Devotions from Judy’s heart
One of my New Year’s goals is to savor the moment and not rush through my day. As Ann Voskamp said “They say time is money, but that’s not true. Time is life. And if I want the fullest life, I need to find fullest time. ” Hurry leaves us feeling empty, and so often we find ourselves rushing to get more, when we need to slow down and enjoy what is. We need to take time to live with soul and body and God all in sync. We have enough time in a day to get done what the Lord has for us. And I suspect we have enough time to go out into the night air and look at the stars and give praise to our Creator. Let us give our full attention to what He has for us each day and not feel pressed to rush to do more! As Ann says, “God gives us time but do we have time for Him?”
May we just live our one life well!
Category: Sister Judy (Page 176 of 279)
Devotions from Judy’s heart
There is a need in all of our lives to be quiet and still so we can hear His voice. As I read today from Ps. 37 ” Be sill before Lord and wait patiently for Him.” Hush and wait! Even when we are talking with others, we need to be listening to what He is saying to our hearts. Al is just back from St. Scholastica where the directees have spent a weekend in silence. But Al listened to each of them in his group for 1 1/2 hours to help them discern God’s voice in their lives. As they were open to the Spirit, it was a holy time. I think the most important thing we can do for another person, is to listen to them and help them to discern what God is saying. It’s not important what we think, but it is vital what the Spirit is saying and we need to be quiet to listen. One word given when empowered by the Spirit is worth more than an abundance of our own words. As Sarah Young said, “Be a channel of My Love, Joy, and Peace by listening to Me as you listen to others.”
Devotions from Judy’s heart
As you may know I play Scrabble with several friends on line and sometimes the computer is very frustrating. I will go to the Scrabble screen and a little circle goes round and round but it won’t click into the scrabble board so I can play. I thought of how we often press the button that says we will follow the Lord where He leads and then when it comes to something He asks of us that we don’t like, we won’t click in and do it. We go round and round but refuse what He is directing us to do. We can’t click in to the next thing the Lord has for us that way and we miss out on wonderful opportunities. His ways are not always our ways but let us give up our self-willed ways that our hearts will be set free.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
On New Year’s eve, Al and I had a nice hot sauna and sat outside on
the porch with steam pouring from us. We were getting rid of the
impurities of our bodies, and as we washed off, we felt all fresh
and clean. How is it that like our spiritual lives? We get so
muddied up in the world and even in our thought lives, and need
constant cleansing from things hidden deep within. The Pharisees
only wanted to clean the outside of the cup but Jesus said to
them,”Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish,
and then the outside will be clean.” ( Matt. 23:26) Are we willing
to be cleansed deep on the inside and deal with those hidden
things? If we are willing to expose ourselves to the “heat” we will
get cleansed and feel new and refreshed, just like coming from the
sauna!
Devotions from Judy’s heart
It says in Ecc. 4 that two are better than one for “If one falls down, his friend can help him up.” When I got my new Windows 8 computer it was very different from my old one and Al came to my rescue several times when I got stuck. Now he purchased his new computer and he is in need of help. Isn’t that the way of life, we help others but they in turn help us in other areas? Right now we are encouraging one another to persist as we’d love to go back to our old computers since we were so comfortable with them. My computer crashed and I can’t go back to my old one, but it is tempting to use Al’s old one as it is familiar, the same as my old one. But we need to forge ahead and enter into the new. Have you noticed how we can go along quite comfortably and then the Lord has us take a big turn and we have to hang on and trust? But we have comforting words in Jer. 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and hope.” Let us lean into the Lord, especially when we can’t see where He is taking us.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
On Sunday our pastor asked the question that I have been thinking of ever since: What are you after? As we go into a New Year, what are we after? The apostle Paul was after spreading the gospel so the fact that he was in prison only gave him more opportunities to spread the news. Every 2 hours they changed guards, so he had a new one chained to him and could share the gospel. His joy was full because of what he was after. If he was after comfort and ease, he would not have had joy. When we go after pleasure and riches and that is not happening, we may get depressed too. If we are missing out on joy maybe we are going after the wrong things. When our desire is to draw closer to Him and to share Him with others, then we can rejoice even in our trials for it is accomplishing that. In Habakkuk 3, he writes that though his crops and herds fail, “yet I will rejoice in the Lord;I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” I have an idea that his joy is not found in material things. Let us go after that which will last for all eternity.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
At our daughter home, there is great celebration. Yesterday Leif came home from Kuwait after being gone 6 months. What joy!! As I look at the pictures of his homecoming, each person radiates great happiness as they are finally together as a family after so long. The boys have been talking about dad, seeing him on Skype, writing to him etc. but nothing is like the actual being together. I think of that in relation to the Lord as we await His coming again. We talk to Him, we read His “letters”, we share about Him to others, but there is nothing like the reunion that is coming! We can’t even imagine what that will be like. Even now as we talk about it, joy floods us. “What we know is that when Christ is openly revealed, we’ll see Him-and in seeing Him, become like Him. All of us who look forward to His Coming stay ready, with the glistening purity of Jesus’ life as a model for our own.” I John 3:2-3 May we live each day as if it was the day of His arrival to take us to our real home!
Devotions from Judy’s heart
When I woke up early yesterday morning I was greeted by the light of the moon shining in our window and lighting up the woods outside. Instead of the darkness of the night, there was brightness and beauty. I thought of the sad news that we just received of a friend who has terminal cancer and only months to live. Darkness, yes, deep darkness, but in the midst we know the Lord will give His light to walk with his whole family through this unfamiliar terrain. At Christmas our Pastor repeated often and had us repeat, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” In the darkest of times, the light dawns and He walks with us through the night times of our lives. As it says in Isaiah 60:19 that one day, “The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. ” Let us walk in the light of the Lord!!
Devotions from Judy’s heart
When I was playing scrabble with my sister-in-law over Christmas I
played a good word in the very place she planned to make a lot of
points. She “moaned” when I played and asked why I had to play there
since I was blocking her great move. But when she looked around the
board, she found another word and used all her letters and made much
more. I thought of how we may think that others around us may be
impeding our progress in our spiritual lives. They are blocking us and
we could be so much more if they were a certain way or did this or that!
But that is not the case. God can cause us to grow even more in
adverse circumstances if we hang in there and look for the good He will
bring. Let us not dwell on the behavior of others but see what God is
teaching us through it all.
When I was playing scrabble with my sister-in-law over Christmas I
played a good word in the very place she planned to make a lot of
points. She “moaned” when I played and asked why I had to play there
since I was blocking her great move. But when she looked around the
board, she found another word and used all her letters and made much
more. I thought of how we may think that others around us may be
impeding our progress in our spiritual lives. They are blocking us and
we could be so much more if they were a certain way or did this or that!
But that is not the case. God can cause us to grow even more in
adverse circumstances if we hang in there and look for the good He will
bring. Let us not dwell on the behavior of others but see what God is
teaching us through it all.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
The day after Christmas my relatives gathered to discuss the future of
the Point. This is land and a cabin that my folks willed to us and is
loved by us all and full of memories. Each one had opportunity to
speak, from the old to the young. I’m sure we had all been praying
before hand for what to do, and going into the meeting we had no idea
what that was. But God wants us to ask for wisdom and as is says in
Prov. 2:6, “For the Lord gives widom; from His mouth comes knowledge and
understanding”. About half way through the meeting one of the relatives
suddenly spoke up with a plan that seems like the answer and we could
all say “Amen” to. We discussed it and agreed upon it and will now try
to implement it. We closed the meeting with holding hands in a circle
and praying together. How important it is to ask Him and wait for His
answer and all glory goes to Him!
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