Dear Ones,
Hope you are able to keep cool in this hot weather! So glad for A.C.! Life seems normal again and this morning I will go to Aldi’s but not exercise class yet…hopefully in a couple weeks.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Recently, our son texted me that his friend’s dad has died. He was a doctor many of you prayed for some time ago, who was expected to die then but has lived many more months since. When I got the news I was sad, but thanked the Lord for the extra time he was given to prepare for his “homecoming.” None of us know how many days we will have on this earth, but one thing we do know is that God knows the exact number. As David prayed in Psalm 139:16, ‘”Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.”
David recognized that he was an open book before the Lord, as He knew everything about him from the time he got up until he went to bed. God even knew what he was going to say before it was out of David’s mouth. He had plans for David’s life that He would one day be king, and prepared him even as a youth. Likewise, the Lord has laid down plans for each of us before we were ever born. They are good plans, not evil, for our welfare and peace, and to give us hope, as it says in Jeremiah 29:11. I never knew that I would be a pastor’s wife, but as I look back I can see how God was preparing me since I was young.
We have to make a choice daily: if we want to follow God’s wonderful plan He has prepared for our life, or if we are going to do our own thing and leave Him out of the equation. He has gifted and enabled each of us with all we need to do His will, but many times those plans are laid aside because of our willfulness. Our cooperation is needed if we are going to develop our gifts and accomplish what God wants to do through us. How sad if we come to the end of our lives and have missed God’s plan for us! Let us draw close to the Lord, be quiet enough to hear His direction for our life, and enter into all that He has for us to be and do!
Challenge for today: Spend some quiet moments asking the Lord what He wants to do through you, and go His way.
Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy