Dear Ones,
A blessed Memorial Day as we remember those who have fought and given their lives for our country! 
We enjoyed the weekend with family at the lake, except for the mosquitoes! Today I am doing food prep, studying, and stripping down our bed to the mattress and washing everything.  
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  The enemy is always trying to trip us up and cancel out what God has for us and we need to be alert to his tactics and not let him win in our lives.
   When we were at the lake to celebrate Memorial weekend with family on Saturday we had an enemy who tried to sabotage our time together. It was an army of mosquitoes and they were fierce. We had no idea when going to the lake what we were going to encounter but we still pursued the agenda, though we had to modify it a bit.
   The first awareness of our problem was when we got to my brother’s cabin to have a time of sharing with my niece’s daughter Taylor and her boyfriend. We were stopped at the door with the warning that when they opened the door we needed to just rush in and they would quickly shut the door again, so as not to let in the hungry mosquitoes. Now even though we did that our whole time of sharing and praying together was necessitated with slapping mosquitoes that managed to sneak in, but it didn’t shorten our time together.
   When we went to our daughter’s we stayed inside and listened to our grandson’s concerns before going down the hill to our son’s cabin. We had a time to catch up inside when I was told I had company waiting for me up the hill. There was a friend whom I haven’t seen for so long and she was swatting mosquitoes as she patiently waited for me to climb the hill. We couldn’t stand to be outside for long and took refuge in our car. Some managed to sneak in the car too, but we didn’t let it detour us.
   Next, we went to the gathering at the Point where other family members were enjoying the sauna and running quickly into the cold lake while trying to fend off mosquitoes. Having our wiener roast was more of a challenge as the mosquitoes were hungry too, but we persevered and all ate and visited before taking leave. Now would we have gathered if we had known ahead of time of the army of mosquitoes waiting for us? Yes, it was still worth it even though we had a battle on our hands.
   I also believe in the days to come that it is going to cost us more to meet together as the Body of Christ. The enemy is going to do all he can to detour us and keep us from praying and seeking the Lord together. There is great power as Christians gather together and it says in Matt 18:20(NRSV), “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” We are not meant to go alone but to gather in His name to pray, worship and be encouraged. Prayers by 2 or 3 in agreement with the Spirit have great power so let us not be detoured!
  Challenge for today: Use the opportunities God sends to gather with others in His name. 
Blessiings and prayers and love, Judy