Devotions from Judy’s heart

Have you noticed how some people get hurt by words we might say? Or maybe we have overreacted when something was said to us. Most often it is because we have been wounded in an area and their words “sting”.  One day when I walked to a friend’s house, she handed me a cup of hot choc and when it touched my hand, I quickly said to her, “Don’t let go of the cup!” I had burned my fingers a few days before on our wood stove ash tray and when the hot cup touched my hand it was a real “owie” Ordinarily, I could have handled it but not that day. We need to cut people slack when we unintentionally hit an area of hurt in them, and remember that we also have those areas of woundedness. The Lord is compassionate and wants to bring freedom and healing to every area of our lives. Our healing won’t be complete until glory but He has given us Himself and each other for the healing process. It James 5:16 it says, Therefore, confess our sins to one another and pray for on another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person ahs great power as it is working.” I have found that just confessing my sin to a friend often breaks the power of it and brings healing. Let us receive healing and be bearers of His healing power to others.

Devotional from Judy’s heart

Have you ever been given something that was of no use to you? Or have you bought something that didn’t fit your real need?  Last week we were at L&M shopping for some welding gloves for me to handle the ashes from our wood stove. While there the sales person said, “ You should try this Ash Vac  instead as it cleans up all your ashes.”  Wow! Sounds like just what I need in the morning when I take out the hot ashes from the tray below the grate on the wood stove. But after talking to another sales person who actually had one, I found out you couldn’t use this Vacuum until the ashes were stone cold. That is not what I need as we don’t let the fire go out on our stove. Only someone who uses their fireplace occasionally would want this Ash Vac. Spiritually we may think we know exactly what someone else needs but do we really know their heart? Or maybe someone tries to make us feel guilty if we don’t practice their spiritual exercises or whatever works for them. No, our Father is the one that knows just what is right for us at the time and He also knows what is a right fit for others. Let us check with Him for no one knows us like He does. “For you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind.” I Kings 8:39.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

I was reading from I John 2 about when we live in Him we will practice righteousness (good things). Even a small act of kindness is evidence that we belong to Him. (verse 29). Further on in 3:18 it says, “Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and truth.”  We may not necessarily do Great acts of mercy each day  but often it is in the little acts of kindness that we express His love to others. The other day I walked a mile to a friend’s house on a cold day and I was welcomed and immediately given a hot cup of cocoa topped with whipped cream. It was exactly what hit the spot for me as it warmed up my insides. When I walk there in the hot summer sun, I am always offered a glass of ice water which is just what I need before walking the mile home again. Let us be open to the Spirit and show acts of love as He prompts us. We can be like an oasis to someone in the desert, or like the warm hearth to someone who is out in the cold. Never underestimate the value of small things when prompted by Love.
“The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good.” : Luke 6:45

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Have you ever gone to a meeting and wondered who is in charge? It is a question we can ask ourselves each day…who is in charge of my life today? Is it God or have I taken over again?   I read from a devotional book today of how we need to live in the awareness that God is Boss. He is the one that orchestrates the events of our lives. Our part is turn over our wills and lives to Him and He will give us all we need for the day. He is the One the gives us a sense of purpose each day. Often our plans for the day are vastly different from how the day actually turns out. A visitor may surprise us at our door, or we may get a bad report from the Dr., or a sudden accident occurs. I remember recently when the Hospice nurse called and told me dad had died, My whole day and world changed. Yes, things can change in an instant. But one thing we know is that God is with us and can work good out everything. His ways are higher than our ways, and even His thoughts higher than our thoughts. ( Isaiah 55:9)  Let us remember who is in charge and let the Lord be Boss…what a secure place to be!

Devotions from Judy’s heart

One day my cousin suggested coming over in the afternoon and said she would get back to me. I waited and didn’t hear and e-mailed her but no answer.  A couple hours later Al was going to use the phone and realized I had a message waiting. The answer was in that message only I forgot to check the answering machine. ( It doesn’t beep) It caused me to think of times when we might think God has forgotten us and not answered our prayers. We wait and wait and may feel He has abandoned us. But that is not the case. He is always speaking to us and leaving us messages. It is we who need to put ourselves in position to receive those words from Him. It was my fault for not checking the answering machine, just as when God speaks I need to listen to all the ways he may answer me. My cousin didn’t use the mode of e-mail, she used a phone message… so we need to be receptive for whatever mode He would speak to us. A familiar verse comes to mind from Jer. 33:3, “Call unto me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

Devotions from Judy’s heart

As we have recently entered into 2012, it is time to let go of the old and begin afresh. For most of us that means getting rid of our clutter so we have room for the new. Physically, I have begun to get rid of clutter in the house, especially my closets that are filled to overflowing. I have a perfect place to bring the things I don’t use or wear as we have a Share and Care in Hackensack. Why are we so reluctant to get rid of things? Do we think that we will need them down the line and if we give something away will we miss it? If we want to live a more simple life, it often means sorting out the clutter. In I Tim 5:6-7 it says “Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.”  Further down in this chapter it says we are to set our hopes on God who gives us everything.  We are to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for the future. Let us  go into 2012 by de-cluttering so there will more room for Him, and less of us!

Devotions from Judy’s heart

On Friday I went for a prayer walk and to visit my neighbor. It was very warm in the house by the wood stove so I dressed in a t-shirt and then my winter jacket. But when I got outside in the 3 degree weather, I wished I had dressed a lot warmer.  I should have dressed for the outside weather and not based what I wore on the internal temperature. I think it is that way when we go out into the world. We need to insulate ourselves, lest the world get to us. We can go to a nice worship service at church and feel so warm and cozy. But when we go out into the world we need to have on spiritual protection.  In Romans 12:2 we are given a warning, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould”.  And in I John 2:15 we are told not to give our hearts to this world or to any of the things in it. “The whole world- system, based as it is on men’s desire, their greedy ambitions, and the glamour of all that they think splendid, is not derived from the Father at all, but for the world itself. The world and all its passionate desire will one day disappear. But the man who is following God’s will is part of the permanent and cannot die.” Let us insulate ourselves but not isolate ourselves from the world. May we give ourselves fully to His kingdom and not give our hearts to the world.
(Today I wore a scarf around my mouth neck and mouth and perhaps the mouth is an area we especially need protection. How easy it is to use our mouth in saying things that are better unsaid!)

Devotions from Judy’s heart

Have you ever started a project and it leads to another and to another? I have an idea it is that way with our heart make -overs.  A friend wrote that they were going to redo their kitchen completely but when they tore out everything to the studs, they found that their balcony overhang needed attention and their bedroom and the hallway. It seems that way with our hearts. The Lord works in one area and we think it is taken care of and then there is another big area that needs attention. I suspect He will always be uncovering and working on an area in our lives, for the completion won’t come until Glory. But we can rejoice that our Father loves us enough not to leave us as we are but wants to transform us to be more like Him. As it says in II Cor. 3:18,  “ We are transformed in ever increasing splendor into His own image, and this is the work of the Lord who is the Spirit.” May His work in us continue until the day we see him face to face.

Devotions from Judy’s heart

 I am just back from my prayer walk and it is a windy but sunny day with everything covered over in a white blanket. I saw 3 deer prance to the right of me and 2 eagles on the lake eating fish left by the fisherman. It’s great to visually see nature at its best but there is so much going on that we can’t see. I saw many animal tracks and when I got to my cousins to check on her hot tub, it looked like a family of deer had had a party in her driveway by the tracks they left behind. I thought of how wonderful we think it is when we see such visual signs of God at work and just know it is the Lord….like maybe a vision or a specific word that is only known to us; maybe a parking place that opens up for us when are in a hurry; or maybe goose bumps or warm heat as we are being healed of something. But what about the times we can’t “feel” his presence or see His answer to our prayers?  If we look hard, often we can see his “tracks” and know He has been there before us. But even when we can’t seem to, we have His promise that He is with us and answers our every prayer. Yes, it is nice when it is obvious but He wants us to trust when we can’t see. We are never abandoned or alone.  As a child I learned the song, “No never alone, no never alone, He promised never to leave me, never to leave me alone!””