Dear Ones,
Hope you had a good weekend. Not so good for the Vikings though.  We had a wonderful and meaningful Thanksgiving service and pie social last night. Today I plan to Aldi’s and my exercise class.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
I would suspect we have all had times in our Christian lives when we feel stuck and not really growing or connecting with the Lord. Even though we may attend church, Sunday School, small group and have our quiet time, we sense worldly things creeping into our lives and thinking. We forget that life is not about getting more or all about pleasure and comfort, or getting our own way. We also must give attention to our inner life.

We need to take time to be emotionally healthy as well, to be in touch with our feelings, our past and our unresolved conflicts. We also need to practice silence and solitude, and seek to listen to the Lord. Pastor/Dr Peter Scazzero writes about ways that can help us do that. He tells us to slow down, not get overscheduled or fatigued. We need to take time for God in reflection, which helps us live a life of love with Him and others. Sometimes we get so busy serving others that we actually ignore our relationship with the Lord and fail to enjoy Him and hear what He has to say to us. We have only to think of Martha who was so busy making preparations that she became disconnected from her love for Jesus.

It is easy for any of us to get out of balance by doing many things and fail to let what we do flow from our time with the Lord. How can we love well if we aren’t vitally connected with Him who is love? We need to also break free of any idols in our lives, because the world will always tell us we need more, and other things will satisfy us more than God.

May we let the Lord slow us down so we may enjoy life with Him as the center, and let Him grow us to be more and more like Him, I personally have been trying to practice this and lately I find I lose track of time as I study and write…that is progress for me.

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to set you free from busyness to listen and just enjoy Him!