Dear Ones,
Happy weekend to you and may you stay cozy warm and find time to be refreshed. This morning I plan to make egg dishes etc. and go to an appointment and hopefully walk outside later.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Life is a beautiful gift, and we only get one life to live so we need to enjoy each day. We are also to live with death before our eyes for as we think more about death it helps remove our fears and lessens our clinging to the world. Al has begun praying that we would have a good death, however that comes to us. I think the monks are better at this then most of us as they don’t spend care about what clothes they wear or what they will eat etc. but wait on the Lord and have a yearning to be with Him.                                                                                                                                                                                         The more we die to the things of the world, the more freedom we have for we care less of what others think of us when our worth is not wrapped up in what we do etc. I have said so often, “He must increase and I must decrease!” (John 3:30) As this happens in our lives, we aren’t held captive by what the world thinks of us or how we act because it doesn’t have a hold on us. Gone are the days we do everything to please others or that we seek praise from them for we simply go about our lives letting the Spirit direct us. All that matters is that we are seeking to go God’s way and not our own and we want His pleasure.

We also have to be dead to those closest to us, so we don’t judge them or allow their problems to become ours but to remain their own. We can pray for others and listen to them but there still has to be some distance, so we are not the one responsible, but they are for themselves. Just think of a therapist, if he could not get some distance between him and the person he counsels, he would not really be able to help him and he would tire out quickly.

We need to give others space for love and security, and freedom to decide when and if they want help; we do this as we release them and let them be responsible before the Lord. Let us not hang on or we cannot live our own lives freely before the Lord. It takes a lot of dying each day, but it is the best way to live our lives here on earth and also prepare us for what is ahead. Yes, let us live with death before our eyes, and be like the grain of wheat that falls into the ground and dies for if it dies, it bears much fruit. (John 12:24)

Challenge for today: Care not what others are thinking but seek God’s will for your life each day and let go of your own plans.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy