September 12, 2022

Dear Ones,

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. Today is another beautiful fall day. We enjoyed the game yesterday as the Vikings won. Our pastor is a big Packer fan and wore his green Packer shirt when he preached.  This morning  I made a new recipe for pumpkin choc chip cookies that I probably won’t make again, and am soon to go to my exercise class. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

   Recently, we have said good bye to friends and relatives who have left this earth life and are now in their eternal home. Of course, we miss them so much and they are a reminder that we also are getting older and will one day join them.

  But when we know the Lord, death is not the end because we are created as spiritual beings who will one day live with Him forever. We don’t need to fear but to look forward to eternity in heaven, as Jesus promised. We are people of hope. As it says in II Cor 4:16-18, “So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is renewed day by day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen’ for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.”

   Yes, outwardly I am getting more wrinkles and just celebrated a big birthday but instead of focusing on my years, I choose to focus on the unseen. Our souls are full of hope because death is like a homecoming. We will one day leave this world but something so much more glorious awaits us. We will receive glorified bodies like Jesus, so no need to worry about wrinkles, pain or suffering. In fact, there will be no more sin. And who knows what we will be assigned, but you can bet it will be glorious.

   We don’t know a lot about heaven, and I suspect our minds couldn’t even imagine or process the glories that await us if we were told a lot. I can’t begin to picture how beautiful it will be there for the Lord is preparing this place for us even now

    Yes, there will always remain an empty place that our loved one once filled. But it helps to fill those places with gratitude for the memories of them and the hope that one day we will join them. Even now, I ask the Lord to prepare me for leaving this world when my time comes, and to share Him with as many others as I can in this in between time. May the thought of our glorious future, carry us through even those tough days, for we will spend all eternity celebrating with the One who loves us most of all.\

  Challenge for today: Spend some time relaxing and picture heaven in your mind and heart.