Dear Ones,
Hope you wake to sunshine and some warm weather. We still walk each afternoon, but it is brisk. Al is preaching at Assisted Living this morning and our former neighbor is now there too. Today I plan to bake cookies, have Exercise class and Crafts and later Bible study.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
Isn’t it wonderful when we just sense God’s love and presence with us and the Word just opens up to us with fresh insights? But as nice as that is, God doesn’t always choose to meet us in that way but there are times also of feeling alone and that the Lord is far off. It happened to those we read of in the Bible as well, and the Psalmist said in Psalm 10:1, “Why are you so distant, Lord? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” He felt the Lord was far off and avoiding him and he was needy and desperate. Maybe we feel that way at times also but the Lord never abandons us even when we feel he is far off.

The Lord desires to teach us in those dark times and it is important to stay open to Him, even when we don’t have warm feelings of His nearness. It is an opportunity not to turn to all of our coping ways, even addictions, but to ask the Lord to help us deal with things in our lives that we have put before Him, any idol that blocks us from fully depending on Him. The idols could be even good things, but that have kept us from completely trusting in Him.

When I wrote this, I noticed an odor from my pantry, as the door was slightly ajar. I have a good sense of smell, and I knew right away it was potatoes that had gotten rotten. We only have potatoes for when I make Finnish Pasty so the remainder of them can go bad. The dark pantry closet made me think of times the Lord takes us into the darkness to show us what is “rotten” and needs to go and it is really like a gift to us to discover.

Perhaps God is calling us to a deeper walk with Him, and we can come to even thank Him for the gift of the dark night as it reveals areas of our hearts that need to be surrendered to Him. Of course, that means our own defenses have to go, our old ways of protecting ourselves, and we are content to live in grace that frees us from ourselves and to trust Him fully. Why does it take us so long to realize we can’t go on our own and need to surrender all? Let us face the things that block us from doing that, and be done with hiding.

Challenge for today: Welcome those times of darkness and face the wounded parts of you that the Lord is wanting to heal.
Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy