Dear Ones
Hope you had a great weekend! We had a busy Sunday at church as Sunday School started, with coffee and treats, church service and then a celebration cake and coffee, the dedication of our new addition, and then our congregational meeting. We got home in time to see the rest of the Vikings play but was a disappointing game. Emoji 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
What happens when God brings major changes to our lives? Do we welcome the new with open arms or do we resist and complain? God doesn’t ask permission, for He is sovereign and knows best what will help us grow and thrive. I was reading an article on Crossroads by Mark Roberts and he shares the parable Jesus told in Luke 5:36-38 about new wine. It seems very fitting for what is happening in our world of upheaval today. “No one pours new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the fresh wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled and the skins will be ruined (destroyed). But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine immediately desires new wine, for he says, The old is good or better.” So much has changed and we can find ourselves longing for the old and grieving over it. We seem comfortable with the familiar and then when change comes it is hard to give up the old. We need to acknowledge and grieve loss of the old wineskins but then we also have to be ready to welcome the new wine. That is not easy. In fact, it’s hard to give up what we have known but like our old wineskins, we must let go. When the new wine comes, it is an opportunity to receive new vision, new ways of thinking and responding. Today whole congregations must find new ways of adapting as we deal with all the restrictions. Our usual ways of relating and worshiping are changing for now and we may long to go back to the old and we grieve. But sometimes it is in the familiar that we can forget God and become rather apathetic. In these more trying times, it forces us to rely on God and set our vision beyond our own little worlds. God uses the new wineskins to help grow us and to see His power at work in and around us. So, let us listen to what God has for us next, trust Him, be open and receptive to the new wine.
Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to adjust your attitude and receive the new wine into the new wineskins.
Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy