Dear Ones,
We are in Coralville, Iowa tonight at the Drury. We checked in early so we could have a time of retreat and we were given an upgrade. We had 35 mph winds on the road but it was sunny and lovely with trees budding. Too bad the wind wasn’t behind us or we would have made terrific gas milage!
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Would we say we live a shallow life or do we live a deeply rooted spiritual life? I recently received an e-mail from a young mom who was responding to the question I asked of who had spoken encouragement and life into her when she was growing up. She ended up writing to me about her mother-in-law. I will share but leave out the names. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if others could say the same about us.
“There are so many people who have been an encouragement and spoken truth over my life! My mother-in-law is such a person and she lives and speaks scripture out over us as her children. Sometimes she will put our name into the Bible passage and personalize it. Many times when she has done this, God has used it to speak directly to my spirit. She is a devoted child of God and doesn’t settle for less than God’s best. She proclaims life and walks so closely with Jesus that He and she truly must walk step-in-step! My mother-in-law has blessed my life more that she could ever know and I praise the Lord for sending me another Mom to share truth with me for the second half of my life! I know that when she and my mom meet in Heaven, they will both share so much in common, and that is ‘a remarkable and undying commitment to Christ!!’ What a glorious day that will be!!”
This gal’s mom died some years ago and never lived to see her daughter marry and have her precious grandson. It is a marvelous gift that God has now given her a wonderful mother-in-law that is helping her on her spiritual journey.
Hopefully we all want a deep interior life and to seek the Lord and live our lives in accordance with scripture. It is good for us to take times of retreat when we can withdraw and just be with the Lord and hear Him speak. Some would say withdrawing for a time is not the real world, but perhaps it is more real to spend time with the Lord than to watch hours of TV or scroll endlessly on our phones. Let us choose wisely to read and digest the Word so we can live deeply rooted in the Lord and grow in our faith. Of course, we never really arrive because there is always more waiting for us to help us mature and cause our roots to go deeper.
Challenge for today: Be attentive to the ways the Lord desires to draw you deeply closer, transforming you more and more to reflect His image.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy