Dear Ones,
I am sending this out tonight for tomorrow’s devotion as we are going to get on the road early tomorrow. We are in Coralsville, Iowa tonight at our favorite hotel and they serve supper and breakfast and popcorn. We got here early since we left home at 3:45 am so we have had a time of retreat too. Thank you for prayers! 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  Are we grateful children of God or would others view us as ungrateful and maybe even entitled? Gratitude is expressed in thankfulness for not only the big things but also in the everyday blessings. As I read about the children of Israel, they had a gratitude problem as they did a lot of complaining; it was over big things like slavery down to small things like water, manna, and meat. They did their share of murmuring!
   We may complain when disappointments come and it shows up in discontentment. We may feel we can’t truly be grateful unless things are perfect and all our needs are met—preferably immediately. But our mantra as His children should be instead, “Let me live to praise you.” (Psalm 119:175)
    I laughed aloud while reading what John Ortberg shared in his book, Love Beyond Reason. A  girl wrote to her parents while  at college and said, “I have much to tell you. Because of  the fire in my dorm set off by the student riots, I experienced temporary lung damage and had to go to the hospital. While I was there, I fell in love with an orderly, and we have moved in together. I dropped out of school when I found out I was pregnant and he got fired because of his drinking, so we’re going to move to Alaska, where we mightget married after the birth of the baby.     
      Signed, Your loving daughter.
P.S. None of that really happened, but I did flunk my chemistry class and I wanted you to keep it in perspective “                               
This girl did not want her parents to miss the good in her life by one  negative incidence.
   Now transfer that over to the beginning of our trip to N.C.. Al and I have so much to be grateful for—time to go see our son’s family,  enough $$ to do it, good health, a new vehicle etc. But we have one complaint, that although Al spent time transferring his music from his cell phone to the car’s system it didn’t work. It was fine the day before but not the morning we left. All of a sudden, the dream of great praise music to accompany us on our trip went down the drain.  We are learning to be grateful even though it is a frustration and not what we hoped for.
   We can all make application to the big things in our lives and may tell the Lord, “I would be grateful if my health were better” or “If I didn’t have to worry about my limited income, I would be grateful!” etc. etc. Let us not be complainers but nstead His grateful children no matter if things seem perfect to our liking or not!
Challenge for today: Spend 5 minutes of simply thanking the Lord for your many blessings.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy