Dear Ones,
Hope you had a wonderful weekend. May you wake today with a sense of the closeness of the Lord. I have 2 questions for you this week as it has been a while since I have asked you one. What things in your life seem to draw you away from God and hinder your growth? What changes do you think the Lord is asking of you to help remedy that? 
This morning I am going to my exercise class and also try a new recipe that I hope I can remember!
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  I woke up several times in the night and the same song was playing in my mind that you may know, “Draw me Nearer”. Often when that happens, I go online read the song over and over to find the message the Lord may have for me. This song was written by Fanny Crosby in 1875, nearly 150 years ago, and yet it wakens me with her words. She wrote over 10,000 songs during her lifetime and was blind since an infant but never let it hold her back.
  The song is also the desire of my heart to be closer to the Lord and to let His will be mine. In our Bible study class, we have been talking about dying daily to self, and to walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4) It is a decision we make, and I wish I could say that I daily do it successfully, but there are days I push more for my own will rather than His. Maybe that is why one of the verses of this song stood out to me, “Consecrate me now to thy service, Lord, by the power of grace divine; let my soul look up with a steadfast hope, and my will be lost in thine.” His will not mine! Fanny expresses in the song that she hears the voice of the Lord speaking to her that she belongs to him and wants to be closer: “I am thine, O Lord, I have heard thy voice, and it told thy love to me; but I long to rise in the arms of faith, and be closer drawn to Thee.” Every day He also calls to each of us to connect with Him, to be aware of His voice speaking, and to follow His leading.
  Don’t we all wish we would progress quickly in this life of death to self and that it could happen once and for all; but it really is a daily death. We found a card in our door after our class one day and it said what Al was also trying to say in the Bible study, “Holiness progresses very slowly in most of us, and yet it is with deliberate speed and according to the pace of God. In patience we have to accept the progress that we do make.”
  If our desire is for the Lord, He will guide us along the path He has for us, and at His pace, though we would like to speed along and be radically changed overnight. But let us share our desire to die to self and be closer to Him and let Him take the lead as to how that will come about.
   Challenge for today: Spend some quiet time hearing the voice of Love speak to you and purpose to do His will. 
Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy