Dear Ones,
Hope you have a restful day!  Ann and Leif are coming and we are going to have Finnish pasty and celebrate Leif’s birthday early since we will be in KS on his actual day.  Later is Crafts and Bible Study.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
How many people profess a life of faith, try hard to please others and be a good Christian, yet live far from what we would call a peace-filled life. I am reading Pastor/Dr. Peter Scazzero’s book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. Outwardly he lived a busy life, pastoring a large multiracial church in Queens, New York, but sadly he had not dealt with issues from his younger years and was not emotionally healthy. He came to a place of being burnt out and exhausted, and knew he was missing the promised rest as Jesus talked about in Matt.11:28, “Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” He goes on to say we need to take His yoke and learn from Him and we will find the rest we are looking for as our burdens will be light.

Like Peter, we can be busy doing work for the Lord and yet feel empty if we ignore what is going on below the surface… like our anger, living without boundaries, not facing our fears and anxious thoughts, etc. He may have preached about the full life of joy but it wasn’t a reality for himself, and when his marriage bottomed out, it was a wakeup call. Circumstances have a way of helping us deal with our issues and bringing us to the place where we are willing to surrender and change.

Who we are is made up of components that are physical, emotional, social, intellectual and spiritual. To be emotionally underdeveloped is not as easy to spot as someone who has a physical handicap or someone socially inept. Peter went for many years anemic emotionally, and he missed God’s many ways of coming to help him grow, change and mature. Perhaps we are all deficient in areas of our lives and the Lord is trying to get our attention to help us in the areas we need to grow. Let us allow the Holy Spirit into all the areas we are underdeveloped so He can be formed in us.

Challenge for today: Be willing to go below the surface as you invite the Holy Spirit to show you areas of your life that need His help and be willing to change.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, JudyO