Dear Ones,
Hope you have a wonderful weekend! I cleaned our apartment yesterday before the party as I am going to church this morning to clean the church along with a bunch of gals. There is a prize for the best cleaning costume and dessert and coffee are provided!
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Do you find yourself desiring to walk closer to God, being touched by Him on a deeper level of knowing than you can imagine? I am reading a book about Ruth Burrows, a British Carmelite nun and writer who challenges us all to live a deeper life in the Lord. She struggled from childhood not sensing the Lord’s presence and feeling very empty. She felt she had nothing to give, but that was the very thing that caused her to abandon herself to surrender to the love of God. She recognized her poverty and went to the Lord with nothing in her hands but a desire to know His love.

When we come to accept the Lord into our lives we begin a spiritual walk, hopefully one that is a progressive and transformational, becoming like Jesus. Burrow writes of the three stages of the spiritual journey we go through, and the first one is about preparation to be drawn into the life of Jesus. It has to do with grace to break the stronghold of our ego. The second stage is the inflowing of God’s grace as we see our neediness before Him. The third stage is being freed from our ego-centricity and being receptive to the living knowledge of God as we are united with Jesus in establishing His kingdom on earth.

We all need to recognize our innate poverty, for it opens us up to have capacity for God and His love. Burrow struggled with doubts even after becoming a nun and fought depression. She tried hard to put others first, and gradually she trusted God to do within her what seemed impossible. She desired to know the truth of her being and gain self-knowledge, which helped her to trust God’s mercy. Just like her we need to surrender to God our poverty, helplessness, anxieties and fears. We are to come as we are and trust in HIs grace and mercy. Let us come near to God and He will come near to us. (James 4:8)

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord for faith to trust Him as you give Him your littleness and emptiness, and let Him fill you with His love and intimacy of heart.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy