Category: Sister Judy (Page 152 of 271)

 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

How does God’s presence manifest in our lives each day? Do we pray and then do as we please, or do we live our prayers and bring His presence to others? Sometimes just a smile or word of encouragement can change the day for someone when we respond to the Holy Spirit’s prompting. I was reading about Thomas Edison who was the greatest inventor of all with 1,093 patents including electric light and power, phonographs, telegraph and telephone etc. He didn’t question if something could be done but always sought to see how it was done. One would have thought he excelled in school and was in a gifted class. But that is not the case. He was the 7^th child in the family and had a hearing problem, which made it difficult for him in school. In fact, when he was 12 years old, his teacher sent home a note for his mom that said, “Your son is addled (mentally ill) and we will not let him attend our institution any longer.” Young Thomas was told not to look at the note but to give it to his mom. When she opened it up, she began weeping and told her son that the school felt he was so smart that there weren’t teachers good enough to teach him and he should learn at home. And that is what his mom did; she began teaching him and encouraging him each day. Thomas felt she was so sure of Him that he didn’t want to disappoint her. Rather than his mom seeing him as one who was dumb and psychotic, she chose to see him as a gifted child and he was. Later in life when she died Thomas found the teacher’s note buried in her closet and read what it really said. He sobbed as he realized what his mom had done for him. Now that is an extraordinary example of how our lives affect others, but each of us can express God’s love to others each day in numerous ways when we are sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading. The beloved disciple said in I John 4:12 & 16 (God’s Word), “If we love each other, God lives in us, and His love is perfected in us… We have known and believed that God loves us. God is love. Those who live in God’s love live in God, and God lives in them.”  Love is a choice and an action, and not just a feeling we get. The Holy Spirit gives us the power to love and display God’s love to others. May we live out His love in our lives and reflect it to the world around us. The choice is ours!

Challenge for today: Thank the Lord for His love for you, and ask the Holy Spirit to help you share  that love with others.

Dear Ones,

Hope you are having a peace filled day. This morning I made our favorite bars and some veggie dishes and went to my exercise class. Al has his computer back already and is up and running.  We got just the right Geek as he went right to work on it and had it done in 3 hours. PTL! 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Know the times! We are in a new time in our culture and we have not experienced anything like this before. We need the Holy Spirit to help us discern the times and to know what the Lord is saying to us.  The other morning, I woke up and saw that the bedroom clock showed it was 4 o’clock, the time I usually get up. So, I began having my devotions and after an hour, I went to the kitchen to put Al’s egg dish in the oven etc. Before long Al got up and asked me what I was doing making noise at 4 am in the kitchen! I thought it was 5, but then remembered our bedroom clock had been unplugged for a while the night before and not set right. I couldn’t believe I got up at 3 a.m. and was all ready for the day. I was not aware of the correct time!  More importantly we need to know God’s time, how to interpret the spiritual signs of our time and to have discernment. Jesus told the Pharisees and Sadducees that came to test Him that they knew the physical signs of the weather by the color of the sky, but they didn’t know how to interpret the signs of the times. Apart from the Lord we cannot really know either. In the Old Testament Daniel knew he needed God’s wisdom, and when he prayed, he was given wisdom to know the times that saved not only his life but that of all the wise men. He said in Daniel 2:20-22 (God’s Word), “Praise God’s name from everlasting to everlasting because He is wise and powerful. He changes times and periods of history. He removes kings and establishes them. He gives wisdom to those who are wise and knowledge to those who have insight. He reveals deeply hidden things. He knows what is in the dark, and light lives with Him.”  We need to be awakened and to get discernment as to the times of our day. Only the Holy Spirit can interpret for us what is really going on behind the scenes and how we are to react and respond. May our prayer be as Paul prayed in Phil. 1:9-11, “I pray that your love will keep on growing because of your knowledge and insight. That way you will be able to determine what is best and be pure and blameless until the day of Christ. Jesus Christ will fill your lives with everything that God’s approval produces. Your lives will then bring glory and praise to God.”

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord for discernment to know the times!

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Happy weekend to you! I am writing early as I have to bring this computer in and have everything transferred over to my new one. They may keep my computer for a couple days  but hopefully will get it back soon. So you won’t hear from me during this time and will resume when I can. Pray all goes well!

Devotions from Judy’s heart

There are many people hurting and grieving losses of family and friends they miss, situations that have changed dramatically, and sadness for what once was. What do we do with our griefs that seem to be spilling out in various ways?  We can lament! I remember when Al was teaching on lament from the Psalms and how honest King David was before the Lord. One third of the Psalms he wrote were lament. He didn’t sugar coat how he was feeling but just let it all spill out. He said in Psalm 6:6-7, “I am worn out from my groaning. My eyes flood my bed every night. I soak my couch with tears. My eyes blur from grief. They fall because of my enemies.” That’s telling it like it is. Lori Ann Wood wrote an article in Just Between Us magazine on Learning to Lament. Perhaps we all need to do that, especially during this pandemic. She said that lament is a passionate expression of grief and sorrow, admitting to God our pain and confusion. Why God why?  We don’t like what is happening but underneath we still have faith and choose to trust in the Lord. Lori wrote that if we didn’t believe He existed, why would we even complain to Him? And if we didn’t believe He was all powerful, why would we think He could have changed the circumstances and done something about it? She goes on to say we also believe He loves us or why would we think He was listening as we open our hearts and tell Him our griefs?  We don’t have to suffer in silence but we can honestly tell Him just how we feel rather than keeping a stiff upper lip. It is not a failure of faith but an act of faith for we go directly to Him. Lament makes room for God and invites Him into our deepest pains. Jesus himself, experienced so much pain and sorrow in His short life on earth and can identify with us. He enters our suffering and it’s alright to tell Him all. Often, we find that after we have let out our pain and lamented, praise begins to well up in our hearts.

Challenge for today: Tell the Lord how you honestly feel and then leave everything up to Him.

Dear Ones,

Hope you are having a wonderful day. This morning I got shopping and spent some Kohl’s dollars and also delivered a fruit basket from our church to a widow. This afternoon I also hope to shop a little more with Christopher and Banks dollars.  Fun!

Devotions from Judy’s heart

I am very rich and so are you if you know the Lord…that’s because we have an inheritance that is beyond what we can even imagine. As Paul says in Romans 8:16-17 (God’s Word), “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. If we are His children, we are also God’s heirs. If we share in Christ’s suffering in order to share His glory, we are heirs together with Him.” Many years ago, I inherited a cabin on lake property which was a gift to me because I was a member of the Seburg family. I didn’t earn it, I didn’t buy it, I simply received it from my parents with much gratitude.  It was the same piece of land that we later built a retreat house, Canaan’s Rest. And then the day came when we gave it to our children and they inherited what we had been given at one time and I hope one day they will pass it on to their children. I remember often kneading bread on the counter at Canaan as I looked out over the trees and lake. I was always struck by the beauty before me and reminded of the gift given me… and this was just an earthly gift. Now even though it is a wonderful gift, there is one that is far greater and can’t even be compared and that is our inheritance of eternal life. We cannot earn it, we can’t buy it, we must simply receive Jesus by faith and the inheritance is ours. He makes it all possible because of His sacrifice for us. But as Paul said in Colossians three, we are to respond by doing everything whole heartedly, knowing we will one day be given our inheritance. Whatever we do in this life is really peanuts compared to the inheritance that is ours. There is no reason to see ourselves as paupers for we were chosen and given eternal glory with the Lord forever. Let us live whole-heartedly and gratefully, knowing how rich we are!

Challenge for today: Express your gratitude to the Lord for the inheritance you have been given as His child. 

Dear Ones,

Hope you are having a good day. Al had his Band of Brothers group this morning and soon we are leaving for Hackensack. Our first stop is to see a friend at Birchview which is so wonderful that  it is now open for visitors. I am going to Share and Care before having my hair cut and then on to meet Joe for his birthday and transfer gifts and birthday cake etc into his car. Ann isn’t feeling good so we have to cancel our plans to go to the lake to celebrate there.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

What is your image of God? We all have different images of Him but none of them are inadequate to describe our great God who is so beyond words and our understanding. We try by using visual words such as rock, shepherd, lover, potter, guide, deliverer but none of them can fully capture His greatness. Our image of Him is often formed when we are very young and how we related to our parents. For some it may seem like God is a policeman who is watching us, or a Santa who gives us what we want, or a distant person who we can’t get close to etc. Many images we have are unhealthy and hopefully we grow to see God more like what we find in the Word. Our image of God is important as it has a lot to do with the direction of our spiritual journey and seems to point us in a certain way. In my own life, I think I felt like God was going to require of me things that were too difficult and I remember being fearful. We gest that it was because my mom expected that I would walk by myself from the cabin to the outhouse at night; and at 3 years old, I could only imagine what animals were lurking by, and especially the possibility of a skunk or bear. But hopefully we outgrow the kind of images that illicit fear or limit God and our view of Him changes. He is mighty and great and powerful and yet love! We are influenced also by the teaching we get in our churches, songs we sing, and even the culture we grew up in. On our wall in the dining area we have Rembrandt’s painting of the Prodigal Son returning and notice that the father’s left hand is masculine and his right hand is feminine to help us realize God is beyond male and female in our understanding too. We need to ask ourselves if our image of God brings up feelings of fear and dread or if it floods us with love and grace. One thing we do know is that God is seeking us and wants to bring us into a close relationship. Jeremiah 29:13-14, (The Message) says, “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” May we let go of our false images of the Lord, and see Him as our loving Father pursuing us.

Challenge for today: Spend some time picturing yourself as the prodigal son returning home and being welcomed by your loving Father.

Dear Ones,

Hope you are having a good day. Kurt and Bo stopped to see us on their way home this morning and showed us pictures of Kurt on the ice after a sauna with only a towel on. ( And that also means walking all the way from the sauna down the hill too!)  They got lots done at the Silver Chateau and time to relax. I got cookies baked, went to Aldi’s, and getting things ready to go to the Lake tomorrow to celebrate Joe’s birthday. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

One of my daily prayers is that I would be more aware of God’s presence throughout my day; that I might see the Lord in all that is happening and experience His grace. Some of you know I love greeting cards; I love getting them but I really love to send them. The Lord also knows that, and just yesterday Al took a call from a friend whose lovely Christian mother died and she is going through all of her things. She invited us and others to help ourselves to some things left that she needs to dispense with. I had only 10 minutes before I had to go to an appointment but His gift was waiting for me under a table. What do you suppose I found? Bags of cards of all kinds to send! I felt as if the Lord was smiling and I just gave Him thanks.  Later I went back with a friend, whose health does not permit her to go shopping any more. And she found a whole new wardrobe of clothes that were just her size and even shoes and slippers. I rejoiced even more as I had remarked to Al in the morning that I felt sad for her as I could no longer take her shopping to the Mall. Isn’t the Lord full of surprises? He wants us to be awake and recognize His hand in our everyday life. Sometimes it is peace in the midst of what normally would be a tense situation and we know it is Him. There are many practices that also help us be mindful of Him since we have a tendency to drift and miss what God is up to in our lives. Some feel fasting helps them to be more awakened, humble and open to the Lord. But that doesn’t just have to be fasting from food; it could be from e-mails or the TV or our phones. Some find it helpful to journal as they see a pattern in their life of how God may be leading them. Others practice hospitality or spiritual formation. There are many spiritual practices that help direct us back to the Lord and to wake us from our routines and become mindful. In I Thess. 5:6 we are told to keep awake.  We are to be alert and awake to what God is saying and wants to do in our lives. Each of our journeys is unique and planned out by the Lord, so we have to see what works best for us at this time in our lives. As we grow in Him, we may need to let go of some practices and go on to something that is new to us. But we will know as we will experience His grace and be drawn closer to Him.

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to help you be mindful and aware of His presence in your life.

Dear Ones,

Hope you had a wonderful weekend. We had church virtually yesterday even though we all gathered together, our pastor’s son was sick so his family stayed home as a precaution. Today I made cookies and a big pot of chicken stew.  I had trouble with my computer again yesterday and they think it is in the hardware. I ordered a new computer and when it comes I will be without a computer for a few days while they transfer things over to my new one… so no devotions on those days.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

We all like to think of ourselves as honest and truthful but are we that way with God? Do we pray and tell Him what we think He wants to hear or do we tell it like it is? Jesus was very open with His Father and expressed all kinds of emotions like grief, anguish, anger, compassion etc. Since He didn’t suppress what He was feeling inside, neither should we, for after all He knows even our thoughts. It is helpful to own our emotions, even negative ones, and welcome them as a guest for they tell us a lot about ourselves. They are like an alarm that goes off as the Lord is trying to tell us something. As we learn from them, we can then release them and say farewell, knowing the Lord is seeking to draw us closer to Him. Of course, we’d all love to live continually in deep connection with the Lord, experiencing joy and peace and sensing the warmth of His love.  But there may be times when we go through what is called desolation or a dark night when we feel isolated from God and others. Saint Teresa lived for 50 years in spiritual darkness, feeling cold and forgotten, but she walked by faith and didn’t let her feelings control. She let go her images of God and served Him with much love.  We may not go through a dark night but we sometimes go through times of confusion and wonder what is God up to. Certainly, Job must have wondered that when so many catastrophic things happened to him and his family…but He still trusted even though He didn’t understand at the time.  Or what if we were in Joseph’s place and trying to make sense of Mary’s pregnancy when he knew the child was not his; yet He obeyed the angel’s message and followed God’s leading. The more we grow in the Lord, the more we realize we don’t know. There is so much that remains a mystery and may not be explained to us, but one day we will know.  For now, our part is simply to keep moving forward with the Lord, even if it is baby steps, and all the while, trusting Him. May our prayer be as Paul’s in Eph. 1:17 (God’s Word), “I pray that the glorious Father, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know Christ better. Then you will have deeper insight. You will know the confidence that He calls you to have and the glorious wealth that God’s people will inherit. “

Challenge for today: Be honest with the Lord and trust Him in things you don’t yet understand.

Dear Ones,

Hope you are having a good weekend. I went to our Women’s Bible study at church this morning and enjoyed the time of study and fellowship. Our son Kurt and Bo stopped by last night on their way to the Silver Chateau and so good to catch up with them. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

We are all invited into a deeper relationship with the Lord as we respond to His grace. He loves when we notice His presence in the ordinary things of our day and respond like children who delight in the wonder of it all. It helps to be mindful and to live in the present moment and not let our past use up our day. Sometimes we go on autopilot and miss what the Lord is presently wanting us to see in the now. It is easy to slide into a comfortable mode where we sleepwalk through the present, but we blow our opportunity to experience the exciting things He has planned for us. Isn’t it our own egos that get in the way when we think we might miss out if we go God’s way, but that is a lie?  God’s agenda may be different than ours but it is a whole lot more exciting and satisfying. Our way is often to increase our self-image or self-gratification and if we trace its roots, it may go back to unmet needs in our childhood. We’ve all had positive and negative experiences and we need to need to invite the Lord into the broken places and let Him heal us. Otherwise we end up with ego obsessions and act impulsively and life becomes all about us. How much better to acknowledge those things and give them to the Lord and let Him transform us. Perhaps when we think of a deepening relationship with the Lord, we feel we have to memorize more scripture, pray more, go to church more; and although all of this is good, our spiritual lives are really about love. The Pharisees were good at keeping rules, tithing, and memorizing but they left out love. We also can do many things for the Lord but do it out of duty. The Lord wants us to do things from a heart of love which isn’t based on warm toasty feelings but a willingness to forgive and keep our hearts open. What follows affects how we live for we will respond to the needs of others around us with love. In I Cor. 16:14 (NRSV) it says “Let all that you do be done in love.” As I read today, our spiritual progress is measured by the size of our hearts. Let us live in the present moment with our hearts open wide to His love.

Challenge for today: Give your day to the Lord and accept His invitation in love.