Category: Sister Judy (Page 145 of 277)

Blessings on  your day and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you are enjoying another beautiful Day. We may not get our walk in today as we are servers for the summer picnic party for those  here at Northern Lakes. This morning I made Al’s cookies and a stir-fry veggie dish and porkchops covered with baked apple slices.  Would appreciate prayers for our son Kurt who has been running a fever for a few days. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

With this scorching weather both Al and I remarked we are glad we don’t live in the desert where there are many more days like this. Desert times remind us of a place of lack and deprivation. But maybe desert times in our lives seem more challenging… like when our health goes, or loss of finances, or times of turmoil. What do we do? We have only to look to the Lord, and not ourselves or others but Him. I was reading an article by Robert Hotchkin, founder of Men on Front Lines, and he shares about desert times when we have nothing to rely on other than God. We need Him and we know we need Him in a big way; no more relying on ourselves or others. Robert gives the example of the children of Israel going through the desert for 40 years as they had the tangible presence of the Lord with them in the pillar of cloud by day and in the pillar of fire by night. He was always present. They also were fed in a supernatural way realizing as they woke up each morning there would be manna on the ground, water from a rock when thirsty and quail to eat. Their sandals and clothes never wore out, and God provided everything! Our nation is in desert times and in great need now for we have strayed from God. We have trusted in other things and manmade idols, and left God out. There is lack of reverence for God and desire for truth. How do we get back to being under God? Robert gives us some hints of what we need to do. First to repent in any area we are dependent on man or manmade systems to supply.  God is our provider and we must look to Him. He cares and will make a way for us. We can ask for His grace to trust, especially as we watch the negative news. We need to follow where He leads us and not give in to our doubts. He encourages us to look to our past wins and see how mighty God has showed Himself, like when David killed the lion and the bear or slew the giant. We also need to be other focused rather than on ourselves. Then as we worship Him and get our eyes off the enemy or ourselves, we can know in our hearts that He is faithful and He will supply all that we need, especially as we go through desert times. As John said in I John 4:9 (ESV), “No fear exists where love is.” May we walk through desert times aware of how much He loves us and is faithful.

Challenge for today: Don’t spend time rehearsing all the negative things of your desert times, but look to the Lord to meet every need and give Him praise.

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you are enjoying your weekend. Today we are going to be off to the lake and stopping on the way to see a friend in Assisted living and then to Camp Patmos to see more friends and then on to the cabin. We hope to get in a boat ride and swim.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Do we remember the goodness of the Lord to us? Or do we forget what He saved us from and take for granted His blessings. I was reading in Deuteronomy 5 when Moses was addressing the people and reminding them of the many ways God had been with them. He told how God spoke to them out of the fire on the mountain, how God brought them out of Egypt, how God made a covenant with them etc. Then He said in verse 15 (The Message), “Don’t ever forget that you were slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there in a powerful show of strength.” What an awesome story the Israelites could tell their children born to them on their long journey to the Promise Land: God delivered us, God led us through the Red Sea, God gave us water out of a rock and fed us manna every day! But they forgot and complained and wished to go back to Egypt. Moses also went on in Deuteronomy 6 to tell the people to talk about God’s commands to their children, serve and worship God and don’t forget how they got there. Maybe we are all guilty at times of forgetting how God has blessed us, how He took us out of a life of slavery to sin, made us new and free. Or we may wonder at times why the Christian life isn’t as exciting as when we first came to the Lord when everything seemed so new and passionate; but maybe the fault is with us, as we have taken His blessings for granted.  When we moved here to Northern Lakes, Al and I went through an old trunk of our love letters, diplomas, mementos of all kinds, and it brought back so many memories to us. Yesterday on our Anniversary, we spent time over our celebration dinner and later on our walk, sharing about God’s goodness to us in each move we made to a new church. Some things we hadn’t thought about for years and yet as we shared it was like yesterday. We must not forget the kindness of the Lord or we become full of complaints and feel entitled to more things. As it says in Isaiah 46:9 (NRSV), “Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like me.” Let us remember the Lord and all He has done for us, knowing that He never forgets us and has us engraved on the palms of his hands.

Challenge for today: Spend some time in quiet, remembering what the Lord has freed you of.

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Happy weekend! Nice to have it a little cooler and will make our walk more enjoyable today. I baked cookies on a stick and we went to pick up meat from a rancher. Then Al and I went out to celebrate our 56th anniversary with a yummy steak dinner. God has blessed us so much and we give Him thanks. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart

Lately I have been getting scriptures on the importance of giving, not just for the receiver, but for the good of our own hearts. Today I read from Psalm 112:5-6 (ESV) where it says, “It is well with the man who deals generously and lends; who conducts his affairs with justice. For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever.” We need to give generously to the poor, not only because they need it, but for ourselves to be spiritually healthy. It is good to ponder how much we have been given from the Lord, virtually everything; and remember that when we give to others it is only a fraction of sharing all that we possess. We have been given so much! Whatever we do for the poor we do for the Lord, and He is in the poor. Ronald Rolheiser writes that how we treat the poor is how we treat God. One day He will judge us if we fed the hungry, gave water to the thirsty, clothed the poor and visited those in prison.  One of my favorite places to give is to missions and particularly to give money so wells can be dug in areas where they have only dirty rivers with water not fit to drink.  A whole community is changed when they have a well to get fresh water. Another important place for our gifts to make a difference is for missionaries who serve the Lord in foreign lands and try to exist on such limited incomes. We will never run out of things to support when our hearts are opened wide to the needs of others. My cousin and her daughter and son-in-law who began the walk across America were treated well by total strangers who gave them meals, sometimes shelter, and other times just a glass of cold water when they were hot and thirsty. When we are generous and joyfully give what we have, we won’t get polluted by wealth or close our hearts to others in need. But even those who are very rich must still remember it was not their own power and ability that gave them so much. It was the Lord who gave the strength to produce all the wealth. Deut. 8:17 says, “If you start thinking to yourselves, ‘I did all this. And all by myself. I’m rich. It’s all mine!’—well, think again. Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this wealth so as to confirm the covenant that he promised to your ancestors—as it is today.”  Let us not hoard the gifts God has given us and give out of our abundance, but also out of our own need.

Challenge for today: Give something in secret to one who is struggling and in need.

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you are keeping cool today! We had a couple brief showers and things are looking  fresh again. This morning I made egg dishes and did food prep and went downstairs for donuts. This afternoon we have Bible Study and then going to friends for fellowship over coffee afterwards. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

What kind of a fruit are we known by? That which is in our hearts comes out in what we say and what we do. Jesus said in Luke 6:43-45 (NRSV), “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.” We can hide what is in our hearts and put on a good show for a while, but eventually what is really in our hearts will become evident by the fruit in our lives. It’s what is inside that matters. The Message translation says, “It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.” We can’t fool people for long. If we want to know the character of another also, we can simply watch their actions and listen to what comes out of their mouth. Soon we will be able to tell if they are compassionate and kind or if they are consistently rude and unloving. One couple bought a house on property with fruit trees but they did not have the knowledge of  what each tree was until the fruit appeared. They were pleasantly surprised to find they had an assortment of fruit trees and got to enjoy a variety of good fruit. Even if we should fool people for a time, the Lord is the fruit inspector and sees exactly what is in our hearts. Sometimes we may be surprised by our own unloving responses to those around us. We didn’t know that was deep down in our hearts and we must humbly seek forgiveness. The Lord is so pleased when we ask Him to change our hearts and make us more like Him, that we may bear good fruit for His glory.

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to purify your heart and make you more and more like Him.

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you had a great weekend. We enjoyed having Al’s sister here and time to share together. Today I made bars, went to Aldi’s and my exercise class. We are walking on these hot afternoons even though some days we are the only ones on the trail. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Do we live our daily lives in gratitude for our salvation and all the blessings God has poured out on us?  When we wake in the morning, do we welcome the day as another opportunity to love and serve Him? I wonder if our prayers are more about asking for things rather than seeking ways to give back and thanking Him.  Some give to the Lord out of the motivation of “giving to get” for the Lord has promised if we sow bountifully, we will reap bountifully! An English teacher, Keith Gogan, writes that our motivation for giving should be selfless and pro bono. (Latin, “for the good”) In fact as Christians, shouldn’t all our giving be pro bono?! Recently a friend responded to one of my prior devotions on speaking the truth, and not holding back, like Samuel when he had to tell Eli what God was going to do to his sons. She told of the struggle in her own life to speak up as she was afraid to hurt other people’s feelings. She wrote, “Many years ago after attending both of our church services and Sunday School I was feeling hungry.  I wanted to eat something, but I knew our cupboards were bare.  It was like that after Dad died.  I found myself walking to Nymans Grocery store.  My idea was to ask Mr.  Nyman if I could charge some groceries.  I was shy and did not want to ask him, but I did walk around the store and planned what I would get if he said yes.  It was hard and I felt so embarrassed even to ask him.  The store closed at 1:00 pm and church had gotten over at Twelve noon.  I walked around this little store a number of times and waited for whatever customers were in the store to leave.  I knew that if the owner said no I would be unable to ever go back there. With five minutes until closing with all of the other customers gone it was time to go. I could not move and then standing at the back of the store I heard the words, “Helen go.” I looked around me thinking it was my Dad, but I knew it wasn’t.  I forged ahead, asked Mr. Nyman and he said yes. I ran and picked out some bread, apple sauce, coffee for my Mom and cream for her also.  On the way home I wondered what my Mom would think.  I charged the food and now Mom would have to pay for it.  When she came home later that night she smiled and wrapped her arms around me.  I am thankful that I responded to Gods prompting and need to listen carefully and then act.” I read this with tears in my eyes as she was a friend and we even double dated as we became teens; but I didn’t know the extent of her poverty. My dad often gave her and I a ride to school but I know my folks and I would have been over to her house in an instant if we thought she was in need and pro bono for sure! We missed an opportunity to give back to the Lord but may all of our hearts be open to the joy of giving to others in whatever ways we can and out of gratitude.

Challenge for today: Look for opportunities to share your love for the Lord Pro Bono!

Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy