Category: Sister Judy (Page 118 of 277)

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.  

Dear Ones,

Happy weekend to you! It is a windy cool day but at least no snow. I spent the morning making a pot of stew, and egg dishes and shopping. 

Tomorrow we have a funeral for a Pastor friend who use to live just down the hall from us. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

As followers of the Lord, we are all called to serve; not just the ones that have the motivational gift of serving but each of us. I was reading an article in the Lutheran Ambassador by Jennifer Holt, and again made aware of how we are called to serve others humbly, actively, and sacrificially, as Jesus did.

We often see important people who receive a lot of attention, being catered to, given the best seats and others attentively serving them. Maybe we also have to admit we deserve service and get impatient when we don’t get it instantly and have to wait. While taking friends out for lunch, we got slow service and the owner of the restaurant apologized as he was short staffed and had to do most of the waiting on customers himself. We empathized with him as he demonstrated a servant’s heart; we then just sat back and enjoyed leisure time with friends as we waited and waited.

We are all given the mandate to serve  and Jesus gave us the greatest example of what it means to humbly serve. He said in Matt. 20:25-28 (God’s Word), “ Whoever want to become great among you will be your servant. Whoever wants to be most important among you will be your slave. It’s the same way with the Son of Man. He didn’t come so that others could serve Him. He came to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many people.”              “

Jesus came to serve and give, and He is the King of Kings, so deserving of being served.  We remember how He met the needs of others in a variety of ways, as He provided food for the multitudes, healed so many and sometimes not even given a thank you. He gave and gave of Himself, even when He was busy, tired, and desiring to get away from the crowds.

The question Jennifer asks is one we need to ask ourselves, “How much should I serve?” She says her own comfort level is not the deciding factor but what is God’s will and how He is leading her. Sometimes it is not convenient and we may be weary but we will be blessed when we follow His leading to do what He is prompting us to do. That doesn’t mean we will burn out serving others to exhaustion, but rather we will serve where and how He directs us.

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord how you can humbly serve others and do it with joy.

Dear Ones,

Hope you wake to sonshine in your heart! How was your Easter and what was one of the blessings of your Easter weekend? What comes to mind first for me was the beautiful Cantata on Good Friday that help me realize more vividly the sacrifice Jesus made me and all.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

We must all keep a guard on our hearts continually and never think we are above doing certain sinful things, or we may fall. As Paul said in

 I Cor. 10:12, “Let those who think that they are standing firm, watch out lest they fall.” 

  Even though we try to keep the commandments, none of us are above doing unthinkable sins when under certain circumstances. We are not basically good as some believe, for our hearts are deceitful and perverse (Jer.17:9).

All of us have weaknesses and flaws and when we yield repeatedly to sinful responses it can cause our downfall. I was reading Michael Casey’s book, Seventy-Four Tools for Good Living, and he gives examples of Stalin who had been a seminarian, and Hitler who was born a Catholic and Pol Pot who spent time as a Buddhist monk. Even though we may start out well, we must be vigilant of any tendency that would lead us away from God. Small steps of doing things that seem like little sins, when done repeatedly, can lead us on a downward slope to do things we never imagined we would do. The husband who continually lets his thoughts be consumed with his secretary often ends up committing adultery and leaving his wife. Even monks have attempted murder and pastors cheated their church. But it usually starts out in small ways and gradually we compromise and lose our integrity and suffer consequences.

If we are repentant, God forgives us and then we must start again and be more vigilant..

Not long ago, I was not being very watchful and looked quickly at the clock when I awakened. I misread the clock as it is on Al’s side of the bed and thought it was time to get up. So I got all washed and fixed my hair etc. and proceeded to have my devotions. When it was time to wake Al (which is usually at 5), I looked at the kitchen clock and it was only 2 a.m.!  I couldn’t believe it and had to go back to bed again and start the day over. a couple hours later. I was not vigilant but from now on, you can be sure I will be!

Sometimes we also learn from our mistakes and catch our behavior that will lead us away from the Lord. We need to pay attention and guard our hearts and never think we are not capable of falling if we compromise even in small ways.

Challenge for today: The next time you are tempted in a gray area, resist and pray for strength to stand firm in God’s strength.