Category: Whispers (Page 145 of 171)

Dear Ones,

Hope you are enjoying your weekend. Today we are going to be off to the lake and stopping on the way to see a friend in Assisted living and then to Camp Patmos to see more friends and then on to the cabin. We hope to get in a boat ride and swim.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Do we remember the goodness of the Lord to us? Or do we forget what He saved us from and take for granted His blessings. I was reading in Deuteronomy 5 when Moses was addressing the people and reminding them of the many ways God had been with them. He told how God spoke to them out of the fire on the mountain, how God brought them out of Egypt, how God made a covenant with them etc. Then He said in verse 15 (The Message), “Don’t ever forget that you were slaves in Egypt and God, your God, got you out of there in a powerful show of strength.” What an awesome story the Israelites could tell their children born to them on their long journey to the Promise Land: God delivered us, God led us through the Red Sea, God gave us water out of a rock and fed us manna every day! But they forgot and complained and wished to go back to Egypt. Moses also went on in Deuteronomy 6 to tell the people to talk about God’s commands to their children, serve and worship God and don’t forget how they got there. Maybe we are all guilty at times of forgetting how God has blessed us, how He took us out of a life of slavery to sin, made us new and free. Or we may wonder at times why the Christian life isn’t as exciting as when we first came to the Lord when everything seemed so new and passionate; but maybe the fault is with us, as we have taken His blessings for granted.  When we moved here to Northern Lakes, Al and I went through an old trunk of our love letters, diplomas, mementos of all kinds, and it brought back so many memories to us. Yesterday on our Anniversary, we spent time over our celebration dinner and later on our walk, sharing about God’s goodness to us in each move we made to a new church. Some things we hadn’t thought about for years and yet as we shared it was like yesterday. We must not forget the kindness of the Lord or we become full of complaints and feel entitled to more things. As it says in Isaiah 46:9 (NRSV), “Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like me.” Let us remember the Lord and all He has done for us, knowing that He never forgets us and has us engraved on the palms of his hands.

Challenge for today: Spend some time in quiet, remembering what the Lord has freed you of.

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Happy weekend! Nice to have it a little cooler and will make our walk more enjoyable today. I baked cookies on a stick and we went to pick up meat from a rancher. Then Al and I went out to celebrate our 56th anniversary with a yummy steak dinner. God has blessed us so much and we give Him thanks. 
Devotions from Judy’s heart

Lately I have been getting scriptures on the importance of giving, not just for the receiver, but for the good of our own hearts. Today I read from Psalm 112:5-6 (ESV) where it says, “It is well with the man who deals generously and lends; who conducts his affairs with justice. For the righteous will never be moved; he will be remembered forever.” We need to give generously to the poor, not only because they need it, but for ourselves to be spiritually healthy. It is good to ponder how much we have been given from the Lord, virtually everything; and remember that when we give to others it is only a fraction of sharing all that we possess. We have been given so much! Whatever we do for the poor we do for the Lord, and He is in the poor. Ronald Rolheiser writes that how we treat the poor is how we treat God. One day He will judge us if we fed the hungry, gave water to the thirsty, clothed the poor and visited those in prison.  One of my favorite places to give is to missions and particularly to give money so wells can be dug in areas where they have only dirty rivers with water not fit to drink.  A whole community is changed when they have a well to get fresh water. Another important place for our gifts to make a difference is for missionaries who serve the Lord in foreign lands and try to exist on such limited incomes. We will never run out of things to support when our hearts are opened wide to the needs of others. My cousin and her daughter and son-in-law who began the walk across America were treated well by total strangers who gave them meals, sometimes shelter, and other times just a glass of cold water when they were hot and thirsty. When we are generous and joyfully give what we have, we won’t get polluted by wealth or close our hearts to others in need. But even those who are very rich must still remember it was not their own power and ability that gave them so much. It was the Lord who gave the strength to produce all the wealth. Deut. 8:17 says, “If you start thinking to yourselves, ‘I did all this. And all by myself. I’m rich. It’s all mine!’—well, think again. Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this wealth so as to confirm the covenant that he promised to your ancestors—as it is today.”  Let us not hoard the gifts God has given us and give out of our abundance, but also out of our own need.

Challenge for today: Give something in secret to one who is struggling and in need.

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you are keeping cool today! We had a couple brief showers and things are looking  fresh again. This morning I made egg dishes and did food prep and went downstairs for donuts. This afternoon we have Bible Study and then going to friends for fellowship over coffee afterwards. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

What kind of a fruit are we known by? That which is in our hearts comes out in what we say and what we do. Jesus said in Luke 6:43-45 (NRSV), “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. Figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.” We can hide what is in our hearts and put on a good show for a while, but eventually what is really in our hearts will become evident by the fruit in our lives. It’s what is inside that matters. The Message translation says, “It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.” We can’t fool people for long. If we want to know the character of another also, we can simply watch their actions and listen to what comes out of their mouth. Soon we will be able to tell if they are compassionate and kind or if they are consistently rude and unloving. One couple bought a house on property with fruit trees but they did not have the knowledge of  what each tree was until the fruit appeared. They were pleasantly surprised to find they had an assortment of fruit trees and got to enjoy a variety of good fruit. Even if we should fool people for a time, the Lord is the fruit inspector and sees exactly what is in our hearts. Sometimes we may be surprised by our own unloving responses to those around us. We didn’t know that was deep down in our hearts and we must humbly seek forgiveness. The Lord is so pleased when we ask Him to change our hearts and make us more like Him, that we may bear good fruit for His glory.

Challenge for today: Ask the Lord to purify your heart and make you more and more like Him.

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you had a great weekend. We enjoyed having Al’s sister here and time to share together. Today I made bars, went to Aldi’s and my exercise class. We are walking on these hot afternoons even though some days we are the only ones on the trail. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Do we live our daily lives in gratitude for our salvation and all the blessings God has poured out on us?  When we wake in the morning, do we welcome the day as another opportunity to love and serve Him? I wonder if our prayers are more about asking for things rather than seeking ways to give back and thanking Him.  Some give to the Lord out of the motivation of “giving to get” for the Lord has promised if we sow bountifully, we will reap bountifully! An English teacher, Keith Gogan, writes that our motivation for giving should be selfless and pro bono. (Latin, “for the good”) In fact as Christians, shouldn’t all our giving be pro bono?! Recently a friend responded to one of my prior devotions on speaking the truth, and not holding back, like Samuel when he had to tell Eli what God was going to do to his sons. She told of the struggle in her own life to speak up as she was afraid to hurt other people’s feelings. She wrote, “Many years ago after attending both of our church services and Sunday School I was feeling hungry.  I wanted to eat something, but I knew our cupboards were bare.  It was like that after Dad died.  I found myself walking to Nymans Grocery store.  My idea was to ask Mr.  Nyman if I could charge some groceries.  I was shy and did not want to ask him, but I did walk around the store and planned what I would get if he said yes.  It was hard and I felt so embarrassed even to ask him.  The store closed at 1:00 pm and church had gotten over at Twelve noon.  I walked around this little store a number of times and waited for whatever customers were in the store to leave.  I knew that if the owner said no I would be unable to ever go back there. With five minutes until closing with all of the other customers gone it was time to go. I could not move and then standing at the back of the store I heard the words, “Helen go.” I looked around me thinking it was my Dad, but I knew it wasn’t.  I forged ahead, asked Mr. Nyman and he said yes. I ran and picked out some bread, apple sauce, coffee for my Mom and cream for her also.  On the way home I wondered what my Mom would think.  I charged the food and now Mom would have to pay for it.  When she came home later that night she smiled and wrapped her arms around me.  I am thankful that I responded to Gods prompting and need to listen carefully and then act.” I read this with tears in my eyes as she was a friend and we even double dated as we became teens; but I didn’t know the extent of her poverty. My dad often gave her and I a ride to school but I know my folks and I would have been over to her house in an instant if we thought she was in need and pro bono for sure! We missed an opportunity to give back to the Lord but may all of our hearts be open to the joy of giving to others in whatever ways we can and out of gratitude.

Challenge for today: Look for opportunities to share your love for the Lord Pro Bono!

Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Happy Weekend to you! We are enjoying time with Al’s sister, Ann Marie, and going to the lake today to see our daughter Ann Marie and all the renovation they have done to our former home. We spent last evening sharing and catching up and looking forward to another day of it.  It’s going to be a hot day in the 90’s!

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth! Today it is so difficult to know who is telling the truth and who to believe. We hear opposite points of view and wonder what is the truth? But one thing we do know that God Himself is truth and does not lie and what He says we can believe. All that is found written in the Bible we can believe and trust. I was reading what Ines Velasquez-McBryde had to say about Samuel of the Old Testament on Crosswalk.com. One night when Samuel was a young boy, he was lying down in the temple near the Ark of God and heard his name called. He thought it was Eli the priest calling him and he went to him to find out what he wanted. This happened again and Eli told him, it was not him but to go back to bed. But the third time Eli realized God must be speaking and told Samuel if He calls again to say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” When God did call the next time, He revealed what he was going to do not only to Israel but also to Eli’s family. His sons had had been blaspheming God and Eli did nothing to correct them. Samuel must have been afraid to tell the truth when Eli asked him the next morning what God said. But he told Eli what God had spoken and the punishment his family was to suffer. Not an encouraging word but Eli told Samuel not to hold back and to tell it all. So Samuel learned at an early age to speak what God gave him, even when afraid. Now just speaking the truth is only part of what we are called to do, for the second part is to tell it in the right way. Ines himself first struggled with speaking the truth and often did it with harshness and devastated others. His boss helped him learn to speak the truth in a way that would build others up and not tear them down. It is something we all need to learn and practice for sometimes the truth gets lost and ignored by the delivery of the messenger. Paul told the Ephesian church in Eph. 4:15 (ESV), Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head, into Christ.” When we speak truth we are to be humble and speak with grace, remembering we have many things that need correcting in our own lives. After speaking truth, it is good to ask ourselves if others are left knowing they are loved, no matter what the message was that was given.

Challenge for today: Before speaking the truth, humble yourself and ask God to help you say it in love.

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

 

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Isn’t wonderful to know that when we put things in God’s hands, He will take care of it? We don’t have to spend time needlessly worrying but only to listen if we are to be part of the solution in some way. The bottom line is that our burden is lifted because our dependency is on the Lord, not us. A friend recently shared how he had several complex decisions that had to be made. As we know, lake property has many regulations that must be followed, and he was getting stressed out by trying to figure this all out on his own.   He had issues of a rain garden, fire pit, excavation and the property line. These all had different set back rules with additional specific requirements. He asked God to make this complex problem simple. When the DNR person came out at his request, he simply told our friend, “Put all of these details in my hands and it will be just fine.” He had the power and authority and was an answer to the prayer of our friend. Now our friend could just relax.  That’s the way it is for all Christians who commit everything into God’s hands. They can live in hope and have a solid anchor to hold them fast when strong winds blow.  As it says in Heb 6:19 (TLB), “This certain hope of being saved is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls, connecting us with God himself.” We have God’s presence and power to help us with anything that concerns us. A hymn comes to my mind….

 

Our burdens belong in God’s hands and when the adverse winds blow, we are held safe and secure.

Challenge for today: Give all your concerns to God and thank Him that you are anchored in Him

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy