Dear Ones,Hope you had a beautiful weekend! Such gorgeous perfect weather. This morning i have been doing food prep but won’t get to my exercise class as I have a long dental appointment in Remer.  I would ask for prayer for our granddaughter Lily who is in Vail now and will have her hip surgery tomorrow. There are two Doctors doing it and join us in prayers that she may play soccer again.  Devotions from Judy’s heartNearly every day we meet a couple on the Paul Bunyan trail who have become dear friends. We met not by chance but God’s design, and most every day we walk nearly a mile and a half together. We call our time of sharing the Lord together, Church on the Paul Bunyan trail. We go away blessed by the time of fellowship together as we seek to hear what God is saying to each of us.Since our first meeting, David has been writing poetry that God has been using to bring healing and comfort to his soul, for he has experienced several big losses. He describes it much like a storm he has been going through and Jesus has become his shelter to weather it.Each day we walk by a place on the trail so full of color. There are cattails surrounded by stunning bright yellow prairie sunflowers in full bloom. David took out his camera to capture the flowers but realized that his shadow was in the center of the picture. Nothing seemed to work to remove his shadow, not even the zoom on his camera. There were no other options as he did not have the power to move the sun. But God spoke to him with the scripture from John 3:30, (ESV), “He must increase, but I must decrease.” At first, he was not sure how this could be done but realized it happens as we make Jesus our Lord and give Him control over our life. He gets first place and we are His servants to do His will, not ours. Then our self begins to decrease and Jesus increases in our lives and others are drawn to the Light.Isn’t that what needs to happen to all of us, that we put Jesus first in our lives and give Him the control? Then we won’t be the shadow in the picture but the focus will be centered on the Lord. We will also find that we have more joy for when we no longer live for ourselves but for Him, life becomes so rich. The happiest people are not those who are self-seeking and put themselves first, but rather those who are eager to serve the Lord and others. Let us get ourselves out of the way, that the beauty of the Jesus will be seen.Challenge for today: When you sense you are casting a shadow, get self out of the way!Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy