Category: Sister Judy (Page 26 of 267)

I read a Psalm the first thing one morning that made me picture someone who wanted to think rightly and he said, “I will sing to the Lord throughout my life. I will make music to praise my God as long as I live. May my thoughts be pleasing to Him. I will find joy in the Lord.” (Psalm 104:33-34) That Psalmist also starts the Psalm with, “Praise the Lord, O my soul!” and ends with the same words, as he declaring praise to the One who is worthy of all praise.

If God is in charge of our lives, then we can know that if something happens that is not as we would choose, yet He has a purpose for it. We don’t need to get down and complain and splash our negativity on others but like the Psalmist look around at the greatness and beauty of all God has created and is doing and give Him praise.  I also read from Psalm 97 and in verse 11 it says, “Light-seeds are planted in the souls of God’s people, Joy-seeds are planted in good heart-soil.” I like that imagery for His light will shine in the places that seem dark to us and joy seeds will erupt in our souls.

Let us fill our thoughts with praise to the Lord and cast aside all negative thoughts for we have a big God who reigns over all things.

We may do spiritual practices to help us be mindful of the Lord and some may involve other people and some we do alone but there should be balance in our lives. I am more introverted so like time to be alone to read and write and pray. Others may want more time spent with others and into activities and action. One friend likes to light a candle when having her quiet time as she is more sensate and another, likes to go for walks in nature. Maybe you are one who is loving the Lord through music or liturgical dance. So many ways to grow and discover the Lord in new ways. We always need to be open to new seasons as the Lord may be steering us in a different direction and has a new plan for our life that we don’t want to miss. Things may seem to get worse at first, but we need to stay with it, until the Lord brings us out into the light of what He has planned for us.

Community is good for us as those who are ahead on the journey can light the way for us, by their example, their persistence; and by their humility we learn to be patient, to wait for the Lord’s timing and to find joy in the present moment. To love Jesus and become like Him should be the main point of each day. We can do it right where we are at right now.  Let us say yes as the Holy Spirit points everything back to Him.

Challenge for today: Keep your eyes and heart open to new ways the Lord is at work in your life.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

Hope your day is filled with good news! Burrr it has turned cold and was -11 last night. Today is Donut Day here and I go for a treatment before Bible Study. Tomorrow is a fun party night here!

I was reading today from John’s gospel, and John was closest to Jesus when He was on earth. He called himself, “the one whom Jesus loved.” ((John 13:23) We can all add that for ourselves also, for He loved us enough to die for us! It’s one thing to know that in our minds but does our heart really grab hold of that? If we receive His love, then we will want to naturally share Him with others, but we have to know His love first in our own hearts. We can’t give away something we have not received ourselves.

 Andrew was one of the first disciples who heard John the Baptist tell who Jesus was and you know what he did? It says in John 1:41, “Andrew at once founds his brother Simon and told him, ‘We have found the Messiah (which means ‘Christ’). Andrew brought him to Jesus.” The next day Jesus found Philip who then found Nathanael and of course the list goes on and on. When we find Jesus, we want to share Him with all who will listen. Let us not keep the good news to ourselves but as the song goes, “Go tell it on the mountains, over the hills and everywhere! Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ was born!”

I read a devotional from “Trusting God Day by Day” and it spoke to me about the importance of trusting and moving on with the Lord. Deuteronomy 32 verse 11-12 says, “Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreads its wings to catch them, and carries then on it’s feather, so the Lord led his people.” The mama eagle wants her eaglets to be able to fly but for the first 3 months, she feeds them and they rest in their comfortable nest. But after that she starts dismantling the nest and taking out the soft animal fur, feathers etc. and they begin to get pricked and uncomfortable by the sticks and thorns. She pushes them out of the nest and when they start falling, she is there and swoops under them and catches them. At first, they may wonder what is going on but eventually they understand that mama isn’t being mean but wants them to fly. Eventually rather than rest in the prickly branches of the nest, they learn to fly.

Are there times we feel like the Lord is saying to us, “Time to move on!” But we know that we must face the unknown and not sure if we will like it or will we miss the old. That is where trust comes in, for we put ourselves in the Lord’s hands and have to get out of our comfortable “nest”. At first it feels like we may fall and crash but His wings are there to catch us and help us. As we get acclimated and out of our former rut, we find that flying is fun, we can move ahead and not be in the cramped nest. Let us not hold back when the Lord is nudging us to move on but trust that His wings are always spread to catch up and help us as we learn to fly.

I was reading today from John’s gospel, and John was closest to Jesus when He was on earth. He called himself, “the one whom Jesus loved.” ((John 13:23) We can also add our names to that ourselves, for He loved us enough to die for us! It’s one thing to know that in our minds but does our heart really grab hold of that? If we receive His love, then we will want to naturally share Him with others, but we have to know His love first in our own hearts. We can’t give away something we have not received ourselves.

 Andrew was one of the first disciples who heard John the Baptist tell who Jesus was and you know what he did? It says in John 1:41, “Andrew at once found his brother Simon and told him, ‘We have found the Messiah (which means ‘Christ’). Andrew brought him to Jesus.” The next day Jesus found Philip who then found Nathanael and of course the list goes on and on. When we find Jesus, we want to share Him with all who will listen. Let us not keep the good news to ourselves but as the song goes, “Go tell it on the mountains, over the hills and everywhere! Go tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is born.”

During wilderness times, the Lord may be trying to get our attention and bring us to a deeper level of relationship with Him. So how we respond is important and we need to listen and to obey. Of course, we have only to look back at the children of Israel who were in the wilderness for 40 years as they were being readied to go into the Promise Land. Wow! I don’t have that many years left! It says in Deut. 8:2, that “He did this in order to humble you and test you. He wanted to know whether or not you would wholeheartedly obey His commands.” It is important for all of us to be open as to how the Lord would teach us and test us and be responsive to how He wants to accomplish this. We may be tempted to compromise, quit or take shortcuts but then we will miss letting the wilderness work what the Lord wants to do in us.

To make the most of this Wilderness time, we need time to be alone with the Lord, be in the Word and ask Him to speak to us as we keep our eyes on Him. What is He trying to remind us of to help us stand against the enemy?  May we be willing and open that the Lord can awaken us and plant deep truths in us, helping us to rely solely on Him as He guides us through this time. If we do, we will find that He will transform our wilderness into a beautiful fruitful place.