Category: Sister Judy (Page 107 of 270)

Dear Ones,

  Happy weekend! We are getting packed and will eat an early lunch and head to the cabin today.We are going to stop to see a friend in assisted living on the way and then on to the lake as our grandson is waiting for a hot scrabble game. We plan to hear Leif preach tomorrow and then have Father’s Day celebration for dinner. 

 Devotions from Judy’s heart

   Happy Father’s Day tomorrow to all the dads out there! Being a father is a tough job! Dad’s today are facing many challenges as our culture is changing dramatically. Many boys have absent fathers and the results are staggering as many are failing to grow up and become responsible, have addictions, join gangs, and commit crimes.

  I was blessed with a loving father that lived to be 100 years old but resides in heaven now. I am thankful for him and miss him, but not all of you reading this had a father who was there for you. I read an article on Crosswalk.com from Clarence Haynes Jr. who wrote empowering prayers for dads. If your dad was absent maybe your prayer is simply, “Thank you God that you used my dad to give me life.”

   If you are going to be a new father maybe Haynes words could be your prayer today:

“Lord, help me as I begin my journey into fatherhood. Even though I look forward to fatherhood, I face it with excitement and trepidation. Help me to know I can trust in you, and you will be with me on this journey. Remind me often that I don’t have to be perfect, but most importantly I need to be present in the life of my child. Give me new patience and new grace as I walk a road I have never walked before. However, I thank you that you have gone before me and will help me navigate these waters. Help me from day one to set the right example so my child will see you in me and will long for the God I serve to be present in their life. Amen.”

 Or maybe you are an aging father you might pray:

“Lord, as I grow older and the seasons of life have changed, I thank you for my children. You have given me the privilege to raise them, and I have seen them grow into adulthood. My prayer is for them as they must now walk in steps that I had to walk in. Give them grace for the journey and help me to adjust in my new role not just as father, but as friend. Help me to always be the encourager, reminding them to keep their eyes on you and to continue to help them be the person you created them to be. It has been an honor to be their father. Now help me to finish my journey strong. Amen.”

  Or all of you dads may want to pray:

“Lord, give me strength to be a dad today. More importantly help me to recognize my strength comes only from you. Help me to wait before you and to completely trust you because it is in this place that I will find strength. Help me not to run from my weaknesses but to embrace them and bring them to you, because when I am weak before you, I will stand strong before everyone else.”

   Blessings to all of you fathers as your special day is celebrated tomorrow.

  Challenge for today: Thank the Lord for your earthly father and remember you have a Heavenly Father who loves you most of all.. 

Blessings, prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

‘Happy weekend and hope you are enjoying this beautiful day. This morning I cleaned the apartment and made 2 Mexican pies and a blueberry breakfast cake. We called our granddaughter and sang to her on her 18th birthday. Tomorrow we are going to the lake!!

Devotions from Judy’s heart

   One of the greatest fears people have today is loneliness. It doesn’t seem to matter if we are married or single, in a room with a lot of people or by ourselves at home, there can be a sense of loneliness. Of course, we all feel lonely at times but God can use those times in our lives to draw us closer to him. I read what Cindi McMenamin, pastor’s wife, author, and speaker, wrote about loneliness. Perhaps we can all gain from her thoughts of how to stay encouraged when we feel life is lonely.

  First of all, we can use the time to connect with the Body of Christ and interact with other believers. After an evening of fellowship, we may go home cheered and spiritually uplifted; as it says in Heb 10:24 -25 we are to be inventive in encouraging love and helping one another.

   Second, we can also look for ways to serve others and focus on them rather than our selves. When the focus is off of us it seems to draw others to us as they see we are caring for them.

   Third, we may also seek a mentor to help us through our lonely time. When God gives us someone to pour into our lives, then we can also pour out into others. Cindi said it is good to have someone on the right that spiritually lifts us up but also someone on our left that we can help and grow together.

   Fourth, we can offer to mentor someone younger than us and share our life and wisdom with them. One day a friend asked me to mentor her, but I think I received just as much or more from our relationship.

   Fifth, we can also allow our pain and loneliness to serve a greater purpose. Maybe we are new in the church and feel rather like an outsider. We can find others who are also new and connect with them. Or if we are a young mom, we can join with other moms for times of fellowship that include our children.

  Sixth, we can start a gratitude journal and thank the Lord daily for all the things we are grateful for. As we add to it each day our hearts get encouraged and we see things in a positive light.”

   Last of all she said to use the season of loneliness to draw us closer to the Lord. He is the one who is always with us and it is He who will give us the love and closeness we are seeking. May we not fear loneliness but simply go deeper with Him.

  Challenge for today: Start a gratitude journal and find something each day that you are thankful for.

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you wake up with anticipation of what God has for you today. Question for today: Have you experienced the Lord giving you just the right verse of scripture when you needed it most? 

Today I plan to go downstairs for coffee and seems like Tuesdays are the day for Choc covered raspberries too! 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

   Do we believe the Lord has a special word for us every day if we take time to be still and listen? Just like we physically need to feed our bodies, our souls need to be fed and nourished as well. In fact, every day we may find we can have an expectancy for what the Lord may feed us, even before we get out of bed.  It could be something we have never tasted before and may be a new nugget for us to meditate on!

   It makes me think of our friend who lives just down the hall from us who has put a candy dish outside of her door. She herself loves candy and seems to fill her dish each day so anyone walking down the hall can also pick something out to eat. She knows I love Snicker bars so I often see them on the top or peanut butter bars that are so tempting, There are also M&M’s, chocolates, Kits, and even Mound bars that Al loves. She offers them to us freely and all we have to do is reach in and take one and enjoy it as we go on our way. Sometimes after Al and I have had a big meal and would like to top it off with a little sweet, we pass by her door and take a treat. We thank her when we see her and we also tell others that there are treats on second floor.

   When we go to God’s Word, we can have anticipation that He will feed us just what we need at the time. Jeremiah writes in Lamentations 3 about how he is bowed down by all the problems he has to deal with, but suddenly he recalls God’s mercy and compassion and faithfulness. When he does this, he is brought out of his depression and says, “But this I recall and therefore I have hope and expectation:  It is because of the Lord’s mercy and loving-kindness that we are not consumed, because His (tender) compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great and abundant is Your stability and faithfulness. …Therefore will I hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.”

   Every day God has something for us, a word that we can carry through our day. We need to listen to what He has to give us and take it to heart and then thank Him. Let us not pass by the basket of His sweet words but let them give us hope and expectation of good things He has for us.

   Challenge for today: Spend some time in quiet and read the Word until you find the morsel God has for you this day.

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you had a great weekend! Today is more rain but everything is so green and fresh. I studied this morning, and made a veggie stirfry, and  Al’s cookies and soon going to my exercise class. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  Recently, we celebrated Pentecost and at church we had red paraments on the altar and pulpit and large red banners hanging, all with flames of fire. We were reminded of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the wondrous power He poured out on the believers after Jesus ascended. Pastor also preached on the work of the Holy Spirit in our midst.

   But the filling of the Holy Spirit was not just for those back then but for all of us today who know the Lord. More than ever, we need the power of the Holy Spirit to live in a world that doesn’t recognize Jesus and does not want Him to have a place in our schools and work places etc. How can we be bold and speak truth when there is so much opposition to God’s ways? We need the help of the Holy Spirit to live for the Lord in these turbulent times. The Holy Spirit is a great teacher but we must be willing to learn from Him and be a good student.

    I was reading an article on Crosswalk.com about the importance of the Holy Spirit for as it says in I Cor. 2:10, “These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” The Holy Spirit who lives in us searches the depths of God and wants to reveal His ways to us. We can’t expect the world to understand and at times they will make fun of us, but let us press on to let the Spirit teach us His truths.

    Have you noticed how the Spirit can take a portion of scripture and make it so real? At times it seems like it is in neon lights as He reveals new things to us. We need to follow what He says to us, over the ways of what the world would say. We are not to rely on our own understanding but in all our ways acknowledge Him and He will make straight our paths. (Prov. 3:5-6) As we spend time studying the Word, we can ask the Holy Spirit to show us the meaning of what we are reading and to apply it to our lives. We will gain wisdom and understanding but we must choose to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in obedience. As the song goes:”

“Holy Spirit Come,

Make My Ears To Hear,

Make My Eyes To See,

Make My Mouth To Speak,

Make My Heart To Seek,

And My Hands To Reach Out,

And Touch The World,

With Your Love.”

   Challenge for today: Ask for the Holy Spirit to teach you God’s ways and to give you power to live in obedience and to reach out to others with His love.

Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you are enjoying the weekend inspite of the rain. Everything looks so fresh and green out my window though. It is a special day for us as we are celebrating our wedding anniversary and going out for a steak dinner. We feel truly blessed for all the years the Lord has given us together. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

   We are celebrating our 57^th wedding anniversary today and both Al and I often remark that we don’t want to take each other for granted. We want to live each day in love and in thankfulness to the Lord for another day together. We have our love letters stored away and other memories of the actual day but it is in living it out that matters. Al is good with words and shares with me what I mean to him; he always seems to come up with new words to express that and the list gets longer and longer. We partly kid about it but sometimes when we are out with others, he will say to a young person that he is married to a total, complete, natural, integrated woman! I roll my eyes and wonder what is going through their minds!

  But when we compare it with our relationship to the Lord, are we passionate for Him or are we passive? Maybe we are getting ho-hum about our love for Him? We might ask ourselves if we are glad when the church doors are open so we can meet with others in the family of God; or are we relieved when things are canceled and we can stay home? When we take communion, do we just do it in an absent minded way, or are we filled with thankfulness to the Lord that He has taken our sins away?

   In my daily devotions, I happen to be reading  the book of Revelation, of John’s letters to the seven churches. The judgment is most harsh on the church of Laodicea that is lukewarm. It started out good but they abandoned their first love. John warns them to return to their first love and change the way they think and act or their lamp stand will be taken away.  We may judge that church as well, but we need to look instead at ourselves and ask if we have done the same. Do we seek time to be alone with the Lord and to express our love in new ways or are we indifferent?

   Paul says in Romans 12:11, “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.” We don’t need to fear that the Lord will take advantage of us but rather give our whole selves to Him and commune with Him. We will find that we are unconditionally loved, set free, forgiven, and complete. Let us put Him in first place of our lives and let Him hold us closely together in intimate fellowship.

   Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to remove anything that is robbing you of your love for Him.

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy