Canaan's Rest

Canaan’s Rest represents a quiet place “set apart” for the purpose of hearing God's voice, growing in intimacy with the Lord, and being renewed in soul and spirit.

Category: Whispers (Page 130 of 164)

September 21, 2021

September 21, 2021 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
May you wake up to a day of soaring  with peace! We are in Coralsville and will be leaving soon to get on the road again. We had good travel weather yesterday and a refreshing evening that you can read about. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Sometimes the Lord just wants us to enjoy Him and words don’t seem necessary for we simply rest in Him.  He reads even our thoughts and knows what is in our hearts.
When we arrived in Coralville late yesterday afternoon we went to our favorite motel and quickly unpacked and went on a long winding walk in the woods that bordered a small stream. Al and I talked together as we walked along and when we got back to the motel, I swam by myself in the pool that looked out on the woods and sky. My heart was so full and I found myself so thankful to the Lord for the beauty on our trip of the autumn colors, and his protection as He watched over us on our journey. As I swam, I noticed the clouds were not ones I normally have seen but looked like angel wings, many of them so delicate and beautiful. I know the Bible says we have ministering angels and that is a comforting thought. I was pondering what the Lord may be saying to me and remembered that I had gotten that morning Psalm 91; I recalled verse 4 as the Psalmist said, “He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you will find refuge.”  But that was not all, for then all of a sudden, I saw an eagle soaring high up in the sky. It was a majestic sight and one that made me feel so carefree in my spirit. Wouldn’t we all like to be like that eagle, that seemingly without effort, just soars about as we trust the Lord for all things?
The Lord said in Isaiah 40:31 (ESV), “But they that wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” 
May we not get earth bound with all our concerns but wait for the Lord and get our strength from Him.
You may also know the familiar song,
  “And He will raise you up on eagle’s wings,
   Bear you on the breath of dawn.
   Make you to shine like the sunAnd hold you in the palm of His hand.”
 
Challenge for today: Give the Lord all that concerns you and soar, soar, soar!
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

 

September 20, 2021

September 20, 2021 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you had a lovely weekend enjoying the fall colors. We are going to take off shortly for North Carolina and plan to spend the night in Coralville, Iowa, at our favorite hotel. They have a nice walking trail there and also a pool so we can get our exercise after the long hours in the car. We appreciate and are thankful for your prayers for our safety as we travel. It is storming out right now so hope we drive out of it.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Fear is something we all wrestle with and has no natural release valves. I was reading from “Wrestling with God by Ronald Rolheiser and he shares what Bieke, the late Belgian spiritual writer, had to say about her struggles. She was facing a terminal illness at the age of 19 and wrote about how she was tormented by sadness, anger, and fear. She felt we can handle sadness and anger easier than the fear. Sadness can be expressed through grieving and tears that soften our hearts; we cry and we feel better.  We may deal with anger through expressing it by punching bags, exercise, shouting etc. and get some release.  But fear is not something that has an escape valve that will lighten it. Fear can’t be taken out on someone else, but we have to live with it and endure it until we are willing to give it to God.
 Many people live with fear of death because of the unknown. As a nurse many years ago, I saw the difference of those who were ready to meet the Lord from those who did not know Him. Those that were afraid had their call light on all the time, and were filled with anxiety. But those who were waiting to go home to glory had a sense of peace.  Jesus came to rid us of our fears and so many times in scripture it says to Fear Not.  
We can probably all remember fears we had as a child and mostly overcome them as we grew up. But there is also a healthy fear of God when we have a loving sense of awe and reverence for Him. We may fear we may not be faithful to what He asks of us, or that we don’t trust Him enough, or that we may disappoint Him, but that is not the same as being afraid of Him. Jesus doesn’t want us afraid but that we live in holy fear like David who was called a friend of God. God is merciful, kind, forgiving and good and we do not have to fear. As it says in Isaiah 43:1-2 (The Message), “Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you. I’ve called your name. When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end—Because I am God, your personal God.”  He goes on to say that we are precious to Him, honored and loved by Him. Let us not fear; reverence yes, but not be afraid.
Challenge for today: Give all your fears to the Lord and trust Him with everything.
Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy

September 18, 2021

September 18, 2021 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope your day is full of sunshine and peace! I have been cleaning, scrubbing, washing, baking cookies and packing for our trip. This will be my last e-mail from here and the rest will be on our trip as I am able to write. We hope to get to North Carolina in time for John Mark’s soccer game! We would appreciate prayers for our safety as we may be gone a couple weeks. Thank you so much for prayers for Lily as she is home again and doing well. PTL!  (Perhaps even better since she saw her boyfriend!)Emoji
Devotions from Judy’s heart
As things get darker in our world, how vital it is to let our light shine. But how do we do that in today’s culture that leans more and more away from God? I read recently on Crosswalk.com what Mark Roberts had to say about how important it is to let God’s light shine through us that others may see Him. Jesus said in Luke 11:34 (ESV), “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness.” Jesus wasn’t talking about our physical eyes but rather our conscience, knowing right from wrong, and projecting what is within our souls into the world.  He cautions us to take care that the light in us does not become darkness by compromising with the world. This happens when we accept the world’s morals, and reject His truth. Maybe we don’t think we will get caught and that it doesn’t make a difference but it does. Young people today are asking what is right and what is wrong? What do they see as examples around them?
Today, more than ever before, we are being closely watched by others There are surveillance cameras everywhere and they are often hidden in hotels, bathrooms, offices etc. Our behavior is caught for others to see and we may end up feeling ashamed; but of course, the Lord always sees even in the darkest places and we can’t hide from Him.                                                                                                                                     But what kind of message do we want to send to the world though our words and actions? If our eyes are the windows of our soul, then what is in our hearts will come out in our words and behavior. Hopefully we desire to be full of His love and grace and for others to see His light in us and in our actions. Let us be fully committed to the Lord and live according to His will and reflect His character to all those around us.
Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to strengthen you to live for Him without compromise.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

 

                       

September 17, 2021

September 17, 2021 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you are having a great weekend. Everything seems to get more colorful each day. This morning I wrote letters, made some side dishes and did some packing. Lots of details when you on a trip. Lily is making good progress and will be taking the plane home this afternoon so please pray it may go well for her.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
When we come to faith in God, we are called to be His instruments of grace; that means, as St. Francis of Assisi would say, we are to be the bearers of God’s love, the pardoners, the bringers of hope, the comforters of those who grieve. It is not always easy to be that, and when someone lives it out in their life, we feel divinely inspired by their example. We are not to excuse ourselves, saying that we are unfit or too unimportant to be God’s instruments, but rather that we all live out the Jesus way in a variety of ways. The most important thing is for us to be willing.
I was reading of the life of Alan Paton, a white Anglican clergyman who wrote Instrument of Thy Peace, which was based on St. Francis’ well known prayer. He writes in a language of forgiveness and love, and encourages us to be active instruments that are willing to give our life, our gifts, and our strength to be bearers of hope.
Paton writes of a man who leaves prison to go back into the world for he paid for his crime. The prison chaplain assures him that his past is done and forgiven. But when he returns to the world, he finds that they have not forgiven him nor forgotten his past; so, he despairs and begins to doubt that God has forgiven him. That should not happen among Christians for we are to forgive others, even as we have been forgiven.
Today we live in a cancel culture and there are conflicts over the smallest issues. It makes for lots of broken relationships and we seem to be a graceless society. But as God’s instruments we are to forgive others and give up the right to get even. Jesus said in Matt. 6:14-15 (ESV), “But if you forgive others their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” We all have the same need for forgiveness and Martin Luther King said, “He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.”
Just recently at our weekly Bible Study we all wrote encouraging words on a card to a young man who was at Teen Challenge and accepted the Lord. He has a wife and children but is due to go to prison for a year to pay for his offense. We want to commit to pray for him and to let him know he is forgiven, and that he would be an instrument also, that God will use to win others even while in prison.
Let us all be His instruments of grace with forgiving hearts of love to all.
Challenge for today: Be willing to be extend grace and forgive the next time you get offended.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

September 16, 2021

September 16, 2021 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you are enjoying this beautiful day! This morning I studied, started some packing, and went downstairs for donuts. This afternoon we have Bible study and tonight I have our women’s Bible study at church. 
Lily is doing well but of course dealing with pain. Tomorrow they are scheduled to fly back to home to Kansas so getting on the plane etc may be challenging. So grateful for all your prayers. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
A real test of our love for God is seen in our obedience. When He speaks, do we listen and then obey or do we go about our life simply doing our own thing? Lately as I have been reading the Word, I see how many times it says God spoke and then the person did what He said. Before Jesus departed from this earth, He said to his followers in John 14:21 (The Message), “The person who knows my commandments and keeps them, that’s who loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and make myself plain to him.” Not loving means not keeping His word. We see this in children who refuse to obey and it only gets them into big messes. 
This morning I was reading in I Samuel 15 when Samuel tells Saul that when he goes to war against Amalek, they were to totally destroy the people and all of their cattle and sheep, donkeys and camels. Nothing was to remain as they were under a holy ban. But Saul does not completely obey and saves King Agag along with some of the choice sheep and cattle. God reveals to Samuel what Saul has done and how sorry He is that he is king. When Samuel heads to see Saul, he hears the bleating of the sheep and mooing of the cattle. Saul makes excuses and says he is going to use the animals in sacrifice to God. God does not want partial obedience but total. Because of Saul’s disobedience the kingdom was torn away from him and was later given to David. Samuel tells Saul that God says what He means and means what He says. 
Our disobedience can be very costly! When it says in the Word that something we want to do is wrong, we don’t have to question it, it is not right! But sometimes we are not sure what God is saying and we need to listen carefully and then do whatever He says. Even something good but delayed and out of God’s timing, can become something negative. We need to obey now as His ways are so much higher than our ways. What if Noah had waited until it started to rain before he began to build the ark? Let us do all that the Lord calls us to do and do it in His timing with hearts of love.
Challenge for today: Please the Lord with your obedience even in the smallest things today.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

 

September 15, 2021

September 15, 2021 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
Hope you have a peace filled day. I just made some egg dishes and soon going to my exercise class. This afternoon I am going to crafts and will be making cards. Tonight is Bible Study so is a  day of blessings. 
Please continue to pray for Lily’s recovery as she is in a lot of pain today.  
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Music is so good for our souls and has many health benefits too.  Music is often mentioned in the Bible like David who composed songs when he was tending sheep; or Deborah, or Moses and Miriam who sang songs of praise to God after a victory.
Paul wrote in Eph. 5: 18b-19 (ESV), “Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.”
Brian Vaszily wrote about the benefits music has on us and the power it has to influence our brain and body. Music is actually known to boost our memory and learning, and those who listen while they are working can outperform others doing the same tasks.
Scripture set to music helps us in memorizing passages and gives us better recall. I’m sure our kids can remember scriptures we learned as a family that we sang to music during family times.
Music also has a way of lifting our spirit and lowering our stress levels. If we play a praise song, it can take us from a tense mood to one of peacefulness, helping us feel less anxious and reduce depression symptoms.
Brian writes that music stimulates creativity and can inspire us for creative things like art and writing
Music is also good for our hearts as it lowers our blood pressure and our heart rate and helps in the recovery time from a heart attack. Of course, it also depends on what kind of music we are listening to!
Music is also known to give us energy and help our exercise performance. At my exercise class, upbeat music is always played and seems to boosts our energy. I find it even more energizing when I am doing it to Christian music. I use to do that with a rebounder and at times I felt like I could touch the ceiling!
Music can also help reduce pain and it tends to help decrease chronic or acute pain, like after surgery.
Lastly music can help improve our sleep, both the quality and just falling asleep. You might find that if you put music on at bedtime, you may get to sleep faster and sleep better.
Music is good for the body, soul and spirit so let us make music in our hearts to the Lord.
Challenge for today: Listen to praise music while you get ready for work and see if your day goes better! 
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

September 14, 2021

September 14, 2021 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
May you wake to a fresh awareness of the Lord today.  I hope to get downstairs this morning for coffee and choc covered raspberries and this afternoon we are having friends over for coffee. Our granddaughter’s hip surgery is at noon today so our thoughts are on Lily and thank you also for your prayers. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Doesn’t it feel peaceful when we have mental space and can spend some time in silence with the Lord? Sometimes our minds get so cluttered as we try to figure everything out that we can hardly hear what God has to say to us.  Francis Fenelon, a French Bishop, writes to a friend who desires spiritual direction. He addresses his cluttered mind and tells him that there is so much filling his head that there is not room for God to speak. He, more or less, tells him to get out of his head and stop trying to figure God out but instead to be humble and open to hear Him speak.  It is good at times for our body to fast to clear things out, but our mind needs to do that as well. Our confidence is not to be in our intellect but rather in God who has so many truths to teach us. Fenelon warns his directee to beware of those who put their confidence in their great minds, for they can talk endlessly around things but none of it matters. In fact, it leads to nowhere and even though they keep consuming so much, like Solomon said, it becomes vanity. 
I remember one time when Al and I visited a church around Lenten time, and the preacher went on and on, building his sermon on false assumptions and no longer truth. At first, I wondered if I was actually hearing right, as he said the cross was not really about Jesus at all but more about us etc. He seemed to go around in circles. Another pastor we knew did not believe the resurrection happened and so he told his congregation about the story of the resurrection. How sad! Fenelon wrote that even when we study, we should think of it as going to the market and getting only what we need on that trip. He said, “We can know truth only in proportion to how much we love.” When love is not present, it is just dead facts and not really knowledge at all. We are to use our minds prayerfully for as we come to know the Lord, we have the perfect balance between truth and love. That requires us to be humble like children, with open simple minds to receive. Let us not get puffed up in our human intellect but remember what Jesus said in Matt. 11:25 (God’s Word), “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from wise and intelligent people and revealing them to little children.”
Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to give you an uncluttered mind and simple childlike faith so He can teach you more.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

 

September 13, 2021

September 13, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Dear Ones,Hope you had a beautiful weekend! Such gorgeous perfect weather. This morning i have been doing food prep but won’t get to my exercise class as I have a long dental appointment in Remer.  I would ask for prayer for our granddaughter Lily who is in Vail now and will have her hip surgery tomorrow. There are two Doctors doing it and join us in prayers that she may play soccer again.  Devotions from Judy’s heartNearly every day we meet a couple on the Paul Bunyan trail who have become dear friends. We met not by chance but God’s design, and most every day we walk nearly a mile and a half together. We call our time of sharing the Lord together, Church on the Paul Bunyan trail. We go away blessed by the time of fellowship together as we seek to hear what God is saying to each of us.Since our first meeting, David has been writing poetry that God has been using to bring healing and comfort to his soul, for he has experienced several big losses. He describes it much like a storm he has been going through and Jesus has become his shelter to weather it.Each day we walk by a place on the trail so full of color. There are cattails surrounded by stunning bright yellow prairie sunflowers in full bloom. David took out his camera to capture the flowers but realized that his shadow was in the center of the picture. Nothing seemed to work to remove his shadow, not even the zoom on his camera. There were no other options as he did not have the power to move the sun. But God spoke to him with the scripture from John 3:30, (ESV), “He must increase, but I must decrease.” At first, he was not sure how this could be done but realized it happens as we make Jesus our Lord and give Him control over our life. He gets first place and we are His servants to do His will, not ours. Then our self begins to decrease and Jesus increases in our lives and others are drawn to the Light.Isn’t that what needs to happen to all of us, that we put Jesus first in our lives and give Him the control? Then we won’t be the shadow in the picture but the focus will be centered on the Lord. We will also find that we have more joy for when we no longer live for ourselves but for Him, life becomes so rich. The happiest people are not those who are self-seeking and put themselves first, but rather those who are eager to serve the Lord and others. Let us get ourselves out of the way, that the beauty of the Jesus will be seen.Challenge for today: When you sense you are casting a shadow, get self out of the way!Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy

September 11, 2021

September 11, 2021 / / 0 Comments
Dear Ones,
May you be filled with God’s peace this day. This morning I cleaned our apartment and did food prep etc. Our grandson Joe entered the Marines today and flew out this morning. Our prayers go with him. Our granddaugther Lily, along with her parents, will be flying to Vail tomorrow to get ready for her hip surgery on Tuesday. Do pray for the two doctors doing the surgery and that she may play soccer again.
Devotions from Judy’ s heart
Today I chose to put aside my usual writing since it is the 20th anniversary day of 911, a day that none of us will forget. I’m sure you remember exactly where you were, as I do, when we got the news of the attack on our nation. Last night I came across 5 prayers that Cally Logan, an author and history teacher from Richmond, Virginia, wrote. She prayed for the families of the fallen, prayers for the survivors, prayers for the memory of those lost, and also prayers for our nation and for our world. I would like to share her prayer for our nation as follows.
“Father God,
We pray for our nation as a whole this September 11th. September 12th was met with unity and grief that we all shared. It is still something we share as a people; it is a reminder of how fragile and precious life truly is. Lord, we pray for peace and unity in our nation today. We pray that Your Spirit would pour out among us and that through and by You, there would be a common heart, a common goal, and a common desire for peace and kindness towards one another. Let us not lose sight of what is important in this life and help us love one another as You truly love us. Lord, we pray for our leaders today. We pray that You would give them wisdom and discernment as they tackle events and dilemmas as they unfold. We pray that You would inspire this nation to be a nation under God, one that seeks to glorify, honor, and praise You. This is our heart’s desire, Lord. We desire to be Your people, and we strive to have peace. This nation has so much to offer, and Lord, we pray for our nation to truly be a City on a Hill.
In Jesus Name,
 Amen”
She concluded with these words:“Years have passed, but the events of September 11th will not be forgotten. As the anniversary comes about, let us take on the heart posture of peace towards our fellow man, and let us come before the Lord God Almighty to pray for our neighbors, our nation, and our world. Ask the Lord this day how you can honor those who lost their lives and how you can serve the Kingdom of God here on earth. Let us be ever mindful to pray for peace and to boldly come before the Lord to invite His Spirit to be among us.”
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

 

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