Category: Sister Judy (Page 60 of 270)

Happy weekend to you! The house is full of aroma as I made a casserole and bread and cookies and Al is sampling right now! Thank you for your prayers yesterday for our son and you can read about it today.

  Waiting is hard and it takes faith to wait for something we can’t yet see but only hope for. We have scripture and many prophecies of His coming again, so we wait in eager expectation and confident hope. An example of waiting happened yesterday when our son Kurt was waiting for his appendectomy. He had pain for the previous two nights and was very eager to get the surgery before his appendix burst. He was told it would be soon, like around 10 a.m. and we were texting back and forth before 6 am.so I knew he was ready to go. But no one came to prep him at 10 or 11 or 12 or 1 or 2 o’clock. By now I could imagine how hungry he was too but he would have to wait to eat until after the surgery, Finally, sometime after 3 they came to get him and his waiting was over and the surgery was done and went well. It didn’t happen before as the operating rooms were full. But in the fullness of God’s time, it happened, and he was commended as being their best Appendectomy patient all year!

  Jesus is coming again for us, and we wait in anticipation, just like Kurt anticipated his surgery. We don’t’ know the time as it says in Mark 13:27, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” Jesus has not returned yet, as more time is given for the Holy Spirit to work on hearts to open up to the Lord and receive Him, so that they will be ready. But one day He will come in His power and glory and all those who know Him will with Him for all eternity. Let us be patient in our waiting but be eager to tell others that they too may join us forever with Him.

  The good thing is that God’s love is not based on our performance of how good we do, but on His nature, for He is love. God’s love for us does not change. It is only our pride that thinks we can earn His love, for He loves us as we are, not how we think we should be. The Holy Spirit desires to communicate this marvelous love to our hearts. We are all imperfect beings with all our weaknesses, so our hope is only in the grace of God; He loves us and accepts us and desires to show His mercy to us.

The secret is not to try to improve ourselves but to surrender to Him who is love. We are in essence saying we are sinful, needy and broken but God, I thank you that you died for me, you saved me and accept me right where I am right now. Help me to accept myself in the same way you accept me and tell me I am your beloved. I receive it all through faith in your promises, not on my performance. Let me live as your beloved child and be ever grateful.

  Sometimes we still feel angry after forgiving and the enemy will try to tell us we have failed and have not forgiven. But when we forgive, it doesn’t mean we change the facts and erase the hurtful past but rather our hurt for the person is healed. We can be angry and not hate. It happens to people who divorce who finally get to the place they can wish their ex well in their marriage. Smedes says that anger minus malice gives hope. If we choose to hang on to our malice than it keeps our pain alive. He gives suggestions that help us drain the poison of malice from our hearts, like being specific about it and even express it to God and maybe to someone else who can help us get rid of it. We can, of course, give the person over to the Lord and let God handle him. If they need rescuing from their own wicked ways, let God do the teaching. We can also pray for the peace of the person and let our anger do a work of reforming.

It helps to remember that we that we can’t erase the past, we can only heal the pain it has left behind!  And in the forgiving, we are focused on what they did, not on who they are. We may also forgive in bits and pieces and it must be done freely. We can’t force someone to forgive as it may actually make it worse. Like Smedes said, that to set anyone free, forgiving must be freely given as an act of free love. We don’t know how they will respond and it must all be left in God’s hands. But when we feel unconditionally forgiven, we will know we are totally loved and affirmed and received. Nothing can separate us from Him who is love!

  So why do we doubt or think that others are worth more? The enemy loves to tell us others are more gifted, better looking, more successful, and surely, they are worth more. But we need to view ourselves, not with self-doubts but in light of how Jesus sees us. He willingly gave His life for us, so He must have felt we were worth a lot. How many of us would give our lives for another? When I see a new born baby being loved by parents and adored by grandparents, it helps me take in my own worth. That baby doesn’t do anything to earn love; in fact, the baby demands a lot of time and attention. But the baby can’t do anything to prove his worth, only let himself be loved. We need to accept our place as His beloved child and receive His love that sets us free to be who He made us to be. It’s almost too good to be true! The Lord doesn’t compare us with others, as there is only one like us ever and we are a unique person of His creation.

  In faith we need to open our hearts and receive from the Lord as He desires to pour out His love on us and tell us how precious we are as His sons and daughters. No one else is a threat to us, as He shows no favoritism, and His love is unconditional. Since He loves you also, I don’t need to fear He won’t have enough love for me for He is love!  As Jer. 31:3 says, ” I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.”

 We have a choice to make and His love gives us the right to forgive ourselves and let healing happen. Author of Forgive and Forget, Lewis Smedes, says you will know when this happens as you will feel one with yourself again. The split is healed and whatever you did before will no longer cause you to reject yourself for the ultimate miracle of healing has taken place.

  How about us? Do we grovel over something we did years ago or do we know that His love covers that as we spell it out and ask forgiveness. We are made new and healing comes as we believe God’s power to forgive and heal us. I get excited just writing about this. We don’t have to live with ourselves mulling over past sins, wishing we had not done something, but rather with grateful hearts that we are forgiven and made new. We may respond by praising Him and by doing acts of love for others with a freedom that comes only from Him.

Happy weekend to you! Won’t be long until Christmas. Today I hope to do some baking. Any day we may hear a knock on our door to let us know we need to be gone out of our apt while they put in a new floor in our kitchen. Each apt is being done so we are starting to empty out things on the floor of the closets and pantry to get ready. 

   Giving teaches us things and most importantly that God is faithful, and we can trust Him to meet our needs. We may think that if we give away money or gift items that we may not have enough for ourselves, but I have found that when I give to others, I often get back a bounty. But even when we don’t see returns right away, we read stories of people who were helped as children and later they end up helping the very one who helped them earlier in life and have now fallen into poverty. But above all, we are putting our faith in God who is our provider, and we can depend on Him.

Becky helps us see how easy it is to get so focused on self and the world revolving around us, that we forget about those in need. In fact, we may come to the conclusion that we need more and are never satisfied. But when we give of ourselves, our time, and possessions to bless others we feel more thankful and satisfied. Our eyes get opened that life here on earth is temporary and whatever we have has come from the Lord in the first place. We need to close our ears to what our culture tries to tell us is important and instead give freely to bless others. Jesus gave us His unselfish example of giving all for the glory of His Father, and that was His very life. We become more like Him as we share with others, not only physical gifts but our time and especially the Good News.

We are also reminded that as we give, we see our need for each other and share and receive from others. We are not an island unto ourselves but we may have what someone else is in need of and at other times they provide what we need. We are a family, and we all have gifts to be used for others to benefit them. We don’t have it all together, but together we have it all! Everyone has something to contribute so let us have open hearts to not only give but to receive what the Lord would give us through someone else. As each of us gives we are blessed and become more like Jesus.