Dear Ones,
 May your day be filled with joy and song! Soon we are leaving to go on our way to North Carolina to see Mark’s family! We have had a wonderful time here at Kurt’s and loved seeing Grant play football yesterday afternoon. Very cold so bundled up though. Just good to catch up with Kurt’s family and now we look forward to doing that with Mark’s. Appreciate prayers for a safe trip and wellness. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  How do we see ourselves and others? Is it through our own lens or is it from God’s perspective? Perhaps we feel so ordinary and not nearly as gifted as those around us; but maybe we need a new lens, His lens.                                                                                     I was reading on Crosswalk.com what Suzanne Eller had to say about how God knows us and sees us. Just as Nathaniel was puzzled and as to how Jesus knew him, it says in John 1:48 (NIV), “How do you know me?” Nathaniel asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Jesus saw who Nathaniel was just as He knows and sees who we are and what we are becoming. He looks past the outward and sees who we really are on the inside and what we are meant to be. If we can grasp how Jesus sees us through His lens our lives would be radically changed.                                                                                                                                
   Each of us is created uniquely and is an original, for no one else is like us. We need to celebrate that and not try to be like someone else. We can embrace that we are known and seen and ask Him to help us see ourselves as He sees us. We can start by thanking him for the unique things about ourselves and how He can use those things for His glory. Maybe some of those qualities seem so ordinary that we miss realizing that God is using us…like bringing an essence of joy when we enter a room, or having a way with words that bring comfort, or identifying with those in need etc.
   As we begin to see our uniqueness, we may also see others through God’s lens and help them celebrate who He created them to be. In our Women’s Bible study on women of the Bible we are to write the names of 3 women who have influenced our lives in a big way and then list specific ways they have inspired us. I was just writing of a friend’s qualities when she e-mailed so I responded by sharing the qualities I see in her life that has impacted me. Let us do that for one another and let them know how we see them through God’s lens that they can also rejoice in how God is using them celebrate.
  Challenge for today: Thank God for your uniqueness and also look at others through His lens and celebrate.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy