Dear Ones,
Hope you had a wonderful weekend!  Our walks on the Paul Bunyan trail are still so beautiful and full of gorgeous colors. Makes me wonder what heaven will look like! Today I go to my exercise class and hope to get some errands done. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
  What is our attitude on Sunday morning as we prepare to go to church? Is it Lord, I am doing you a favor and going to church, even though I would like to sleep in and just take the day off. Or is it like King David who said in Psalm 122, “When they said, ‘Let’s go to the house of God,’ my heart leaped for joy.” That sounds like someone excited and looking forward to worship. This very Psalm is a Psalm of Ascent that Hebrew Pilgrims sang as they went up to Jerusalem for worship. Three times a year they made that trip to celebrate the festivals and it was a joyful time.

Today we don’t have to worship, but we get to worship and it is a voluntary thing that we do because we desire to. Growing up, we all got dressed on Sunday morning for church and it was never a question IF we were going to church. In a sense, what we did showed what was important to us, even without having to say anything.

When we gather to worship, we are united with Christians from all different walks of life, some rich and some poor, some super smart and some dull, some with important positions and others in servant jobs. But as we worship together, our differences fade into the background and the Lord units us in spirit and we become one Body, the body of Christ. God made each of us, He has saved us, He provides for us and our response is praise and worship. It is not dependent on our feelings for they are unreliable, but as we praise and worship, we find our souls are nurtured and God unites us together with others. Eugene Peterson writes that Worship whets our appetite for God and deepens our relationship with Him, bringing peace of heart.

A simple song we use to sing in church that comes to mind, “We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord…. And we offer up to You the sacrifices of thanksgiving. And we offer up to you the sacrifices of joy.”
Let us gladly go to the house of the Lord and be united with others in worship to the Lord.
 
Challenge for today: Memorize Psalm 29:2, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.”
Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy