November 16, 2020

Dear Ones,

Hope you had a great weekend. It is nice to be inside looking out on fresh snow we had this morning. I like to cook and bake on  snowy days and made 3  G.F. spaghetti pies this morning. I also wrapping a few prizes. Tomorrow I get to take my big nose bandage off and wash my hair! 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Are we really grateful or do we take things for granted and become complainers? Isn’t it easy to think of how much better life could be if…we had more money, or if someone treated us better, or if we our circumstances were different? I was reading an article by Sharon Jaynes on how gratitude changes everything! Like Paul said in I Thess. 5:18 (The Message), “Thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.” We don’t need to wait until things change in our lives for us to suddenly feel thankful, but we can begin right now by simply giving thanks. It doesn’t have to do with circumstances or feelings; but one thing we will discover is that as we begin to praise Him our gratitude lenses change and we see things from a higher perspective. I love to follow the life of King David as he seemed so real with his feelings and would describe them in detail to the Lord. Often, he was fleeing for his life and even though his circumstances were less then ideal, he would switch over and begin praising the Lord. What resulted was that he begins to feel better, and he remembers God’s power and sees God’s glory shining through his situation. Today I read Psalm 42 and the Psalmist says he wonders if he will make it, and he tearfully tells God how he feels down in the dumps. But after describing his situation he switches gears and said he will fix his eyes on God and begins rehearsing God’s promises and goodness and power. Soon he has a smile on his face and he is full of praise. We also can begin praising God even before our situations get resolved, and even though we don’t know what will happen. When we praise Him for who He is and what He’s done, our picture of Him gets bigger and our problems smaller.  Let us be grateful and praise the Lord from whatever place we are in at this moment, for He is worthy of praise.

Challenge for today: Spend some time just thanking God for who He is and His blessings in your life.