Dear Ones.
Hope you awake to a day full of joy and anticipation. I plan to go downstairs this morning with Choc covered raspberries, and there are always people waiting for them with their coffee. Your question for this week is: Do you find it easy to show compassion or is it something you often have to pray about? 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
   How many of us could say we are very compassionate people who love to serve and help others? Or are we more like those who confess to the Lord that we are not as kind and caring and self-giving as we would like to be? Most of us could probably use a big dose of compassion for we are surrounded by hurting people who so need God’s love.
   If we want to be a conduit of God’s grace and love, we must give up self-pity and get into self-giving! Jesus reached out to others even when He was grieving over the death of John the Baptist; and when he was tired and spent, he was concerned for the hunger of the crowd and served a meal to over 5,000. It isn’t always convenient to help others, especially when we have a heavy heart, but there is often healing of our own hearts when we give out to others. Jesus said in Luke 6:38 “Give and it shall be given to you .. for with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” As we reach out to others, our own lives are affected as well.
   Compassion doesn’t just come naturally for it will involve our time and energy and selflessness; but we can pray and ask God to fill us with His compassion. Elizabeth Peale-Allen writes, How to Have a Heart of Compassion, and suggests a few things.
   Spend a few minutes a day contemplating what it is like to be in someone else’s shoes. It could be someone in our family hurting or maybe a soldier in Ukraine but we put ourself in their place and sense what it is like to suffer as they are.
   Another way to build up empathy is to pause before we speak. We give the Holy Spirit time to open our eyes to why the person is behaving the way he is rather than immediately judging them and reacting.
   We can also pray that we recognize our own barriers to compassion as to why we get frustrated and irritated and angry or suspicious. We can follow by praying that the Lord would take that from us and help us be kind and tenderhearted and forgiving.
   Let us be compassionate people that are known by our love for the Lord and for others!
   Challenge for today: Spend 5 minutes putting yourself in the shoes of someone suffering and then pray for that person.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy