Canaan's Rest

Canaan’s Rest represents a quiet place “set apart” for the purpose of hearing God's voice, growing in intimacy with the Lord, and being renewed in soul and spirit.

March 19, 2026

March 19, 2026 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you have a God-pleasing day! We had a good soup supper and Lenten service last night. Today I plan to do food prep and bake cookies, work on cards and go to Bible study.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
None of us like to be rejected and it is painful when it happens to us. Jesus certainly knew what it was like to be rejected and also, we think of Joseph and the many prophets who knew this firsthand. The pain of rejection may at times feel even worse than physical pain, especially if it was someone close to us who showed disapproval of us.
The enemy knows just how to use rejection from others to try to get us to be people-pleasers rather than God-pleasers. Most people in big ministries have gone through rejection from family and friends, and had to resist their rejection to do what God had planned for them.
I was reading from Luke 12 when Jesus was trying to get across to His disciples that they shouldn’t get contaminated by the threats of the Pharisees. From the Message translation Jesus says, “True, they can kill you, but then what can they do? There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in His hands.” Jesus goes on to use the example of how the birds of the air are not overlooked by God and yet He pays greater attention to us, even as much as knowing the numbering of the hairs of our head! So we are not to be intimidated by others, but stand up for what is true and right.

We are to be done with people-pleasing if we want to be God-pleasers. We need to stand strong in who we are in the Lord and not give undo attention to how we dress or how we come across to others. Jesus accepts us just as we are and when others reject us, we are to pray for them and not go into a tailspin. We pay a big price if we want to be popular with everyone rather than a God-pleaser.

Challenge for today: When you feel the pain of rejection, thank the Lord that He accepts you as you are and don’t miss out on what He has for you.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

March 18, 2026

March 18, 2026 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones, Hope you have a day of continual surrender to the Lord. I plan to go to Exercise class and Crafts and later soup supper and Lenten service.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
If we are honest, all of us have doubts about God at times. Maybe we are not sure if God is good or if He is powerful enough to handle our situations. Some doubt that He exists or that He intervenes in our lives or can change us. But we can be honest and tell God about our doubts and fears, asking for faith so we will not just have head knowledge of God but also have heart knowledge.

If we grew up with secure and loving attachments to our parents, it may be easier than if our parents were absent or uncaring and left us feeling God doesn’t really care for us either. But we all need to be honest with God and ask Him to be in control and restore us rather than trying to be sufficient in ourselves. The way to our hearts is to surrender ourselves, our egos and wanting our own way, and to give the Lord our all. If we compromise and do this only partially, we are missing the incredible freedom that the Lord gives us when He is in control and not us.

Some of us might need to pray first, “Lord make me willing to surrender!” for our egos can resist greatly. Turning our lives over to God, means we are no longer in control, and it is not conditional surrender: if we feel like it or it seems to fit in to the picture we had of our future. There are many we read of in scripture that said yes to the Lord before they ever knew what the outcome would be. When Abraham left his home in response to God’s voice, he did not know where he would be taken but he went. Jesus’ mother, Mary responded to the angel’s declaration that she would bear a son who would be great and called the Son of the Most High and she responded, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38) How do we respond when we don’t know exactly where the Lord is taking us? Do we try to negotiate or do we respond with “Yes, Lord!”?

Challenge for today: Dare to pray and ask the Lord to show you areas of your life you have not yet surrendered.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

March 17, 2026

March 17, 2026 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones, Hope you have a blessed day! Al will be gone for the day to get our taxes taken care of and to visit old friends. I have no car so will be using the day to catch up, bake, study etc.
Devotions from Judy’s heart,
More isn’t necessarily better, for if it is more than we need it can become clutter. The enemy loves to push us to be excessive, and it’s hard to appreciate the value of what we have when we are overwhelmed by too much. I have been doing an early spring cleaning of our apartment and going through closets and shelves, dusting, scrubbing and eliminating what is not needful. Why do we hang on to things? Do we not think that our loving Father will provide for us in the coming days?

Truth be told, all our closets and cupboards are full to overflowing and fortunately, I can release things by simply walking down the hall where we have a small room with a card table. We can put whatever we don’t use on that table and, since there are sixty apartments, it is likely someone else will claim it and be able to use what is excess to us. If not, it will go down the trash chute after a set amount of time. I particularly love to donate to shelters and stores like Share and Care that have lowest prices to help those with less obtain what they need.

I have also noticed as I removed things from the shelves, that dust has accumulated although I have not been aware of it. When I looked closer I see the need to scrub down the shelves before putting things back, and I wonder how I did not see this. It made me think of my own heart, and how the Lord doesn’t show me all at once the many things that need correcting or I might lose heart. I am thankful He shows me what needs help and what I am ready to tackle. I am quite sure it will be a continuous work until I reach glory. But it is a wonderful feeling, when go to a cupboard or closet and see that things are in order and I can find what I am looking for.

Let us not set our hearts on earthly things that only clutter our lives. But as Paul said in Col. 3:2, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” May we not be distracted by lesser things, but focus on eternal reality.

Challenge for today: Put your focus on what is lasting and ask the Lord to help you get rid of the clutter in your life.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Liminal Leaders

March 16, 2026 / / 0 Comments

This was the title of an article by Dr. John Seel.  He believes we are living through a “civilizational inflection.”  The West is gravely ill.  The disease is spiritual. The need is repentance not policy. “The patient,” suggests Dr. Seel, “still breathes, but the pulse of purpose is gone.  We are a zombie culture, animated yet dead.”

A culture cannot heal if it refuses to name its disease. Being influenced by Phillip Rieff,  Dr. Seel sees our culture as severing its link to the sacred.  Culture is a living organism that shapes and informs our lives.  Many believe we can resuscitate our culture, but Seel warns, “to confuse resuscitation for what is really needed resurrection is the final illusion of a dying civilization.”     

 “The sacred once ordered the social from above; now politics dictates culture, and culture manufactures its own religion,” notes Seel.  This reversal is mostly complete and is catastrophic.  “God created man in His image.  Now man perceives he can create God in his image or replace God with AI colonized by algorithms.” We have dethroned transcendence, while  enthroning ourselves. “We have retained the moralism of religion without its metaphysical grounding.”  Rieff saw such practices as “deathworks – cultural creations that invert the meaning they inherit.”

The result for our culture is a “dark enchantment – the return of pagan imagination under technological conditions.  The world is not disenchanted; it is enchanted by idols.”  The cure for such dark magic is divine enchantment.  We need “liminal leaders” – “men and women who can live between the lightning and the thunder, reading the weather of the age and preparing the ground for what comes next.”  

A liminal leader will exhibit four virtues: 1) “vision” – “The capacity to see beyond collapse toward renewal.”  2) “Courage” – “the willingness to act without institutional permission.” 3) “Humility” – “the conviction that renewal begins with repentance, not strategy” and  4) “Exploration” – “the willingness to seek what they do as not yet know.”  It is leadership that is restorative.  “It resists both despair and distraction.  It builds dense networks of meaning, small communities of faithfulness, and institutions ordered by truth rather than lies.”

“We are living through a liminal period of withering,” notes Seel.  It is a, “500-year inflection point,” in which “the ideas of modernity are imploding, the institutions of modernity are paralyzed, and the instruments of modernity (namely AI) are exploding.”  We are the first civilization without a shared sacred symbolic. It is a time for watchful discernment and courageous leadership. 

 I accept the challenge of Dr Seel.  “There has rarely been a more exciting time to be alive as a follower of Christ than now. Ours  is a turning point.”  We live in “the pause between to lightening and the thunder.”  We live close to the coming storm.  Seel quotes C. S. Lewis, “You can’t go back and change to beginning, but you  can start where you are and change the ending.”     

Our culture has a deep spiritual sickness.  May I  have “the courage to resist its idols, to honor objective reality, and the imagination to rebuild on foundations of transcendence.” As I pray, “Come, Lord Jesus,” may I not focus the turbulent weather patterns of the present age, forgetting the kingdom reign of King Jesus, as the unifying narrative of our time.   

Dr. Seel’s article is a prophetic call for men to come forth.  I write this blog to encourage men to be “liminal leaders.”  “The age is changing. This time, it truly is different.  The question is whether we will merely survive the transition – or sanctify it.  May we stand, liminal and luminous, as witnesses to the sacred in an age that has forgotten how to bow.”   

  

 

 

 

 

March 16, 2026

March 16, 2026 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you had a good weekend and weren’t buried in snow. Our S.S. was cancelled but we got to church as roads got cleared quite quickly. Today I plan to go to Aldie’s and exercise class and tonight we have a St. Patrick’s Day party here!
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Recently, I have read several articles about AI and it seems there is a big gap between natural intelligence and artificial intelligence. Marcus Schwartling, senior editor at AI and Faith writes how natural intelligence is a God-given gift that helps us understand and reason about reality, one another and ourselves. But he writes that, “By contrast, AI is the subdiscipline of computer science concerned with building models to perform tasks often associated with natural intelligence, like solving a puzzle or summarizing a text.” The two are not interchangeable or equivalent.

AI provides informational knowledge, and is dependent on the data and information available to it. But the Bible’s definition of knowledge is more than organized data and contextualized information; it is rooted in people experiencing life in relationship with God and others. Jesus said in John 13:34 that we are to love others just as He has loved us. AI can’t empathize and provide companionship with others for it isn’t human. In fact, our technology today is resulting in more loneliness instead of bringing people together.

Our culture is one of self-sufficiency rather than interdependence. Everyone is busy and posts online rather than meeting together for lunch or coffee. Even phone calls to hear another familiar voice is getting scarce as people grab their phones to text instead. We are missing out today on deep friendships and being known by others and we find it hard to have a sense of belonging. Just because we note we have many followers doesn’t mean we have many close friends. We need real connections, face to face, sharing our lives listening to one another and processing things. We all want to know we matter and that takes living life in relationship with others.

Challenge for today: Share offline today with a friend even if it is brief and let them know they matter to you.
Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy

March 14, 2026

March 14, 2026 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you are having a good weekend and keeping warm. I plan to clean the apartment and later we are going to a Birthday party. It is a big birthday and worthy of a gold crown! The question this week is: Do you feel your actions flow out of your love for the Lord or more about your self-satisfaction? Would those close to you see evidence of your growth in the Lord?
Devotions from Judy’s heart
How mature are we spiritually in our walk with the Lord? We may say we have known the Lord for twenty years, and yet still be like a two-year-old toddler who is doing the same things over and over again, not growing or becoming more like Jesus. Pastor/Dr. Peter Scazzero writes about what it means to being emotionally healthy spiritually and helps us to see the symptoms that display our need to change if we are to mature.

We can be doing a lot of work for God, but it may come from a place of satisfying ourselves rather than Him or even doing things He has never asked of us. Our prayers can be more about doing our own thing, rather than seeking to do what God wants. We may also not admit or deal with our anger, fears, shame, hurts and other emotions, which can only hinder us from being able to love God, others and ourselves. When we also fail to allow the Holy Spirit to strip away our false self, our true self cannot come forth and mature. Another symptom that Scazzero mentions is denying the past and how it impacts our present. Yes, we are a new creature in Christ, but we need to go back and break free of destructive patterns in our lives that hinder us from growing. We must be careful not to compartmentalize our lives into what is secular and what is spiritual, for the Lord wants to be part of our whole lives and actions throughout the day. When conflicts in relationships come up, we need to deal with them in honest and loving ways. We also don’t cover over our weaknesses, but admit them and ask for His help.

We need a deep interior life if we are to grow in the Lord. We may do a lot of work for God but He wants us to pray, enjoy His presence and to delight to be with Him. Our worth comes from God’s unconditional love for us, not what works we do. We serve others as God directs us, not trying to single-handedly meet all the needs around us. When we do things that flow from our life with God, we experience joy.

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to shine His light in the hidden places of your heart,  and let Him remove and heal all that hinders your life with Him and others.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

March 13, 2026

March 13, 2026 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Happy weekend to you! Hope you are keeping warm! I’m not sure how much snow we got during the night but 3″ were predicted along with a strong wind… Al is glad we live in a place where it is plowed and shoveled already when we get up!
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Have you ever felt like you were living a parable, and that your actions had a deeper significance? One day I was noticing the areas on our walls and woodwork that needed attention, even though I had scrubbed them. What they needed was fresh paint where they were worn thin or had dark marks. I wondered at first why had I not seen this earlier, but I had not paid close attention. I felt like the Lord was saying to me that there were areas of my heart that need attention. I couldn’t fix them myself and needed help.
I wondered at first how I was going to find the exact paint colors for the walls in each room if I was to fill in the dark spots. But someone else had the answer, for our handyman had the exact colors of paint for each room in our apartment that needed a fresh touch of paint. It brought to mind that we need someone beyond ourselves to fix us and to bring out our true colors. My own attempt to try to cleanse the area was not enough, for I needed the fresh coating of paint to cover it completely. This reminded me of Christ’s robe of righteousness that covers all our sins and makes us new. I turned to Isaiah 61:10, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult io my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.” What a wondrous gift!

Just as the paint covered the nicks and the dark blemishes, on occasion sandpaper has to be used first before applying the paint. Perhaps all of us have those areas that need a little extra prompting by the Holy Spirit, so we can ask for help and that deep healing can come. We must welcome the hand that brings the scrubbing, for then healing can follow.

After applying the exact paint to the areas in need, I looked around the apartment with new eyes. Everything seemed to shine and I was so thankful, while aware that this wasn’t the end: for soon I would need to tell the handyman again, “Please bring those paints!” We need the blood of Jesus every day of our lives and His blood covers ALL of our sin.

Challenge for today: Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit when He shows you areas of sin, repent and ask for His cleansing.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

March 12, 2026

March 12, 2026 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you have a day of sunshine! We hear more snow is coming our way. Today is Donut Day here and I hope to do food prep, studying and writing. Later we have Bible study.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
When Al and I were scoping out churches after a move, we visited a large church one Sunday morning, planning to go to Sunday School first. We were directed according to our age, and they not only offered a class to those more recently retired, but another class for older retirees. Somehow it didn’t seem to promote family togetherness, by separating us from enjoying others in different age brackets. We didn’t go back, but found a church where there was a mixture of ages for Sunday school with some who are in high school up to those who may be reaching 90.

I recently read an article by Chris Poblete, editorial director for Christianity Today pastors, and he writes on my favored view of sharing across the generations. I believe we too often separate people into peer groups rather than having them mix together. But don’t we learn and grow by others different from us: some who are ahead of us in our spiritual journey and some to whom we can serve as an example as they are only beginning their spiritual journey? A Barna Report last year showed that only 18% felt that their church helped them connect across the generations.

We are united by the Lord and He is our common denominator. Think of some lonely teen that might just be helped most by an older couple taking him under their wing and inviting him to enjoy some special times with their family. Or God using a Christian to speak into the life of a younger person who has tuned out their parent but is open to another voice. It takes courage on the part of both young and old to be open to others in a different stage of life. How many seniors would be thrilled to have a young person show them how to navigate on their computer after they share a meal together? And what wouldn’t a young adult give to just have someone listen to them, and encourage them to help find answers on their journey.

Like Poblete wrote, church shouldn’t be like a buffet where we choose what is familiar and favor what confirms our instincts as we connect with peers who share our same stage of life. When we do that, we miss having others stretch us and help us mature in our spiritual walk. Jesus prayed in John 17:21 that we may all be one, just as He and the Father are.

Challenge for today: Be open to learn from someone who has walked a little farther than you, and also be willing to walk with someone who can learn from you.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

March 11, 2026

March 11, 2026 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you have a blessed day. Al is going to Men’s group and I am going to make Rice Krispie Bars and go to Exercise class, Crafts and Soup Supper and Bible study. We hear more snow is coming tomorrow. Emoji
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Jesus said, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matt. 16:25) How many times and ways do we try to save our lives and to live it all on our own? I would venture to say often! In fact, every time we take our lives into our own hands using our self-made ways, we fail to find true joy and peace in the Lord. How much better to find our identity in Him and desire to walk closer with Him! As we do that, He often exposes our hidden sins and it is humbling to see how much we need His mercy and grace. We might even call it a gift when we become aware of our great need and dependency on Him.

We are all called to live lives of continual death and resurrection. We die to self and all those things we have hung on to and find our life in the Lord. I often have to pray, “Lord I desire…” but then add, “…but only if you want me to have it, Lord!” Recently our grandson, who will be attending college in the fall, was waiting to hear if he had made it into a certain fraternity that he was interested in. The bottom line was: only if it was part of the Lord’s plan! He waited, praying for God’s will, and his family, Grandpa and I prayed, each of us wanting God’s will. Our son told Grant that God answers in three ways: “Yes, not yet, or God has other plans for you.” It was so exciting when the answer came and he was asked to be in the fraternity, knowing it was from God’s hand. But if the answer was no, we could still rejoice, for our grandson died to insisting on what he wanted, in order to receive whatever God wanted.

Our lives were also never meant to do good deeds with the purpose in mind to win God’s favor so that He does what we would like. No, it takes faith and trust in Him, when we don’t know the outcome but sincerely die to what we think is best while we wait for Him to give us His best. Every day is to be a day to lose our life for His sake. We can be assured, just like the Psalmist who prayed in Psalm 73:23-24a: “Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel…”

Challenge for today: Spend some time thanking the Lord for His hand on your life, even when it doesn’t go according to your plan.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

March 10, 2026

March 10, 2026 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones, Hope you have a wonderful day! What a surprise out our window as there are several inches of fresh snow! I plan to do some food prep and touch up painting in the apartment and later we are going to friends for dessert, fellowship and prayer!
Devotions from Judy’s heart,
Have you noticed how the Lord often doesn’t show us His whole plan but only a partial picture? I wonder sometimes if we saw the bigger, long-range picture, if we might get discouraged and think the task is too difficult, or that we can’t possibly do something so complex.  But He gives us just enough so that we will trust Him for the rest. We only need to take the first step.

I found that true recently when I was doing some spring cleaning and I realized all there was to do, but thought I could just start in one of the bathrooms by washing the doors, woodwork, walls, cabinet and shower. It didn’t take that long so I decided to do the other bathroom, and then why not do the woodwork in the hall, living room and dining area? I knew our bedroom blinds needed dusting and the windows to be washed so I decided to hit that next. The hardest part was just getting close and high enough, so I used a ladder and also stood on my desk. As long as I had the ladder out, I decided to do the living room windows, door and blinds as well. When Al went for a walk, it was the perfect time to do his study, which only had three long windows and then attack his bookcases that I knew were dusty. I was finishing with a smile on my face at just the very moment he came back from his walk. I had gotten far more done than I had anticipated and it started with only one small step of doing the bathroom.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes we say “yes” to something that seems rather small and it turns out to be much more than we had imagined. If the Lord had told us in the beginning, I want you to be the head of this organization, we might have said “No!” But instead, we started out just helping in one small project. Or what if you consented to go on a short-term mission trip where you were needed because of your language ability? A couple years later, you may be commissioned as a full-time missionary to that country, all because the Lord put those people into your heart during that short visit.
When we are obedient in the little things, the Lord can trust us with more. Let us take the first step in faith and trust Him to give us all that we need to complete His call.

Challenge for today: Meditate on Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; He’s the One who will keep you on track.”
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy
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