Category: Sister Judy (Page 86 of 277)

Dear Ones,

Happy Weekend! Hope you have time to go out in nature and enjoy this spring weather! We walked yesterday and met our friend who is part of the “Church on the Paul Bunyan trail”. His wife who is younger, is now in Memory Care and we miss her walking with us. 

I just finished making Lentil stew and cookies for the grandkids when we go there next. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart

   Are we content to be our true selves, or do we live to try to please others? God made us unique and like no other, and His delight is that we become all that He had created us to be. Comparing ourselves with others is foolish and we get frustrated if we try to please them and miss who we really are. This morning I read from the Message translation from Matt. 5:5, “You are blessed when you are content with just who you are—no more or no less. That’s when you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.”

   We make many choices in life but they are not to be made for the approval of others but how the Lord is leading our life. Otherwise, we are really avoiding responsibility and not living the life God has planned for us. Our choices can determine the quality of our character and our soul. Of course, we are not perfect and do not always choose right, but that only shows us how much we need the Lord.

  Recently, I saw a friend from a former church where Al was once the Interim Pastor. She is someone that seems content with her life and is like a ray of sunshine. She had so much to share and although she is almost my age, she overflowed with joy that she has the privilege of working with youth at her church. Her love for the Lord is so evident and I believe the youth respond to her as she is who she is…no pretense, just herself and so open to the Lord.

  When we are at peace with who God made us to be, we can live in freedom and others feel comfortable around us. It has nothing to do with outward beauty but the inward beauty of the heart. Let us not compromise but be who we were made to be!

Challenge for today: Be real, be you, be all that God planned for your life! 

Dear Ones,

Hope you are having a good day. The sun is shining and the snow is gone and maybe spring really here. This morning I made meatloaf, egg dishes and  roasted veggies so the apt is full of aroma. Al and I just had donuts and coffee and this afternoon is Bible Study. I am hoping and praying to get rid of the infection and also clear my sinuses soon.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  Today there is so much upheaval in our culture that very few people feel secure. We have only to watch the news and fear can creep into our hearts as we wonder what the future holds. David must have experienced similar wonderings of what was going to happen to him as the Psalms are full of his words as he flees from his enemies, even from his own son Absalom.

   David doesn’t hesitate to tell the Lord about the problems that plague his life as he often gives the details to Him; but after sharing what is happening around him, he asks the Lord to hear his prayer and answer him. Today I was in Psalm 4 and David’s words to the Lord were used by the choir in worship. After he described his dilemma, he says (God’s Word translation) “The Lord hears when I call to Him…Think about this on your bed and remain silent. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness by trusting the Lord…Let the light of your presence shine on us, O Lord. You put more joy in my heart than when the grain and new wine increase. I fall asleep in peace the moment I lie down because you alone, O Lord enable me to live securely.”

   Just as David, we can share our problems and fears with the Lord but then go on to acknowledge that He listens to us, and He will answer us. The Message says, “He listens the split second I call to Him.”  When we have given Him the situation as we see it and share that we trust Him, we may not know how He is going to answer but the problem now rests with Him. He will put things together according to His perfect will and we don’t have to strategize how He is going to do it.

   In Jesus sermon on the Mount, He tells the crowd, “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and His rule.” Let us give the Lord the basket of our worries and concerns and let Him take it and work things out for His glory.

Challenge for today: The next time worries come to mind, share them with the Lord and thank Him for how He will answer them.

Dear Ones,

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  Sometimes things don’t make sense as we try to figure things out and we can’t seem to connect the dots. But God’s ways are not always our ways and are often beyond our understanding. As it says in Isaiah 55:8-9, that His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts.

  We are home again and you may wonder as we do, why did this happen. We were as far as Bloomington, IL yesterday morning and stopped for gas. I suddenly felt a lump by my tooth and looked in the mirror to find that I had a large abscess but no pain. We called my dentist and sent him a picture and prayed and then Al turned the car around to go back home. Our trip ended after it just got started and I just came back from my  dentist and will be having 2 tooth extractions. 

  This morning I read a prayer by Rev. Kyle Norman who was also dealing with things that didn’t seem to make sense:

“Gracious and Almighty Father, I thank you for equipping me with a mind to think, and an intellect with which I can wrestle with the deep matters of my faith. I thank you for not shying away from my questions. In your gracious love, you invite me to seek always to understand our life together. But your ways are not my ways, and your thoughts are infinitely higher than my own. Thus, there are things about my faith that I do not understand, and at times, this lack of understanding keeps me from stepping further into the life you call me to. There are times when I have a hard time believing what I don’t understand. When this happens, I pray for you to fill me with your grace. Give me the boldness to believe in your direction in my life, even when it makes no earthly sense. Help me to be open to your presence when it catches me unaware.                             

  O Holy Spirit, I pray that you continue to lead me into all truth. Enlighten my mind to understand your ways more deeply in my life and may this understanding always flow from a heart of faith. May I seek to understand you, not as a combat to doubt, but as a road to deeper intimacy and faith. And in those times when my belief wanes, give me the strength to pray “I believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24). pray all these things in the name of my Risen Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.”

Challenge for today: Yield to God’s ways, even when you don’t understand and trust Him.

Dear Ones,
I am sending this out early for tomorrow’s devotion as we are getting up very early to begin our trip to N. C. We are excited to go to see Mark’s family and can only imagine how our grandsons have grown. We would appreciate prayers for safe travels and good health and a  blessed time with family! 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

   Our lives were meant to bring glory to the Lord, and all that we do should say that loud and clear, even if there are no spoken words. Actions do speak louder than words. We can hear a very captivating speech and then see the speaker treat his wife shamefully, and the words he had just spoken seem to go right down the drain.

  Our lives are to be living examples, no matter what our age. We are to be like books that are read by others. The Apostle Paul tells young Timothy in I Tim 4:12 (Message), Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity.” We are called to be living examples for the Lord in how we act and talk and conduct ourselves and even in our attitudes. We can outwardly be doing the right things but have a prideful attitude that cancels out everything else we do

    Even in our jobs at our offices we are to set an example and be people of integrity and encouragement. That means we take our jobs seriously and bring the Lord into the center of our work. It helps to pray before we begin our work and ask the Lord to be our CEO and to listen to what He has to say. During the work day it also helps to pause and pray frequently, so our lives are centered in Him.

   If we think of the persons we know that are examples to us, it is most likely their lives and not their words that stand out the most to us. They are like salt that brings out the best flavor or a light that shines in dark places, or an aroma with a beautiful fragrance.

How we all live is more powerful than what we say, and let us put Christ as the center of our lives in all that we do.

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to make you a living example of His love to others. 

Dear Ones,

Hope you are enjoying the weekend. We will be heading out to Remer this morning as Al has the funeral for a friend who was in our Remer church. Al also did his wife’s funeral not that long ago and now they together with the Lord. 
We leave early Monday morning for North Carolina to see our son’s family and would appreciate prayers for safety and health. We are so excited to go and I’m sure our grandsons have grown alot since we last saw them.  

 Devotions from Judy’ s heart

  Are we enjoying the Lord and waiting for the big day when we will be ushered into glory? All of us need to  live with a vision of eternity and let go of the earthly ties that bind us to this world. We are told in I John 2:15-17 (Message), “Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from Him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.”  We are in this world for such a short time when we think of eternity, and if we get so wrapped up in the world we will miss out on the joy of the  love of our Father.

  Our Bible study group here at Northern Lakes is made up people that are in their 60’s to all the way up to one man who is 94! Those who are in the upper age, especially seem to live more in the light of eternity and to enjoy each day. Most have found that the world doesn’t satisfy, and the hope of heaven seems more close and real. Titles don’t matter, but rather belonging to the Lord and looking forward to what is next to come. Another translation for I John says that the world is passing away but the person who does what God wants lives forever.

  We need to guard our hearts from letting the world and all it’s fleshly desires take over. It can affect our attitudes, our actions, our desires and we miss out on all that the Lord has for us. Let us not be earth bound but heaven bound and remember Jesus’ prayer before He left this earth that he said, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3)

Challenge for today: Let go of those things that distract you from the Lord.