May 29, 2021

Dear Ones,

Hope you have a wonderful weekend. We will be leaving this morning for the Silver Chateau and staying overnight. We are having a family gathering for a wiener roast tonight at the Point and tomorrow we plan to go to the Lighthouse for church and to Ann’s for dinner. In between we hope to see friends and coffee with family. Keep praying for Jodi whose husband suddenly died; she has twins, Sean and Chris, who are only 13 years old who all need prayers.  

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Where is our treasure found? So many today are making wealth their God and wanting more and more; yet we are the richest country in the world with the highest standard of living. We are warned about not laying up treasure on earth for one day we leave it all behind and it doesn’t live up to the promise of bringing happiness.  In fact, it often brings more worries and pressures as it steals our peace with concerns of how we are going to protect all of it. None of us got to choose if we would be born into a family of means or a poor family just barely getting along. God gave us our station in life as He knew what was the best soil for our spiritual growth. When Al was in seminary, we were poor and had to watch every penny as we lived on Al’s part time salary but we were happy. In fact, we saw God’s hand provide for us in miraculous ways that brought so much gratitude to our hearts. But all of us have to guard our hearts for if we are wealthy, we can spend our time, trying to get only more and it will never be enough; or when we are poor our thoughts can primarily be focused on trying to get rich. But Jesus said in Matt. 19-20 (The Message), “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or –worse!—stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.” Our focus should be on the Lord with the desire to know Him better, and who better knows our needs than the Lord? It’s in His presence that we find fullness of joy.  When Covid first hit, I think it taught us a few things about what is really important. We may be sitting with a fat bank account but yet we longed rather to just see our family and hug them again; or instead of going to a fancy restaurant, wished we could go to a praise gathering and be united with the Body of Christ. Now that things are more relaxed we are especially appreciative of these times. Money can’t buy what we are looking for; only in God can we experience peace and all that our heart longs for.

Challenge for today: Rejoice in the place God has put you and treasure His presence.