At the close of our Bible Study on Thursday, a friend shared something that happened to her last Sunday in church, and I was left with the feeling that God was directing the whole scenario. It was just after the pastor had finished the sermon that my friend began feeling weak and faint, and quickly sat down in the pew. The next thing she knew she was lying down and someone was holding her hand and another man examining her and taking her vital signs. It wasn’t long before an ambulance arrived and took her to the hospital where it was discovered that the infection she had been treating with an antibiotic, was still active in her body. She was given a hearty dose of another antibiotic and later sent home to recover. She was so grateful for the ones who had shown care to her and wished to thank them. After asking a few questions she discovered that the one who was taking her vital signs was indeed a retired doctor who just happened to be at the early service. Then there was the EMT who was seated across the aisle from her who rushed to help and held her hand and recorded her vital signs; it was his first-time visiting the church. Plus, there was a retired nurse sitting right behind her ready to help. The pastor told her that when she had heard a commotion she looked back and saw so many people praying for my friend. All were used of the Lord to care for her and willing to step up to the plate and help. My friend said she was never nervous or afraid as she felt so much love.

We never know when the Lord will put His hand on us and tell us He has work for us to do in the situation at hand. We can tell him we are not qualified to do whatever is needed, but He would not ask us if He wasn’t going to enable us. We might also protest that we have a schedule to keep and if we were to stop and help, we will miss out on an appointment. But since our time is in His hands, again He wouldn’t have prompted us in the first place.

It is quite exciting when we put our lives in the Lord’s hands and are willing to do whatever He tells us, Let us all respond to the Holy Spirit and follow His lead by stepping up to the plate, Like it says in Gal 5:25, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.”

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

  Sometimes my glasses are smudged, and I hold them up to the light to see where they need cleaning. Once they are cleaned, I see clearly and wonder why I waited so long. Of course, we all get smudges throughout our day when we fail to forgive someone or when we miss seeing who they really are. We become judgmental and soon we have a heart that is cold and hardened and without love.
  However, when we come to know how loved we are, we become spiritually aware, and we see things that we were spiritually blind to previously. Instead of focusing on the negative in others, we may see the failings of our own lives, wrong attitudes, and sin patterns that we need to deal with. Perhaps we suddenly become aware that there are idols in our lives as we spend our time and money and focus on some temporal things that we thought would give us significance. We may see areas where we have compromised and not been faithful to the Lord.

  Then one day, we sense the Holy Spirit working in our hearts and we see more clearly what things need to go and that the Lord is more important than any of them. I wonder if that is how the Psalmist felt when he wrote in Psalm 73:25-26, “Whom have I in heaven but you? You’re all I want! No one on earth means as much to me as you. Lord, so many times I fail; I fall into disgrace. But when I trust in you, I have a strong and glorious presence protecting and anointing me. Forever you’re all I need!”

 

 

  Today I read from Matt. 15:8-9 (Message) when Jesus responded to the Pharisees and Scribes by saying, “These people make a big show of saying the right thing, but their heart isn’t in it. They act like they’re worshiping me, but they don’t mean it. They just use me as a cover for teaching whatever suits their fancy.” We can just imagine how upset this made the Pharisees and Scribes who loved the applause of men and Jesus blew their cover. But are we also like them sometimes?

  Maybe we begrudgingly do something outwardly good but inwardly complaining and not doing it from a caring heart. God sees our heart and is more concerned with why we are doing things than what we do. I read today of how Jesus always responded by how His Father was directing Him. It wasn’t always convenient and there were many times He must have been so tired from people pressing in on Him and all wanting healing or their questions answered. After He got the news of his cousin John being decapitated, I’m sure He must have wanted to be alone as He grieved. He tried by slipping away by boat alone but someone saw Him, and word got out and the crowd walked around the lake to where He was. He didn’t hide from them but had pity and compassion and healed many all day long. Not only that but He fed the crowd before they went home. Jesus did it all to please His Father and His motive was love.

  Now we might ask ourselves how we would respond? I might have told the crowd to just give me some time and space to grieve since someone I loved died. But when we do what we feel the Holy Spirit is directing us to do, He will give us the energy and strength to do all that is needed; and I’m quite sure our hearts will expand with joy.

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

I was reading from Psalm 124 today and it is a song that was sung by the Jewish people on their way to Jerusalem for a festival. I can only imagine how many problems that they may have had in their life but notice a few words of what they sing. “If God hadn’t been for us when everyone went against us, we would have been swallowed alive by their volent anger…We would have lost our lives in the wild, raging water. Oh, Blessed be God! He didn’t go off and leave us…God’s strong name is our help, the same God who made heaven and earth.”

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Hope you have a wonderful day! It was a great win for the Vikings last night and a close exciting game. Today I am going to fry sunfish given to us by one of our friends from our Bible Study group!!!Also, going to make cookies for Al and do lots of food prep. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  As we get older, I hear people saying, “I can’t do all the things I use to do! My body is wearing out!” Our bodies do give out as we age and just recently, we have lost two men from our congregation who have been gradually declining and now are home with the Lord. But one day all of us who know the Lord will receive new bodies that will never wear out. Like it says in Phil. 3:20-21, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.” One day we will give up our earthly tent for our heavenly home. We can’t even imagine what that will be like.as we exchange our tent for a mansion in glory! If we are living when Jesus comes again, it will happen in the flicker of the eye, for we will be transformed into our glorious eternal bodies.

  When we have doubts and anxious feelings, we need to grab hold of the promises we have been given. We are not to live by our feelings for they are up and down but to find our security in the Lord who doesn’t change. Even when we have pain and troubles, may it not destroy our confidence in the Lord who will never give us more than we can handle with His help.\

 

  Let us rest secure, protected as if by the mountains that can’t be moved by our circumstances, but trusting His protecting hand until the day we are ushered home to glory and receive our eternal bodies.

  Challenge for today: Spend some time thanking the Lord for how He is preparing you for an eternity with Him.

Blessings on your day and prayers and love, Judy    

Dear Ones,

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!  Our walks on the Paul Bunyan trail are still so beautiful and full of gorgeous colors. Makes me wonder what heaven will look like! Today I go to my exercise class and hope to get some errands done. 

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  What is our attitude on Sunday morning as we prepare to go to church? Is it Lord, I am doing you a favor and going to church, even though I would like to sleep in and just take the day off. Or is it like King David who said in Psalm 122, “When they said, ‘Let’s go to the house of God,’ my heart leaped for joy.” That sounds like someone excited and looking forward to worship. This very Psalm is a Psalm of Ascent that Hebrew Pilgrims sang as they went up to Jerusalem for worship. Three times a year they made that trip to celebrate the festivals and it was a joyful time.

A simple song we use to sing in church that comes to mind, “We bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord…. And we offer up to You the sacrifices of thanksgiving. And we offer up to you the sacrifices of joy.”

Let us gladly go to the house of the Lord and be united with others in worship to the Lord.

 

Challenge for today: Memorize Psalm 29:2, “Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness.”

Blessings on your week and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Happy weekend! We loved our time at the lake yesterday and were awed at the beauty of the brilliant-colored leaves all along the way. We enjoyed time with family, and it was a delightful day. Today I am going to clean and then shop for the Samaritan Purse shoeboxes. I love to watch the joy in the faces of the precious children receiving them.  

Devotions from Judy’s heart

  When I was a young girl, I remember how my mom would have devotions for us after the meal. We all memorized scriptures that she put on recipe cards, and in some way, they became indelibly imprinted in our minds and hearts. Often in my adult life those scriptures have spoken to me at a time that I have needed them. The Word is inspired and living and active and can bring change to our lives. Most of all our hearts can draw closer to the Lord as He speaks His Word to us.

  There are times we may be going through a spell when the Word of God does not seem to light up in our hearts and it may seem rather dry. Recently I read what Kristine Brown had to say to help us in such times. First of all, before we even open our Bibles, we can ask the Holy Spirit soften our hearts and to reveal things to us as we read the Word. He has so much He wants us to say to us if our hearts are open. She suggests reading a Psalm a day which seems to cover all the varied experiences we have and emotions that we deal with. I like to read one each day along with the other chapters in the Word.  I also use a devotional book or two as I often learn from other person’s writings and experiences. Kristine also writes that it is good to listen to the Bible read aloud. Like it says in Rom. 10:17, “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God.” It is quite easy to hear the Bible read today as we can get Apps on our phones and listen to it when we go to work.  We can also read the Bible aloud to ourselves out as it is God’s love letter to us.  

 May we not neglect the Word of God but read with openness of heart.

Challenge for today:  Memorize or write down a meaningful verse of scripture and carry it with  you today.

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

Dear Ones,

Devotions from Judy’s heart

The thought struck me as I was having devotions, do we really enjoy the Lord? I mean do we desire to speak to Him and share with Him all throughout our day, not because we have to, but because that is the desire of our hearts?

Challenge for today: Spend some time alone with the Lord and tell Him what He means to you and then listen to His words of love for you.

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy

  Some of the things the Lord asks of us may not make logical sense to us but He has a plan and we are to trust and follow in obedience. It may feel at times that we are going almost the opposite direction of the desired outcome but then we notice it takes a turn and surprisingly all of a sudden. we are there. Or sometimes it is not unlike my cousin’s labyrinth whose path circles around and around and we feel like we are in the same place and not getting anywhere. But in reality, we realize we have all the while been coming closer to the center. Along the way it is good to get rid of any weights we have, so we can travel light without being weighed down.

  Sometimes it seems like He is taking us through the desert and we may long to be back in the honeymoon time with Him. But He knows when we are ready to be stretched and matured in new ways. It seems most of life is like a letting go of the familiar, the comfortable and entering into the new the Lord has for us. We are on a journey and must be good followers and let Him lead us wherever He would take us, lest we stagnate. When He says, move, let us move on, and not resist. Like the song goes, “I have decided to follow Jesus, no turning back, no turning back!” Even if no one joins us let us will still follow and put everything behind us and the cross before us!

Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy