March 30, 2022

Dear Ones,

Hope you are not getting overcome by snow! It started snowing this morning and is suppose to go on until evening but doesn’t seem to stick. I got 2 Mexican pies made and went to my exercise class this morning. This afternoon is crafts and later soup supper and Lenten service. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Everything that happens to us is a gift of grace but many times we may only see that in retrospect. At the time, we may wish we could avoid the present experience that seems difficult, but later realize the Lord was speaking a message to our hearts through it.

Michael Casey, a monk from Australia writes about Grace on the Journey to God. He says that the most important things that happen to us on our spiritual journey is not so much the result of our actions but are gifts of God.

There are times it seems that we have to leave something behind in order to find what God has for us now. James and John were fishermen and they had to leave that life behind in order to become fishers of men. We may have to break with what was in our past in order to walk into the future without knowing what is ahead. That is not always easy. My niece is leaving behind her present job to enter into a new Christian ministry.

But if we refuse to give up the old and just do the same old, same old, day after day, we can get complacent and we are not fully present in the now. We, in essence, place limits on our lives. But there are also times that things in our lives fall apart and can’t be put together as they were before, and we have to move on. Even then we can look at it as God’s grace on us as we enter a new stage in our lives.

To make a change we sometimes feel a stirring in our hearts and sense that there is something more awaiting us. We may suddenly recognize an open door for us and when we say yes to it, we can move into what God has for us. It takes a leap of faith to leave the security of what was familiar to enter into the unknown. But if we yield control to the Lord and say YES to whatever He has waiting for us, we will experience freedom and growth and the most exciting journey. 

May we say as the apostle Paul did in Phil 4:13(Amplified), “I have strength for all things in Christ Who empowers me (I am ready for anything and equal to anything through Him Who infuses inner strength into me; I am self-sufficient in Christ’s sufficiency)”

Challenge for today: Ask for His grace to make changes when the Lord is trying to move you on.