David and his men had just spent 3 days of fighting an enemy and when they returned home to Ziklag, they found their city burned and their families and possessions gone. David and his army wept in their grief and his men were ready to stone David but it says in I Sam 30:6 “But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” It’s good to let out our emotions and not stuff them all inside. The men cried until they could cry no more. But then we need to go on and ask the Lord what is His plan and what are we to do. The Lord spoke to David and told him to pursue his enemy as he would be victorious. They did win big and came back with all their families and more.
   We can learn from David not to get bitter when tragedies happen to us but to forgive and to ask the Lord what His plan is for us. Vengeance belongs to the Lord, not us. I like what Pastor Reed had to say, ”Victory is a keynote of the Christian life. Victory and peace come not from the absence of trouble but from the ability to overcome difficulties. We cannot control how others respond, but we can control how we respond to tragedies. Our faith ‘is the victory that has overcome the world’ even on our worst day.”
   God will give us grace to overcome whatever we have to go through. But if we go in our own strength and ignore his instructions, we will not experience His peace and victory. Let us grow in faith and with the knowledge and assurance that God will carry us through.
Challenge for today: When you go through hard times, do as David and strengthen yourself in the Lord and ask for His plan.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy