Category: Whispers (Page 116 of 171)

Dear Ones,

Hope you are enjoying this beautiful sunny day. I baked cookies this morning and did food prep and went to my exercise class. This afternoon I am going to work down in our storage area to put away winter clothes and to find things for a sale at Bible Camp. Tonight we have Bible study at church.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

   Today so many people are feeling depressed and hopeless but not all deal with it in the same way. Some have a sadness about them and keep to themselves. There are others who joke and make others laugh to help relieve their own pain. Some may have a chemical imbalance and have frequent ups and downs.  Vivian Bricker writes about the many ways to deal with depression and if struggling with depression, we may want to try some of them.

   Her first suggestion is to pray and tell the Lord how we honestly feel, not how we think we should feel. The Lord sees our hearts anyway so let’s tell Him our true feelings. Perhaps we are in the pit and feel we are never going to get better. The Psalms are full of David’s true feelings and he says it just as it is.

  Vivian says it is helpful to also practice selfcare and do things that can help relieve our stress. For some it could be a bubble bath, or spending time with a close friend; going for a walk or out for ice cream etc.

  We also can practice taking each day as it comes. In Matt. 6:34 (God’s Word) it says, “So don’t ever worry about tomorrow. After all, tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Instead of worrying we look to the Lord each moment and remember His provision.

  We can also set doable goals and celebrate the little victories. Someone who is severely depressed may just have a goal to get dressed and to make their bed and they can celebrate that. Tomorrow there may be more to celebrate.

  For some depressed persons it helps to spend time being creative and expressing themselves through writing, painting, journaling etc. There are many positive ways to find expression of what is going on inside.

   There are times to make an appointment with a therapist or Doctor or Christian counselor. God can use them to bring mental, emotional and spiritual healing as they pray and give truths of scripture, and sometimes medication.

   The enemy wants us to stay stuck and depressed but let us not give up but seek the Lord, and find healing for our wounded hearts.

   Challenge for today: Memorize Isaiah 41:10 and carry it with you.

Dear Ones,

Hope you are having a great day.   We are home now as we left early this morning from Kansas. Enjoyed our time there so much and loved seeing Lily play soccer, shopped, ate outside, and also saw Kurt’s video of family and  the moving of the sauna down the big hill to the lake. It took 3 big pieces of heavy equipment to do it and 5 young men to do it. We originally planned to come home tomorrow and see my brother and wife on the way but they had to go to Milwaukee to help in an emergency.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  We all go through desert times when we feel dry and we may wonder where is God and what is He up to. Will we always feel like this or will things change and will joy bubble up again in our lives? I have good news!  Even when we feel dry and parched like the desert we can flourish again.

  In Isaiah 35: 1-2 it says, “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy… they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.”

  God comes to us in many different ways to encourages us and as it says in verse 10, “everlasting joy will overtake them and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

   I have been reading what Rev Mark Roberts from Fuller Seminary has been saying about dryness and flourishing. He writes how the Lord brings us out of our despair and dryness and into a time of joy and fruitfulness. He shares about an energetic woman from His church who was so full of love, even though she had experienced lots of grief. She lost a son and all her grandchildren in premature death. But she reached out to others and especially welcomed new people to the church to feel at home. Sometimes she took them out for coffee or invited them into her home. But when she was nearing the 4^th quarter of her life, she had physical struggles and was bedridden so she could no longer go to church. She felt very useless and when the Pastor came to see her, she talked of what she could do, even though she had great physical limitations. Suddenly the idea came to her that she could use her phone. Why not call every household in the church and ask how she could pray for them. She used the church directory and made calls every day, much to the appreciation of the members who felt cared for. She was fruitful to the end of her life.

   Maybe we know others who used their desert time to grow. We can also be fruitful and flourish, no matter what our circumstances are. It could even be that God will use us to pray for others who feel like they are in a desert now!

  Challenge for today:  Encourage someone going through a dry time, and pray that they will bloom again.

Dear Ones,

I am sending out tomorrow’s devotion tonight as we will be on the road very early tomorrow and traveling to Olathe, Kansas. We are going to Kurt’s and want to be there in time to go to our granddaughter Lily’s soccer game. Looking forward to a weekend of catching up. Appreciate prayer for safe travels. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  Isn’t it uplifting to be around people that are encouraging and upbeat, especially if we are going through a time of struggle? We don’t need to hear more bad news or enlarging of our present difficult situations but rather words that will lift us up out of our funk. Some people seem to just have a ready word on their lips to bring encouragement to us and others.

  Of course, God is always ready to encourage us if we turn to Him. I was reading this morning from II Thess. 2:16-17 (God’s Word), “God our Father loves us and by his kindness gave us everlasting encouragement and good hope. Together with our Lord Jesus Christ, may He encourage and strengthen you to do and say everything that is good.” God promises to help us and to encourage us and to put a fresh heart in us. He gives us strength and hope even in the darkest of times. Paul is writing to a church in Thessalonica that is facing persecution, false teachers, worldliness etc. so he wants to encourage them to stand firm and be strong. He compliments them and tells them what they doing well and he thanks the Lord for how they show love for one another etc. He also tells them not to get weary and that he is always praying for them, which must have lifted their hearts. But he doesn’t hesitate to also ask that they pray for him as he shares God’s word.  

   We all need encouragement at times and God may use many different avenues to bring encouragement to us. Sometimes it is a word from the sermon we hear, or a scripture we read that seems to just stand out to us. It could be an e-mail that is sent to us or a song that we hear as we go to work. It may be a word that a friend shares, without even knowing we have a need. Encouragement may flood us when we are sitting in a place of beauty like in a star -studded sky at night or looking up to the grandeur of the mountains. There are times when I  question the Lord if I should keep writing and then a word of encouragement comes from someone I don’t even know.

  But let us also remember to encourage others like our pastor, church leaders, family members, care givers, and even the cashiers at the check-out. We never know who needs a word that day to give them hope.

   Challenge for today: Ask the Holy Spirit to fill your mouth with words that will be uplifting to others.

Dear Ones,

Hope you had a wonderful weekend, especially you moms. We enjoyed going to hear Leif preach, and also to fellowship at our former church; then a wonderful feast and games at Ann’s. I had the biggest steak and done to perfection by Leif.  

This morning I made cookies and egg dishes and went to my exercise class. More rain today.
Devotions from Judy’s heart

   God’s love for us is so great that there are no words to describe it adequately. We can only use pictures and words to try to help us understand the depth of it, but those words will fall short. Today I was reading from Isaiah 54:10 (Amplified), and it says, “For though the mountains should depart and the hills be shaken or removed, yet My love and kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall my covenant of peace and completeness be removed, says the Lord, Who has compassion on you.” The Message says it this way, “For even if the mountains walk away and the hills fall to pieces, My love won’t walk away from you, my covenant commitment of peace won’t fall apart. The God who has compassion on you says so.”

   I love the mountains in Colorado and to sit in a meadow and just spend time beholding the grandeur of them. We can’t imagine that anything can be more immovable and enduring than a mountain; but even if that should happen that it moved, God’s love and kindness will always, always endure. That also means that even when we fail, He will not take His love away.

   Our love for one another is so often fickle and conditional on how others respond; It’s like you treat me well and I will treat you well! You speak evil of me and I will speak evil of you and also make sure your reputation is damaged. 

   But God’s love if not like that and remains the same for it is not conditional. No matter how badly we mess up, His love is unfailing and inexhaustible. He is the only one who can love us like that and when we come to know His love in a deep way, we can rest in peace and feel secure. Like the song goes:

  Challenge for today: Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you, any ways you are blocking God’s love from penetrating your heart.

  Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you are having a good weekend and enjoying this nice weather. I cleaned the apt and packed some things up to go to Ann’s tomorrow for Mother’s Day.We will also go to church in Hackensack and hear Leif preach. Kurt and buddies moved the sauna down the hiil by the cabin yesterday as Matt used his bulldozer and lots of wisdom. Will be wonderful to have the sauna down by the lake instead of across the road. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  It’s Mother’s Day tomorrow and a day to honor those who have birthed us or chose us through adoption, and sacrificed so much for us. We were all put into a family to help us grow and to become what God has planned for us.

   For many years I wondered if I had the right mother, as we seemed to be so different from one another; but later I recognized how very blessed I was to have the mother God chose for me and who knew and loved Him and taught me His ways.   

   I was reading what Andrew Towe, pastor and author, had to say about a very special mother in the Bible named Jochebed. Maybe that name does not ring a bell to you at all, but she was the mother of Moses. She gave birth to him during a very oppressive time, for King Pharaoh had ordered all Hebrew babies to be thrown into the Nile River and drown. But God had a different plan and used Jochebed to save not only her son but a nation. She was a woman of faith who hid her son after he was born until she could no longer hide the growing child. So, she made a basket of bullrushes and put baby Moses in it and floated him in the reeds by the river bank. Like Pastor Towe wrote, “Moses sailed on the water that was intended to kill him.”

   Pharaoh’s daughter discovered him when she came with her maidens to bathe. She heard his cries and had compassion on him and overturned Satan’s plan to kill him. He was raised by her in the palace and God’s purpose to save God’s people was accomplished for his life.

   As the Lord said to Jeremiah 32:27 (God’s Word), “I am the Lord God of all humanity. Nothing is too hard for me.”

   Moses’ mother acted in faith and was rewarded. She committed her son into God’s hands just like we must do with our children. We have no idea all that they will encounter in life and our part is to teach them of the Lord and pray much for them all our days. I wonder how many plans of Satan have been thwarted by a praying mother! Even when the outlook is not favorable at the time, let us never, never, give up but stand strong with an expectant heart for what God can do.

   Challenge for today: By faith commit your children into God’s hand, pray daily, and never ever give up.