Category: Whispers (Page 122 of 164)

Dear Ones,                                                                                                                                                                Hope you are having a good day as you prepare for Christmas. I cleaned the apartment this morning, went to Super One and downstairs for coffee etc. We plan to walk with friends this afternoon and are going to the Lake tomorrow to celebrate Christmas Eve day with Ann’s family; all 3 grandsons are home!  

Devotions from Judy’s heart                                                                                                                           This is a hard Christmas for so many people who have lost loved ones, as they feel the emptiness of their presence no longer with them.  Many of you have prayed for my cousin Susie who died and like us, you also have friends who have lost their spouses and children. As families go through grief, tears spill out unexpectedly when they are flooded with memories of times past when their loved ones were present. If you are one of them, then perhaps Dena Johnson’s prayer may express to the Lord what you feel.                                                                                     “Lord Jesus, 

 I am so overwhelmed. My heart is heavy, burdened. The losses this year are crushing me, overcoming my peace and joy. I know you tell us you are close to the brokenhearted, but I don’t feel you. I feel lost, hopeless, abandoned.                                             I know this is a season, a season that has a beginning and an end. But right now it feels like it will never end. I need hope, hope to believe you will truly restore me, strengthen me. I need hope to believe you will one day have me put together and on my feet for good. I need a vision of the future you have for me, a future of hope and blessings from you.                                                                                                                                                 It’s so easy to become distracted, to focus on the many losses I have experienced. Forgive me. Help me to put my thoughts, my attention on you. Help me cling to you, to your word, to your promises. Help me be fixed on you because I know it’s the only way to enjoy your perfect peace.  As I walk through this holiday season, give me a fresh glimpse of who You are. Help me remember the suffering You experienced as You watched your Son on the cross, a gift given just for me. Help me remember with joy and wonder the amazing gifts we have simply because you gave, a precious baby born that Christmas morning. Help me focus my heart and mind on Immanuel, God with me.                                                                                                                                                                                      You are my hope, my only hope, for Christmas and every day on this earth. May I always carry your hope with me.   In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen pray.                                            Challenge for today: Pray for those who are grieving and thank the Lord that He is our hope.

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you wake to a peace-filled day. Christmas is only days away and is there a  family tradition you have that is meaningful to you? Our family gathering may be over 40 relatives at a hotel and I love that we can catch up with one another and go home knowing more how to pray for each one. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

As we get closer to Christmas, we have to make a conscious choice to make Jesus our first priority. It is easy to crowd Him out as we rush to buy the perfect gifts for others, bake special pastries, plan gatherings, go to Christmas parties and programs etc. Debbie McDaniel writes a prayer that can help us put the focus where it should be, on Jesus, and make room to keep Him first.

Help us to keep our focus first on Christ this season. Please forgive us for giving too much time and attention on other things. Help us to reflect again, on what Christmas is really all about. Thank you that you came to give new life, peace, hope, and joy. Thank you that your power is made perfect in our weakness. Help us to remember that the gift of Christ, Immanuel, is our greatest treasure, not just at Christmas, but for the whole year through. Fill us with your joy and the peace of your Spirit. Direct our hearts and minds towards you. Thank you for your reminder that both in seasons of celebration and in seasons of brokenness, you’re still with us. For you never leave us. Thank you for your daily powerful Presence in our lives, that we can be assured your heart is towards us, your eyes are over us, and your ears are open to our prayers. Thank you that you surround us with favor as with a shield, and we are safe in your care. We choose to press in close to you today…and keep you first in our hearts and lives.

In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

Challenge for today: Pray this prayer from your heart and choose to put Him first.

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you had a wonderful weekend! Christmas is coming soon! Today I made a big G.F. spaghetti type dish and bars incase our grandsons stop by, and went to Aldi’s and my exercise class. Burr it is cold out! 
Devotions from Judy’s heart

The faith of a child is beautiful and perhaps they can tell the Christmas story better than anyone. At this time of the year there are children’s Christmas programs happening in churches all throughout our nation; parents and grandparents and friends who may not go to church regularly during the year, will come from miles away to see their precious ones act out and retell the Christmas story. It can soften hearts and bring tears to the hardest skeptics.

I remember as a very young girl waiting for my turn to sing a solo on a verse of When He Cometh and I was terrified at the time. But somehow, I got through it and the memory is still very vivid! It was not like that for a young girl at our church yesterday, when we had our S.S. program.  My heart was so touched by her comfort and ease of being upfront and joy was written all over her. She was dressed like one of the angels with a sparkling crown and was excited to sing and say her part. She just kept smiling to her parents and grandparents all in the front row. There was no self-consciousness but rather a freedom to just express what was in her heart. So beautiful! 

Towards the close of the program, the congregation sang, “Go Tell It On the Mountain..that Jesus Christ is born.” Why aren’t we all like this little girl that freely wanted to share the Good News with others, for it is the best news of all time?

The Apostle Paul was not ashamed to share Christ and says in Romans 1:16 (Message), “It’s news I’m most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God’s powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts Him, starting with Jews and then right on to everyone else!” We have the most wonderful message to proclaim to others and let us do it with boldness and joy. There are preachers today that believe God will raise up this present generation of youth to bring in the greatest revival today.

Let us pray for the youth to have a holy boldness, but also include ourselves in that prayer, so we may all freely share the Good News.

Challenge for today: Pray for opportunities to joyfully share the Lord with others.

Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

Blessings on  your day and prayers and love, Judy

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Every Christmas, many people get robbed.  Houses are burglarized, packages on doorsteps are stolen and people may be beaten and robbed. Thieves are busy and we are to be aware. The other day Al and I drove to the bank and I noticed they had a nativity scene in front but no manger or baby Jesus. I told Al, “You mean people even steal baby Jesus!” When I went inside to make my transaction, I complimented the bank on having the nativity scene but asked if Jesus had been stolen. I was so glad to hear quick response, “Oh no, we must wait for Christmas eve, the time when Jesus was born. It is too soon so we wait until then!” I was so glad to hear that was the case and not that someone had kidnapped him!

It seems like there is so much spiritual robbery taking place at Christmas with many taking Christ out of Christmas. The literal meaning of Christmas is Christian’s Mass or Christ’s Mass and how can we celebrate if we leave Him out?  Greg Laurie wrote how King Herod was the first to try to stop Christmas. He pretended to be a worshiper and asked the Wisemen to come back after they found Jesus to let him know where He could be found. Of course, this knowledge was not to pay homage to Him but to kill him.

Today so many are trying to leave Jesus out of Christmas.  I was approached by a woman who hadn’t been able to find Christmas cards and wanted to know if I had any to spare. I asked her if she wanted religious ones or just holiday ones and she was quick to answer, “Nonreligious ones!”  Schools also want Holiday Programs not Christmas Programs and to sing Jingle Bells rather than Away in a Manger.

But we don’t have to live like those that have been robbed for we can read the Christmas story, go to see live Nativity scenes, sing carols, go to S.S. Christmas programs, have devotions around the Christmas wreath, give to the poor, help others to know of Jesus coming etc. Like the carol goes, “O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.”  He wants our hearts, so don’t rob the Lord.

Challenge for today: Find a new meaningful way to celebrate Jesus’ birth.

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you had a great weekend! I enjoyed the Christmas luncheon at Sherwood Forest on Saturday with over 20 gals from church. This morning i made a double batch of G.F choc peppermint cookies and went to my exercise class. We have more parties this week coming up! 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

How bright does our light shine for the Lord? Do we seek to know God and use the spiritual gifts that He has given us? I read today that as Christians we are like billboards that God uses to tell the world about Him. So, we may wonder how our billboard would read!

Would those around us notice we look past ourselves and seek to serve others? It isn’t all about us! We want to give back out of gratitude for what the Lord has done for us. Since we all have been given spiritual gifts (Romans 12:6-8), are we using them to extend His kingdom? Our gifts are given not to make us feel important or a matter of pride but to minister to others and share God’s love.

The world may tell us we are what we do, or we are what we have, or we are what people say about us, but that is not true. Rather than our position or self-importance, it is the Lord who gives our life meaning and reveals who we truly are. And then out of hearts that know we are loved, we can share Him with others around us.

I was reading Bill and Kristi Gaultiere’s book, Journey of the Soul, and they write how the measure of our life is love. We don’t have to feel we can’t serve the Lord because of our own guilt and shame for we have been forgiven. They give an example from Brennan Manning who tells the story of a prosecutor who presented all of his sins that he had committed and those sins of omission. It went on for hours and he felt worse and worse, like he was hit by a landslide. But a group of angels appeared to conduct his defense and all they could say was, “But he loved.” They chanted over and over again, “But he loved. But he loved. But he loved.” This continued until dawn and the angels won and he felt safe.

We are not perfect and even though we sin every day, let us rejoice that God forgives us and desires to use us to share His love with others.

Challenge for today: Share His love in some small way with someone else today!

Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy