Dear Ones,
Hope you have a joy-filled day! The sun is coming up as I look out our bedroom window and looks to be a nice day. Around 9 I will be helping a friend set up for a day of making cards in the community room upstairs. Gals from church are coming from 10 until 3 to make artistic creative cards to send to friends! Fun!  Your question this week is, Have you let true self be known to another? 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
   I was reading from the Message translation this morning and desiring that Jesus’ words would be real in my life. He tells the crowd in Matthew 5, “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth… Your here to be light, bring out the God-colors in the world….Shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” 
   What particularly caught my attention was that we are to open up to God but also to others. When we share our hearts and our struggles, we let others in to see God’s hand in our lives. They will be able to recognize that God loves us the way we are, even when we battle things in our lives that are difficult and we don’t always respond rightly. Nothing we do can make Him love us less!
   We are generous when we let ourselves be known, but not just the good things but also our failures. It is far easier to hide the truth of who we are and not let ourselves be known and cover up so others will think well of us. Somehow, we think if they knew the truth of who we really are they won’t love us; but whatever is hidden can’t be loved. We can only be fully loved to the extent we let others know us! And if we hide who we are, we know in our hearts that they love us for only for who they think we are and not our real selves.
   The bottom line is that God loved us even before we were born and nothing we do or not do can make Him love us more. That is good to remember in loving others, for when we are fully loved by Him, His love pours through us to love them for who they are.
  The door of our hearts opens from the inside, so let us freely open up to God but also to others as we are led to do
Challenge for today: Share something of yourself with a close friend and welcome a response if shared.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy