Dear Ones,
May you have a blessed day and keep warm. Al is going to meet with some men and a donut will be waiting when he comes home, I plan to bake and later we have Bible study and then going shopping.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Al and I changed the altar paraments at our church to blue ones with the manger scene embroidered on each one, for we are in a new season of the church year. Hopefully, we will all come with openness and expectancy to receive Jesus in new ways in this Christmas season. It is all too easy to lose our focus and the reason for the season when we become so busy buying gifts, decorating, going to parties, baking, etc.

I received a wonderful gift in the mail from a friend who is in a Bible Study group where the members receive my daily devotions. I was pleasantly surprised to get Susie Larson’s book called Prepare Him Room, which is also a daily devotional to help me prepare for the Lord’s coming. At the end of each devotional is an invitation to do a fast, only it isn’t about food. It is more about fasting from hindrances in our lives, like a recent one to fast from impatience and discontentment so we can be content and pursue the Lord. This is only one way to prepare my heart for this special time, but there are many other ways you may find so as not to be robbed of the closeness of His presence.

I want to share the first of the readings as it will help us enter the Advent Season with anticipation and expectancy. David prays in Psalm 5:3, “In the morning, O Eternal One, listen for my voice; in the day’s first light, I will offer my prayer to You and watch expectantly for Your answer.” Like David, we can ask the Lord to hear our voice and pay attention as we believe in faith He will birth something new in us. Sometimes He shows us something in His Word and other times we must wait for the answer to a burden on our hearts. But as we wait, we are to remember He hears us and He will answer us in His timing, just like Elizabeth who waited so many years to have a baby who would become the forerunner of Jesus and turn hearts to the Lord.

Let us not lose heart, but hang on in expectant faith for whatever concern is on our heart. Like the song goes, “Come Thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free; from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in Thee.”

Challenge for today: Begin your Advent journey by fasting from impatience and discontentment.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy