Category: Sister Judy (Page 166 of 271)

Devotions from Judy’s heart
Lately it seems like everything I have been reading is all about the importance of thankfulness. It isn’t that thankfulness is dependent on our circumstances but more due to the condition of our hearts. It is a spiritual discipline and takes practice and more practice but changes the way we see things. We may still be in a difficult time but light dawns when we can see from His perspective. This morning I woke up to the moon streaming in our window and was as if someone turned the light on and everything looked so different from the usual darkness when I get up. The room was the same only now it looked different with so much light.  In Sarah Young’s book it says,  “You give Me thanks (regardless of your feelings), and I will give you Joy (regardless of your circumstances). As we practice His presence, the light streams into our hearts and we see deeper and beyond our circumstance. It can help us be grateful and say with the Psalmist ( Ps. 118:1), “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He good: for His steadfast love endures forever!!” Some day we may see that our most difficult circumstances were the very times we grew the most and brought us closer to Him.

Devotions from Judy’s heart
Lately I have enjoyed working at Share and Care and finding things that people need. I love it! And my heart rejoices as I wash things up and pack and put them in the mail. Someone else might find this a chore or nuisance but it gives me energy. In our epistle lesson for this week (I Cor. 12), there are so many different parts to the Body of Christ and each one needs to do what they were designed for. When we are serving Christ in our own unique way in the Body, it give deep down joy! Let us be aware when we have energy for a certain thing and let it be acknowledged as God’s gift for us to use for the Body.  But let’s not expect someone next to us to feel the same way as their gift may be entirely different. But we are all serving Him and there is Unity in the Body when we are each doing the very thing we were called to do. Let us be faithful in that and bring glory to Him, who is our head!

Devotions from Judy’s heart
On my computer I can get get connected by either a password or my fingerprint. Sometimes when I put my finger over a little lighted space, my computer opens up immediately. Other times I press my finger over and over again and nothing happens so I resort to using my password.  I thought of how sometimes when we are in prayer there seems to be such an instant connection and awareness of His presence. At other times we wonder, Lord are you here and do you hear me?  We may have to use our password of Faith and trust that even though we may not “feel” His nearness, yet He is with us and so ready to speak and to listen to our hearts. He says ” Before they call, I will answer; while they are yet speaking,I will hear.” Isaiah 65:24

Devotions from Judy’s heart
Today I struggled with finding a pr of shoes that I could wear to work at Share and Care and ended up with sandals. Just yesterday I noticed there was blood on the basement floor and I wondered where was it coming from.  I had been downstairs earlier with bare feet and didn’t give it a thought that I had nicked the top of my little toe on the wood stove hearth earlier. I had blood all over my slipper etc and I never knew I was hurt. It made me think of how we need to be quiet before the Lord and let Him minister to our hearts.  We don’t know the depth of our hurts and are surprised at times when tears come to our eyes or we have feelings of abandonment or loss etc. In our minds something that happened in the past is over, but maybe not! It can still be like my sore toe that is not yet healed.  Even the healing process can’t be hurried up or forced to happen. We can only give ourselves to Him who understands fully and is our Healer. It is much like opening the door and inviting Him in to our inner sanctuary and giving Him permission to pour out His healing love on us, for however long it takes.  I haven’t been able to walk on these cold days as my boots hurt too much but in time I will be on my prayer walks again!

Devotions from Judy’s heart
Good things that are carried to extreme may no longer be good!  That is evident when someone sits next to you that is “bathed” in perfume..a  little perfume can go a long way and too much is sickening! Recently a good friend said she would play scrabble on line with me and she started games and more games until there was about 20! We laughed about it and decided when we finished them we would go to only 3 or so as we don’t have time for an overload of them.  We can apply this spiritually too as  truth carried to extreme  truth is no longer truth. There is evidence of this in churches who focus on one particular issue and can go off on a tangent.  Let us be careful that we are balanced and not carried to extremes! As it says in II Tim. 2:15 we should not be ashamed if we present ourselves to God as one approved, “rightfully handling the word of truth.”

Devotions from Judy’s heart
Our grandkids in Charleston are very excited as they are going to be moving to a brand new 4 bedroom home on Base.  That means each one can have their own room and it will be more spacious than their last house.  Paul is even drawing the floor plan of where he will put everything in his room. Such excitement! It made me think of our Heavenly home and how we should view it. Do we realize it is so much better than our present home or do we just focus on our earthly dwelling?  In John 14 it says that even now our Father is preparing our heavenly home and getting our room ready. He will come again to take us there. It will superior to anything we can dream of or even imagine.  Sometimes we spend so much time fussing with our earthly home that we fail to anticipate the Home that will be ours for eternity. Isn’t it true that we are here on this earth to find our way back to God?  As Paul says in Colossians 3, “Set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are below. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears then you will appear with Him in glory.” What a glorious future we have that awaits us!

Devotions from Judy’s heart
Hope is a wonderful gift and we need to hang on to it and not give up when things in the natural don’t look good. Yesterday my hope started slipping in a minor way when I was expecting the Wildmen. Usually some guys come even before 8:30 and at almost 9 a.m.  only 2 guys were here. I thought, “Oh no! What am I going to do with all this food?” My hope was diminishing.  But by 9:30 there were 9 guys and the biggest eaters amongst them!! There may be big concerns in our lives that we don’t know what the outcome will be. But the important thing is that our hope is in Him who is so trustworthy and faithful. None of us know what the future holds and if  we could see what was going to happen, like Paul said, it wouldn’t be hope at all. ( Rom. 8:24). Let us be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (Rom. 12:12)

.Devotions from Judy’s heart
I read today from Jer. 33:3, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”  I think the Lord loves when we call on Him and put everything that concerns us into His hands. He is never too busy!
As you know Al and I each got a Windows 8 computer and we got the tech support that we pay for monthly…and we are getting our money’s worth!!! Al is further along I think, in knowing his computer since he calls more often and asks more questions. I am more hesitant as I wonder sometimes if I can answer some of the questions the tech asks of me. But I was struggling for over a week with trying to copy my devotionals from my e-mail draft and paste them each day on our blog site. My computer just wouldn’t do it, and I had to use Al’s old one. Since we are going on a trip next month and won’t have 2 computers along, this problem had to be solved. I was so happy when the tech gave me a new browser as the new one I had was not compatible to do this. I could have struggled on and on but I wouldn’t have been able to do it without this change. Does that sound familiar in the spiritual realm? I can figure this out myself!! I will try harder!!!  And we may try many things that don’t work before surrendering to Him who is the One who knows. Let us come to Him first and be open to His solutions and help.  Let us not miss the unsearchable things He has to share with us.

Devotions from Judy’s heart
In my own devotions lately it has been speaking of  the need to walk by the Spirit, letting the Spirit have free reign.  Today I read from Gal 5:25, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” And as we do beautiful fruit results from such living. Yesterday we were expecting a pastor to come for retreat at noon. I had a Swedish meatball dinner all waiting and no one came. Al checked for phone messages and then his e-mail and found she sent a message about 20 minutes after he checked his daily e-mails.  So I had to make a 180 degree turn and put everything back in the frig until supper time, at which time we enjoyed.  Does it seem like the Lord does that to us sometimes? We are going along so smoothly and all of a sudden He brings us to a big turn and everything changes. “God why?  What was I doing wrong?” Not necessarily anything but He may have purposes for which we do not know and we can trust Him. It’s important to be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading rather than to keep barreling on through, which then becomes our will and not His. We are told in Jer. 6:16, that as we walk in the good way we will find rest for our souls,,,and then we will taste the good fruit!!!

How important it is to keep our eyes upward on the Lord and not downcast on the situations we may be in. One morning, Al said, did you know one of the light bulbs is out in our dining area light fixture? I had not noticed and don’t know how long it had been that way, as I had not looked up. Sometimes we may get so downcast by the unavoidable hard  circumstances we are in ,that we miss His help and strengthening presence.  We have been told that we would suffer, that we would go through hard times as His followers and these are times when our faith can shine forth.  If we accept suffering for His sake and give it up to him, He can work good from it and we can grow in our faith.
As Sarah Young said in Jesus Calling, “Accept adversity in My Name, offering it up to Me for My purposes. Thus, your suffering gains meaning and draws you closer to Me. Joy emerges from the ashes of adversity through your trust and thankfulness.”  Maybe one day we will get to the place where we can look up and thank Him for an especially difficult  time, even if we aren’t quite there yet!