Category: Sister Judy (Page 121 of 270)

 

Dear Ones,

Hope you are having a good day and keeping warm! This morning I had a dematology appointment at 8 a.m and went to Aldi’s on the way home; got here in time for Donut Day and then this afternoon we are resuming our weekly Bible Study. Very cold out so I am sure we will be walking inside again today.’

Devotions from Judy’s heart

I think we are all a bit curious about angels and maybe some of you reading this have experienced seeing an angel in some form.  Dr Roger Barrier writes how angels appear sometimes in human form as when one appeared to Abraham and Lot. They also appear in dreams and I have read of this is happening frequently today amongst Muslims; God speaks to them in a dream and they receive it as a divine revelation and come to know the Lord. Angels also appear in visions as the Apostle John who wrote of in the book of Revelation.

I have always felt like an angel saved my dad’s life when he was hit by a car on an icy narrow street and flew over the car and landed without a scratch. Angels may work behind the scenes and often protect believers from danger. We all have a guardian angel and perhaps some are kept much busier than others!

Our pastor shared about angels recently and had the children bring angels to decorate the Christmas tree. They were all so beautiful and different.

Dr. Barrier wrote that God created angels before anything else in the universe (Job 38:4-7) and they were created all at once. We know there are huge numbers of angels for it says in Rev 5:11 that they number myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. Verse 12 says around the thrown they loudly say, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.”  Can we even imagine what that is like as they sing and worship and praise the Lord?

Angels also fight Satan and his demons, who were at one time worshipers but rebelled against God and were cast down. Angels will fight until the victory is won at the end of time. One day they will also separate those saved and those lost. 

Angels are powerful and guide the affairs of nations. Each nation also has a demonic spirit that wants to bring destruction.

Every church is assigned an angel to help protect it. In Revelation the seven stars are the angels to the seven churches.

Angels minister to believers and at times provide physical needs and reveal God’s plans. May we recognize what God is trying to tell us.

They also minister to us when we are dying and one day will usher us into glory. So much more on angels and we just never know when we may see one or recognize the evidence that an angel was right beside us.

Challenge for today: Have your eyes open to receive whatever God is saying to you through whatever means He uses.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you are having a good day and keeping warm! We got more snow last night!  I love to cook and bake to warm up the house and fill it with aroma. I made a veggie stir fry, egg dishes, and meat loaf and went to my exercise class this morning. I suspect we will have to walk inside today. We have Bible Study tonight and taking down the Christmas decorations at church. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

It is important to listen carefully to how the Lord would direct us each day. The Holy Spirit wants us to quiet down and to listen so we can know the way we are to go under each circumstance that occurs. Otherwise, we can get off and maybe do what God is asking of us, but not in the right timing.

On New Year’s Day I took out a partially opened cream cheese to make a snack dip for Al and I was almost overcome by the terrible odor. I had waited too long to use it and it was no longer good at all. Fortunately, I had a fresh package of cream cheese to use. My timing was off!

Also, that night I had a very vivid dream in which I remembered many details. Our faith was on the line and I had to flee along with some other Christians and go into hiding. We hid in the woods and in the fields and places by a lake. We would at times encounter other church people and we weren’t sure if they would turn us in or not.  In each instance though they helped us and we were able to keep going. But I remember how it took constant listening to know how the Holy Spirit was directing, as our very lives were at stake.

It is important for each of us to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and to wait and listen to His promptings. David says in Psalm 27:14, “Wait for and confidently expect the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for and confidently expect the Lord.” On our own we don’t know what is best and we need to dial down, and wait for instructions; this is not passive waiting, but waiting expectantly that we will be shown what we need to know. We are confident that He will answer and show us the way.

Our friend David, who we meet with on the Paul Bunyan trail, wrote in his latest poem that we should treasure how God whispers to us and to be still and quiet so we can hear Him. His last verse goes:

“As the new year begins, each moment is a fresh start.

Let us listen to Jesus’s whispers doing our part.

God helps us live with purpose in the new year, understanding You are my guide.

Help us to find the precious love that you provide.”

Challenge for today: Spend some time in stillness just listening to what the Lord is saying to you.

Blessings on  your day and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you waken to a fresh outlook on your day! What things do you want to implement into your New Year  of 2022? 
Devotions from Judy’s heart

As we begin a new year, I like to do some deep cleaning projects of things I have put off during busy days preparing for Christmas. I strip the bed down to the mattress pads and wash everything and also clean the blinds which are on each window in the apartment etc. But one thing that surprised me, is why I haven’t noticed the dust and dirt that has accumulated as I open the blinds each day. One friend living here at Northern Lakes told me about the rain that was seeping into the small crevice where the upper and lower windows connect. I didn’t think we had a problem but as I cleaned our blinds and windows this time, I recognized the moisture had also seeped in and left some mold behind. Why hadn’t I seen this before?

As God so often speaks to me through my daily experiences, I was quickly made aware of my own heart and how I can be unaware of certain things in my life that need to change. Others probably have noticed and maybe even shared of their own shortcomings as they are dealing with them, but I did not recognize my problem. Of course, the Lord can’t show us everything all at once or we might get bowed over with discouragement. But He shows us just what we need to know at the time He has prepared for us to deal with things. As we get rid of these things that hinder close fellowship with Him, we experience more freedom and the joy of His pleasure. It’s because He loves us that He exposes those things that causes distance from Him as He desires an intimate relationship with us.

Each day it is good to pray for the Holy Spirit to guide us through the day but also to reveal those things that separate us from the Lord. He is only too happy to show us the smudges on the windows of our hearts and the dirt that has accumulated and will cleanse us if we ask. In I Peter 1:2, Peter is telling the exiles, “who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with His blood.” It is the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us, which is to say, makes us holy in a moment-by-moment process. Every day let us welcome Him to do a deep work in us!

Challenge for today: Pray for openness to the Holy Spirit’ promptings with a willingness to change.

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you had a wonderful New Year’s weekend as many of you celebrated with friends and family. Our son, Kurt, and Brenda made it to the Viking/Packer game at Lambeau Field last night, which was on Kurt’s bucket list. Today I made S.F. Choc chip cookies and went through papers, and then to my exercise class. It’s warming up so hope to get a good walk in today! 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

God’s love for us is never up for question. He is love and that will never change for His love is everlasting. No matter what we encounter in this coming year, we can count on Him to be there for us, pouring out His love to us and giving us strength. 

I was reading from Ann Spangler’s devotional book as she shares about King George VI in his address to the nation in 1939. France and Great Britain had declared war on Germany and the King spoke to the people on Christmas day at a very dark time. A New Year was at hand and they didn’t know what would happen. He told the people, “None of us know what the new year will bring. If it brings safety, healing, prosperity, wholeness, and joy, we will praise and thank the Lord. But if it brings continued struggles, we will remain undaunted, not because we are strong or have it in our own power to remain faithful, but because our God is strong and more than able to keep us in his peace.”

Then he closed with these words to further encourage the people:

“ I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year: ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied: ‘Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.’”

The King then asked that God’s Almighty Hand would guide and uphold them and we know it was six years more of war until peace came to the nation,

We are beginning a new year and living in uncertain times; none of us can predict what 2022 will hold; but we need to put our hand in the One who is love and all powerful and will give us peace. As the song goes, “Precious Lord, take my hand/ lead me on, let me stand/ I am tired, I am weak, I am worn/ Through the storm, through the night/ lead me on to the light/ Take my hand, precious Lord/ lead me home.”

Challenge for today: Put your hand in His and let Him lead you each day until one day you are home.

 

Blessings as you go into this New Year. Sending prayers and love, Judy

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Hope you are enjoying this day! Soon we will enter a new year and we have a party to go to here at the Apartments. Al and I are going to wear our lite up hats! This morning I cleaned the apt and made Oh Henry bars and started cleaning blinds. Tomorrow I will make Al snacks that he loves for his football day. I like to catch up on projects, go over the Christmas cards, journal etc. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

We are ready to take off into a New Year and I read Flight 2022 Instructions on Facebook that I thought were good for all of us each day. Even if you have read it before, it is good to be reminded of how to face the New Year with hope.

 Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to take your old baggage and enter into the New Year with anticipation!

Blessings on your New Year! Prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you are keeping warm and safe! I love to stay inside when it is so cold out, -7 today, but I went to Aldi’s this morning and going to Costco this afternoon. Probably going to walk in the underground though.  I am going through cards and gifts and want to get at some piles of papers. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

I look out on a beautiful landscape of over 20” of fresh snow. As lovely as it is, I also notice that the trees are heavy laden with snow as their branches are all bowed over. I would like to go outside and shake the snow off but their branches are too high for me to reach. In time the sun will help melt the snow and likely a wind to help blow some of it away.

The verse of a familiar song comes to my mind, “Are we weak and heavy laden/ cumbered with a load of care/ Precious Savior still a refuge/ Take it to the Lord in prayer.” Maybe we feel like those trees that are bowed over with grief, are lonely from being quarantined and separated from loved ones, or feel anxious over the future etc.; but even then, we have a place to go where our burdens are lifted. The Lord knows our weaknesses and troubles and promises to share our burdens. Maybe we don’t sense relief all at once but as we come to really know that the Lord understands and is with us, the heaviness begins to melt away. King David said in Psalm 55:22 (Amplified), “Cast your burden on the Lord (releasing the weight of it) and He will sustain you; He will never allow the (consistently) righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail).” We are invited to trust God with whatever concerns us and weighs us down.

God may also help us by providing safe places to experience His love through others; a place where we can be nurtured and healed. Our churches should be such a place and also gatherings of small groups of caring believing people. As things get darker in our culture, I believe God will draw us together with others who help us feel we belong and are cared for. Maybe it is a small group that meets in a home, but we feel loved and nourished and healing takes place.

Let us not be weighed down like the snow laden branches but open ourselves to the wind of the Holy Spirit, and the warmth of his love and the fellowship of others.

Challenge for today: Seek a place you can be free to share your burdens and also help others to feel cared for.

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas. What was one of the best part of your Christmas celebration?  

Devotions from Judy’s heart

We all want to be happy but perhaps it is better to seek joy. Happiness is based on having the right circumstances in our lives and everything working out perfectly; but most of life is not like that so happiness is fleeting. But joy is consistent and not based on everything going well but finding strength in the Lord. As it says in Nehemiah 8:10 b (ESV), “And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” In Hebrew the word for joy is chedvah, which means rejoice and make glad. Strength in this context is a place of refuge and safety. Our joy stems from inner strength from our relationship with the Lord, so that means we can have deep down joy no matter our circumstances.

Perhaps more than anyone I know of, Joni Eareckson Tada is a beautiful example of someone who exudes joy. She is 72 years old now but has been in a wheelchair for 55 years as the result of her diving accident leaving her a quadriplegic. Yet, she lights up the room with her joy and has written 45 books, is an artist, speaker, and aids special needs people all over the world. How can this be? Only the Lord! Joni lives in overwhelming chronic pain, had cancer twice and COVID not long ago; yet she embraces the pain and often cries out scripture verses that give her help and the ability to endure. She shares how pain puts God’s promises to the test and said, “Suffering is like a textbook that teaches us who we really are and what we really believe.” She bases her life on what God has promised and embraces her trials with courage. She also memorizes hymns to help her focus her mind when she is in severe pain.  

Her word to all of us is to choose joy. We need to desire the life God gives each of us, even when it involves suffering for His glory. Let us finish well and bring glory to Him, especially in our pain and difficult circumstances. One day we will be with the Lord for all eternity and have no pain or sadness but rather the fulness of joy!

Challenge for today: The next time you are in a hard place, quote or sing Psalm 118:14, “The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation.”
Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy