Category: Sister Judy (Page 147 of 270)

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

 

My question for today is how can we better care for our soul? 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Our soul was meant for God and it craves security, satisfaction and significance, which cannot be found in ourselves, only in the Lord. And the truth is that when we willingly die to ourselves, it is then when our soul comes alive. How exactly does that manifest in our lives? I can guarantee it will help us see people in a different light; we will see them more as God sees them. We will wish them well and project good into their lives, not evil. We will think of them as part of us and want to bless them. Our souls are also not meant to be hurried but resting in the Lord and present to Him; it may mean often slowing down and making space for healing and restoration. It’s important that our will is undivided so our soul can be at rest and ready to say yes to the Lord. We are truly set free as we surrender to the Lord and embrace what He has for our lives. Even when things turn out different than we anticipated and we are disappointed, it is an opportunity to be like the wean child with his mother; we learn to find our satisfaction in the Lord and not in satisfying our own appetites. Jesus invites all of us who are thirsty to come to Him and let Him quench our thirst and in Psalm 55: 2b &3a (NIV) said, “Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the riches of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.”  Our souls were meant for the Lord. They also thrive better when we are full of gratitude. It doesn’t come as a result of getting more things but from acknowledging His presence and His goodness to us. We don’t deserve any of the gifts He blesses us with, and we must guard against thinking we are entitled. When we are humble and know that all we have received is from Him, it is good to express thanks.  But how do we care for our souls in keeping them from weariness and fatigue? I remember how tired I was when my dad had a heart attack and I sat by his bedside. I didn’t do any work and yet my soul was weary out of concern for him. Ortberg, in his book, Soul Keeping, suggests doing what Jesus did in allowing God to replenish His spirit: He prayed and fed His mind with scripture; He had close friends such as the 12 who he shared life with; He worshiped in the synagogue; He enjoyed creation and took long walks; He welcomed children and blessed them and even partied etc. As Dallas Willard once said, “The reason our souls hunger so is that our life we could be living so far exceeds our strangest dreams.” Let us take time to tend our soul and live life humbly, gratefully, and deeply close to Him.

Challenge for today:  Live in gratitude and express it to God and others. 

Dear Ones,

Hope you are enjoying this warmer day of sunshine. This morning I studied and made individual egg dishes and went to my exercise class. We plan to get a walk in this afternoon and go to a Lenten service tonight.  

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Why do we respond as we do? Is it coming from deep inside of us of how we really feel or do we often act out of hurts in our past that still need healing?  When I wrote the last devotional I sent out to you about the miracle and God’s timing of our birth, I realized for the first time in my life that maybe my birth was not planned by my parents. Really, I have never given that a thought before. My mom already had a one -year-old son and a two- year- old son; it is not likely that she wanted a another baby so soon, making it 3 little ones in 3 years. Now she never told me that, but in the back of my mind, all my life, I have not wanted to be an inconvenience. I don’t like to be upfront or have the attention on me. That is not the best material for a Pastor’s wife as we are often asked to speak and do public things. I remember resisting the suggestion by some at one of our church to stand at the door with Al each Sunday to greet people. I even had dreams of being pushed in the limelight which I objected to. I don’t even like being honored in the restaurant on my birthday with the workers all serenading me. As I write devotions to all of you, God also works on me, and that is as it should be.  I recently wrote that I want my outward life to be congruent with my inner life and that my actions would be consistent with my words. God did plan my birth at just the right time as I was close to my two older brothers growing up; later I finally got a sister and way later came another brother who was loved by all. God had it all planned from the beginning. There are things that have happened in all of our lives that need healing and as the Lord reveals them, we can get prayer and get set free from them. I was in a small intimate prayer group where we all received healing prayers and freed us up in areas of our lives; but there is always more and we need to be open to the Holy Spirit. It is a gift when He reveals and connects the dots for us. It says in Psalm 147:3 (Amplified), “He heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds (curing their pains and their sorrows).”  We have only to ask the Lord to cleanse our wounds as we confess our part, and then He brings the healing; It is important to keep our eyes on Him and not keep dwelling on what happened or infection will develop. It is exciting and also painful at times as we go through the healing process, but the new freedom is worth it. As the Apostle Paul said in III John 1:2, may we enjoy good health and all go well with us, even as our soul is getting along well.

Challenge for today: Expose your wounds to the Lord and let Him cleanse and heal them. 

Dear Ones,

Hope you are having a joy-filled day! This morning I did food prep and cleaned the apartment and took choc covered raspberries downstairs for our coffee time.  This afternoon we are going to the store and then for our walk in this beautiful sunshine! 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Each of us is a miracle and have eternal value. No one else is quite like us and we were born at the right time in God’s time table. Every birth is an awesome mystery that God brings about. My nephew’s wife recently had their first baby and even though they anticipated the birth around the date of 40 weeks, it’s not like anyone could know the exact moment of little Gloria Rose’s birth; or who of us will know when she will smile or say her first word? None of these things we can take credit for anyway. I was reading some of Eugene Peterson’s sermons that he gave to his congregation over a 29- year span of being their pastor. He preached about the miracle of Isaac’s birth and how long his parents had to wait. (It is the first detailed birth story in the Bible.)  The promise of a son was given to Abraham and Sarah long after child bearing age. But Abraham had faith and believed God’s promise and God fulfilled it in giving them a son, Isaac whose name meant laughter. Their lives must have been radically changed but so full of joy after waiting so long; Sarah was 90 years old and Abraham was 100. My dad lived to be 100 and my mom almost 89 and I can’t imagine them bringing a baby into the world at that age. But we are all a person brought into being by God. Think about it! He knows our name and the exact moment we would be born for He created life. When I was a young RN, I worked the last months of my pregnancy in OB and with the newborns in the hospital nursery, so as to avoid heavy lifting of patients etc. Believe me, no baby is just an ordinary occurrence for the parents. As they watched me through the nursery window bath their baby, they beamed with pride of how beautiful their baby was. Perhaps when you held a newborn baby for the first time, you might have also been overcome with the awesomeness of the miracle. That little bundle comes with a personalized plan from the Lord and has all the necessary gifts to fulfill it. Each of us are also programed by the Lord and our part is to receive Him and His love, and seek to follow His individual plan for our lives. He says in Jer. 29:11 (God’s Word), “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.” God’s plan for us is the very best and let us participate in His specific plan for us, all the while growing in our love for Him,

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord if you are in the place He has programed for you at this time in your life.

Dear Ones,

Happy weekend! Hope you have time to relax and get refreshed. This morning I studied and did food prep and made bars. This afternoon we are going to try out a new health store that just opened yesterday!  

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Is our soul centered in the Lord or are we double-minded and un-centered and tossed about? I am trying to be intentional about my own soul care, especially during this Lenten time; and as I read John Ortberg’s book, Soul Keeping, it is opening my eyes to see how important the care of my soul is. When our soul is without a center, we find it is hard to make decisions and we go back and forth without clarity. Ortberg writes that in that condition we are more vulnerable and often filled with fear and impatience, and easily thrown off balance. When we try to find our identity in externals rather than being centered in God, he compares it to building our house over a sinkhole and waiting to give way. It actually happened to a man in Florida 8 years ago when a sinkhole opened up beneath the family home; he and his house were swallowed up and he lost his life. How important it is to have a firm foundation in the Lord, and live from this deep Center. In order to keep centered, we can ask ourselves if a particular thing we are thinking or doing will block our soul’s connection to God or will it bring us closer. Sin blocks are relationship and the enemy tries to nudge us from our center. There are also times when we simply don’t take God into account; when difficulties arise, we just leave God out of the equation and try to manage on our own. But of course, it doesn’t work for we were meant to walk with God and to live our lives in Him; as we do so, we will find ourselves nurtured, healed and complete. It’s like our spiritual thirst that is quenched, for all of us were made to search for God. As David said in Psa. 63:1 (ESV), “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you.” God pursues us, He desires to be with us and I have to remind myself during the day to just enjoy Him as I do my work. I talk to Him while driving to exercise class and sing to Him, but there are periods of my day, that I am not consciously aware that He is right there with me. Ortberg’s challenge to me and hopefully also to you is: “How many moments of my life today can I fill with conscious awareness of and surrender to God’s presence?” Let’s do life centered in Him!

Challenge for today: Invite God into your day and take note how much of your day is with conscious awareness of Him.

Dear Ones,

Happy weekend to you! Hope you are full of Hope and peaceful in His peace! This morning I did food prep and then went back to shop at the wild sale you will read about. So much fun!!

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Our riches are found in the Lord for He is always good, always faithful, always full of love. Sometimes we wait and wait for something we desire and don’t get it, at least not right away, but that doesn’t cancel out the fact of God’s greatness and goodness and love. The bottom line is that He is sovereign and knows best. Those very things we want changed may be what He is using to keep us close to Him in dependency and love. Sometimes He totally surprises us and pours out unexpected blessings and we are left in awe. I want to share a material blessing I received yesterday; I came home smiling from ear to ear and told Al, “I don’t know when I have had such fun!!”  Al was gone in the morning and encouraged me to go to Christopher and Banks in the afternoon for the store is closing tomorrow.  He knew that I was aware of the sales but I never dreamed it would be so good. Over half the store was vacant but there were still racks of clothes left and marked 80% off. As I was going through the clothes and trying things on, the clerk asked me if I knew that after a certain amount, we also got 50% more off of the 80% sale price. I was unaware and increased my intensity to look even more closely. I found 15 items for others and myself and saved $588.49! Instead of pants costing $60 they were $6 and shirts that had been $45 were $4.50. etc. It was unbelievable! As soon as I got back to our apartment complex, I told friends where they could go for this great sale. But of course, that news pales in comparison to the Good News we have been given to share and the spiritual blessings the Lord waits to give. There are times for all of us when we need a word and a particular scripture is just like the perfect fit for our need. The Lord knows and has a storehouse of promises and we have only to claim them. Maybe a friend feels anxious and depressed, we can listen but also give them a scripture for them to try on and hang on to. Or if others have never received the Lord we can help lead them to the way of salvation. That is the best gift of all and the price has already been paid. It is free! It says in Joel 2:13, “Rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.”  Although I had to pay a small amount for the sale clothes, He offers us salvation which is the most important gift of all and lasts for all eternity.

Challenge for today: Use opportunities the Lord sends to share with others of the most wonderful gift of all!

 

Devotions on Judy’s heart

Last evening Al and I went to Lenten service at another church, and discovered there was only one couple in the congregation besides us along with the Pastor, pianist, sound person. We had been to the same church last week and there were about 40 people there so this was rather unexpected. I felt sorry for the pastor at first, and he started out by saying “Where two or three are gathered ( and we were barely more than three), there Christ was in our midst. But we were pleasantly surprised as the pastor didn’t have a typical sermon, but read scripture and had us be quiet for a few moments and then share a word or phrase stood out to us. He read the story from Mark 4: 35-41 from The Message translation of the Bible, where Jesus tells his disciples to go to the other side. After they all get in the boat, Jesus fell asleep in the stern and a huge storm came up with waves pouring into the boat, threatening to sink it. The disciples wake Him and ask if he didn’t care that they are probably all going down. But Jesus just told the wind to pipe down and for the sea to settle down; and the storm quieted and the sea became smooth as glass. Now we have been in storms and it doesn’t happen that they usually end that quickly. Pastor read the story a second time and we were asked to share why the phrase struck us after spending some moments of quiet; then he read it a third time asking what we felt God was saying to us through it. (It’s called Lectio Divina and I have written before of how we did this on Monday nights for several years with a group when we lived at Canaan.) It’s strange but as many times as I have read the story and even written of it, I never noticed the phrase, “They took Him in the boat as He was.” How did I miss that. The phrase spoke to me that Jesus comes to us just as He is but in many different ways. I thought of how He often comes to us as a wonderful teacher and we gain wisdom from Him. Sometimes He comes to us as a disciplinarian, much like our parent when we need correction. He may also come to us as Father, and reassures us of how much He loves us. There are times I sense He is a Good Shepherd that shows me the way I should go, especially when making life decisions. Other times I sense He is my protector when I am in situations of danger. Yes, Jesus comes as He is, and may we rest knowing that He is everything we need and more at each moment. I think the service tonight was just what I needed too. 

Challenge for today. Read Mark 4:35-41 and see what stands out for you.