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