Dear One,
Hope your day is full of sunshine. The trees are starting to turn their autumn colors and we see changes on the trail each day. This morning I made Al’s cookies and went down for Donuts. This afternoon we have the Bible Study here and then we need to do some errands afterwards.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
When we are in God’s will the outcome will be always be right. It may not be as we imagined or desired but according to God’s perfect will. I read recently of John Milton, the great orator and politician who wrote Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. He describes his crisis of faith in his poems, for he felt trapped by his total blind condition when he was only 43 years old.
In Paradise Lost he writes that his blindness will make his gifts and talents useless but yet he submits to God.  He wrote the first poem when he was only 23 and felt his life was empty and that he had accomplished so little. But half way through the poem he wrote that God gave him grace to submit to His will and he senses that everything will turn out as God planned.
In Paradise Regained he writes how he wants to do something great for God but was threatened by blindness. However, he goes on to say he learned through it all that God doesn’t need our work and gifts. Our value is not by what we do but who we are.
Maybe we can identify with Milton when our life dreams are trashed. Something or someone is taken from us and we feel robbed and confused. But God has the grand design and we are to submit to Him and accept His will. Milton goes on to say, “They also serve who only stand and wait.”
Milton overcame great handicaps to accomplish the work God gave him. He didn’t see God’s purpose right away but he trusted and submitted to it.
Psalm 130 (Message translation) reminds me of what Milton was saying, “Help, God-the bottom has fallen out of my life! Master, hear my cry for help! Listen Hard! Open your ears! …I pray to God—my life a prayer—and wait for what he’ll say and do. My life’s on the line before God, my Lord, waiting and watching till morning, waiting and watching till morning.”
We may not see the picture at first of what God is doing in our life, but our part is to submit to His will and wait.
Challenge for today: When tempted to resent your present circumstances, submit to His will, and wait, while praying.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy