Category: Sister Judy (Page 111 of 270)

Dear  Ones,

  Hope you are having a peace-filled day! Al’s sister left after breakfast and is on her way home to Michigan. Enjoyed her visit so much. I am washing and cleaning and and will go to my exercise class this morning. Then crafts this afternoon and a Bible Study. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  I just love hearing from many of you as you share stories of signs of God’s presence in your life. It’s like the Lord opens your eyes all of a sudden, to see how He has orchestrated the circumstances that are now bringing blessing to you.

  One such instance happened when Al’s sister was here and she shared about the outfit she planned for her granddaughter’s wedding. After going to our daughters for dinner and sauna we stopped on the way home at Share and Care. We found not only a dress she can wear to the wedding, but another dress for the bridal dinner, and a jeweled top that she can wear with a flowing skirt….all for $2.25. Of course, the price was unbelievable but the fact that they fit her perfectly and that we just happened to stop there could only be the Lord.

  Another such instance came from a friend who wrote about their experience over the weekend of going to Sioux Falls to trade in her mother’s 2005 Buick and to buy a Chevy Volt, with only 33,000 miles on it. There are very few used electric cars available and a long wait for a new one, so they wanted to get to the dealership before someone else bought it. She writes, “I want to share with you as we experienced God’s hand on us as we drove to Sioux Falls. We drove to Marshall and stayed overnight there. We left on time so that we could easily be in Sioux Falls when the dealership opened at 9 AM. But about 8 miles out of town the engine light went on and the radiator started to pour out steam! We stopped the car immediately…got out the manual and read about what to do. It was imperative to let the radiator and engine cool down. We did a search on my phone and the closest auto repair was about 6 miles away. To speed up the story… we called Dean Automotive Repair and we knew that we had been led to the right person. It was Dean’s shop and he was available to help us. One of the hoses was worn out and busted. He was surprised that he had “stocked the right parts”, but I wasn’t surprised. He had no other customers that morning, he was working on restoring a classic car. He said it would take about 2 hours, but it was only an hour. I told him “he was a Godsend”. Doug gave him a “big tip” in appreciation. He was a delightful person and shared his love of restoring old cars with us. We made it to Sioux Falls and the 2017 Chevy Volt was still available, we bought it and traded in the Buick.”

  They made it home with grateful hearts and thanking the Lord with an awareness of how He had orchestrated everything. 

   I’m sure we have all had experiences when our blinders were suddenly removed and we saw the Lord’s hand in a vivid way touch our life. May we be like David who said in Psalm 16:11 (ESV), You make known to me the path of life: in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures for evermore.”

  May the Lord train our eyes to see Him in the many ways He comes to us each day.

  Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to increase the sense of His presence with you. 

Dear Ones,

  Hope you are enjoying this day! We are happy for another day of sunshine. This morning I made a lasagna and went downstairs for donuts, and Al went to Men’s group. This afternoon we have Bible Study here and we are blessed by the sharing each week.

  Devotions from Judy’s heart

 On Tuesday, I posed the question that I sent out with my daily devotion, asking if you have ever had a near death experience. It’s always a blessing to get back responses of how God’s intervenes in your lives and I will share a couple of those experiences. 

   One person wrote, “I was in a bad car accident in my early 20’s. I was knocked unconscious. I remember hearing in the ambulance that they couldn’t get a blood pressure reading and I thought well that means I’m dead. I wasn’t afraid, it was just a feeling of acceptance. I know now that when my time comes, I won’t be afraid. My time my eternity is in our Lords hands.”

   Another response was from Mary whom many of you have prayed for in the past. She fell on her wet bathroom floor after the cleaning lady didn’t replace the showerhead down after cleaning. It resulted in numerous hospitalizations and a near-death experience. She writes, “I had a near death experience in late December 2017 while in the hospital for my fall. I’d developed a lung infection with fluid. They took me to the cath lab to drain it, a routine procedure which went fine. But they did not leave me flat after. While wheeling me out I arrested. They worked on me for 8 minutes to bring me back. When they did, I was on a ventilator and my trachea had been punctured during that process. We all know where that led” ( since then she has had a trach stent and had to cover the hole in her neck when she wished to talk) “Four plus years later, we returned from Boston 2 weeks ago without my trach tube stent for the first time…something we didn’t know would ever be possible because I was not a candidate for tracheal reconstruction. But I had developed enough scar tissue to solidify my trachea and they pulled out the stent. They are hopeful it will remain open.” (She has a hole in her neck now which they hope will close naturally in about 6 months but for now she doesn’t have much voice.) She goes on to say, ‘‘We never know what lies ahead; I could have never imagined any of this journey. But it does teach us many things…earthly life is fragile and temporary, intentionally; live it to the fullest; know God is always with us every step of the way; He’ll never leave us; but heaven is our eternal destination. Whenever I go under anesthesia, I pray…God please let my medical team have the wisdom and skill to bring me back, if it’s in Your will. But if not, thank you Lord that I know I will be with You in heaven.”

   We are reminded that our life here is so temporary in light of eternity. Let us live each day for the Lord and not get encumbered with earthly things. He has set eternity in our hearts. (Eccl. 3:11).

   Challenge for today: Make preparations for eternity.

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

P.S. I just got this further word from Mary..”The one thing that stands out though is laying there in ICU and surrendering my earthly life to Jesus saying to myself ‘whatever You want Lord I believe in You. Your will be done. I accept whatever You have in store for me.’ Sometimes today I marvel at how easy that was and how much peace that brought me at the time. I had no fear, no anxiety. Just complete peace.”

Dear Ones,

  Hope you are having a good day. It is so good to see the sun shining today after the days of rain and wind! This morning I did food prep and went to Aldi’s and Exercise class.  This afternoon is crafts and tonight is Bible Study. We PTL that when we went to the dentist yesterday we were told we had no cavities and we went out and celebrated with a gourmet meal on the way home! 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

   As Jesus followers we are told in different ways to seek first His kingdom and to deny ourselves. Over and over again I keep coming across the convicting words that He is to increase and I am to decrease. But how do we practice that in this culture that is all out for me, me, me? It takes a lot of renouncing of self-gratification, to channeling our attention and energy on others and most of all putting the Lord first.

  It may mean saying no to certain pleasures that satisfies our own desires, and to move on to serve the Lord in the sick, the poor, and those that mourn. For a pleasure-seeking society, that is not the norm. But it is in giving ourselves to the Lord and others, that we find joy and peace.

   The Lord wants us to become people of compassion that forget ourselves and show love for others, especially the poor, the stranger, the lonely etc. This involves forgetfulness of ourselves in order to do that. Of course, if we do it simply out of duty, then we are missing the mark. We are to have empathy and try to put ourselves in their place, to feel what they are feeling. Sometimes it is just a matter of listening with a compassionate heart. It could simply involve doing practical things like bringing a meal or taking time to listen to a fellow worker, or any small act of kindness.

   We should not underestimate what others may be going through physically, emotionally or spiritually. We must listen with an open heart for some things are not visible to our eyes and they need understanding if they have been abandoned, suffered loss, abused etc. We are told in Romans 12:15 to rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. We might not need to say anything but just to sit with them in their loss and sometimes even shed tears together.

   Let us not spend our time in superficialities but invest in His kingdom and reach out to those around us as the Holy Spirit prompts us.

Challenge for today: In place of spending time on your cell phone today, show compassion to someone in need.