Dear Ones,
Hope you wake to a day of sunshine. Thank you for prayers for Al as his surgery went well. Early this morning we go to his post-surgery checkup and then I will go to my exercise class. Since we are going to Ann’s for Thanksgiving, I took out our Christmas decorations yesterday so now we have our early prayer time together in light of our little Christmas tree.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  What is our One thing in life? Is it to know the Lord, to hear Him, and to be transformed into His image? Lately it seems like what I read in scripture and in other books all point to being aware of His presence and knowing Him in a deep way. I want to get better at hearing His voice and to cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the transformation process. I was reading today from The Message translation from Romans 12 and Paul writes: “Fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what He wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

  I am getting on in years, and I don’t want to miss the One thing in life that is most important…to really know the Lord and to let Him transform me to be like Him. That is a big order and the transformation process takes time and cooperation with the Spirit. I hope you are also paying attention to your soul and want to go below the surface of just asking the Lord for your requests, but rather going on to know Him in a deep way. For all of us that will involve change and to give up lesser desires so we may cooperate with the Holy Spirit. But the journey is personal and how He leads me may differ greatly from how He directs you and also the pace for each of us. Al and I have recently observed the transformation of a friend changed from an anxious indecisive person to one that just glows in her trust and love for the Lord.

  We all need to stay open and when the Lord shows us things that need to change, we must have a willingness to let go of them. We can only do this if He is our focus. Our lives shift from dwelling on what we want, to asking what the Lord desires for us. He knows exactly what we need and wants what is best for us. Perhaps the bottom line is trusting Him. Do we believe He has our best in mind and wants to free us from our old self to become more like Him. Let us open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit, give up our resistance and receive His grace to be changed and more like Him.

Challenge for today: Dare to ask the Holy Spirit where you are resisting and ask for help to move ahead in all that He has for you.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy