Dear Ones,
Happy weekend! The weather is turning cooler and leaves getting more colorful as officially Fall will be here in about 3 more days. We enjoy our beautiful walks on the trail! I also love trying new recipes with produce from our church garden.
Devotions from Judy’s heart
We often may say we want to know God in deeper ways and that is Jesus’ desire for us, for He said in Matt. 22:37, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” The Message translation says, “Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.” We come to know the Lord in various ways, one way being through our senses like enjoying the beauty of the sunset over the lake, hearing a voice of love, catching the fragrance of flowers along the prayer trail, sipping coffee as we have our devotions, and feeling the embrace of a loved one.

But we also come to experience God through our minds and intellect as we read the Word and books about God, and also seeing God’s intricate fashioning of our bodies and minds. We have so many translations today of the Word, commentaries galore and unlimited books, and you may even be able to read scripture in the original Greek and Hebrew.

There is also another way of knowing God by our spirit: it is a heart knowing as our spirit unites with Him, which means letting go of all our attachments and surrendering. Sometimes it seems like He is hiding from us as we don’t necessarily have warm cozy feelings, but this also requires us to have faith. We believe even when we don’t have goose bumps and even when it all seems rather dry. It is a time to learn to trust God even when He seems to be hidden. We are incapable of fully knowing and experiencing the fullness of His presence, as it would be like looking directly at the sun. Sometimes God takes us through dark nights of the soul and we come to know Him in a deep way through experiencing Him in what seems like his absence.

We might ask ourselves if we are willing to be humble and let God lead us in His way and not revert to our own ways. When we live from obligation and commands we miss so much. But when we trust Him and are open to all the ways of knowing Him, we have peace and joy and freedom.

Challenge for today: May you surrender how you presently see God and be open to experience His love in new and personal ways.
Blessings on your weekend and prayers and love, Judy