Category: Sister Judy (Page 173 of 277)

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!

Devotions from Judy’s heart
When Al went to the Dr. yesterday he had a couple questions to ask him about the pain in his hip. He thought he needed a physical therapist or a chiropractor to work on him. But the x-ray showed that he has arthritis in his hip, so those measures would not solve his problem. Sometimes we also think we know just what is “wrong” with us and we self diagnose and don’t always come to the right conclusions. But instead we need to go to the Great Physician and let him give us the right diagnosis so we can get help and get well.  Isn’t it easy to say that this or that person treats me badly so that is why I am the way I am?  Wrong diagnosis! Or if my circumstances were different, I wouldn’t feel so lethargic or depressed. Wrong!  It doesn’t matter about the people around us for we  first have to know we are the one who is sick.  Jesus was hard on the Pharisees as they thought they were “healthy” before God but were blind to their spiritual sickness.  Also, Job’s friends gave him the wrong diagnosis and he calls them worthless physicians. ( Job 13:4). They were no help at all.  We need to know when we are sick and  go to our Physician where  we will get the help we need. Al was glad for his diagnosis as now he knows what needs to be done.

Devotions from Judy’s heart
On a recent Sunday in church we sang, Crown Him With Many Crowns and something inside me resonated  when I sang the words, “Awake my soul and sing”.  I wondered when and how I had fallen asleep.  Later as I went on a prayer walk, I found myself singing aloud those very words with much gusto.  Fortunately no one but God and  nature surrounding me was able to hear me sing. It’s so easy to get lulled to sleep and not be alert to His voice and His hand at work in our lives and all around us.  In Eph. 5:14 it says to “Awake, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Just like in a marriage relationship we can go along and take one another for granted and all of a sudden something happens that we are awakened to the “treasure” we have.  As it says in I Thess. 5,  Let us be children of the light and keep awake and sober, putting on faith, love and hope etc.  May we “Crown Him as our matchless king throughout eternity!”

Devotions from Judy’s heart

We are given so many wonderful promises but often we have very low expectations.  The Lord has promised that He will answer even before we call, He will bear our burdens, He will provide according to His riches, He will give us peace instead of anxious thoughts etc.  Last Sunday I was at our new church and we usually have coffee and cookies in the middle of the service. But that Sunday we were to have coffee at the new site for the church when the service at the theater was over.  I was expecting coffee and cookies again but to my surprise there were egg salad sandwiches, veggies and dip, muffins, coffee and juice etc. What a nice surprise beyond what I had anticipated.  Sometimes I think we aim too low, or we go to the wrong place when we need help. Instead of going to the Lord and trusting He will direct us and give us what we need, we may get anxious and think we have to fix things ourselves. Instead let us go to the source of every good thing and believe He means what He says in His Word and expect incredible things!

devotions from Judy’s heart

We have been involved in a Small Group for several years and next time
when we meet I don’t think we will take up  as much of the group’s time.
The past few times we have asked for their discernment and wisdom
concerning our church situation. They were so helpful to us and we are
grateful for their input.  But what if we took the whole time or dwelt
on just our issues every time that would not be good.  Each one in the
Body has needs and we are to be there for one another. Some people are
more quiet about their needs so we mus ask to be sensitive and aware of
them. In fact, as we pray and help others, it seems as if our own
problems get smaller and smaller. Do you think it is because the focus
is off of ourselves and on Him who holds the answers?  He wants to 
guide our footsteps and  like I read today from Ps. 138:8 “The Lord will
fulfill His purpose for me; your steadfast love, O Lord endures forever.

Devotions from Judy’s heart
Yesterday I did a deep cleaning and stripped our bed down to the bed frame and dusted and  washed everything.  Maybe you  couldn’t tell that the carpet was dusty underneath the bed but it feels good to have everything clean again.  Don’t you wish things would stay clean once and for all?!  In a short time more cleaning will be required! Our lives are like that as the Lord dusts us off and we feel free and cleansed deep down with more room for His Spirit.  But it isn’t long at all before we are asking Him to forgive us and to make us clean again, and it becomes a constant practice.  When we let things go they seem to pile up and we feel the affects.  David prayed after his sin with Bathsheba in Ps. 51 “Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me , and I will be whiter than snow.” Even as our bedroom now is sparkling clean, He desires to cleanse us and  give us a pure heart.    Why not throw off every thing that hinders and the sin that easily entangles? ( Heb. 12:10)