Author: Judy Glasser

Life is a journey. Sometimes I'm coasting downhill and, other times, its a tough road uphill. My journey has been straight uphill since May 19, 2016 when my son, David Glasser, who was a Phoenix Police Officer was killed in the line of duty. When my life and dreams blew apart, I only had one option - to hold on tightly to my Rock, my Father God. I have a new understanding of just how short life is and how important it is to take loving each other seriously. God is love and all love comes from him. I have seen love do supernatural things since my son was killed. I have published a book, "Then I Looked Up: Losing a Child, Finding His Legacy of Love." about my tough and painful journey since my son was killed. You can order it from Amazon or you can get an autographed copy by contacting me on messenger. I am sharing some of my experiences as a survivor of a line of duty death in MYFAMILYBLEEDSBLUE.COM. Please feel free to share these blogs with anyone you know who might find them helpful. My other blog - JOURNEYTOWARDSTHETRUTH.COM - has been a work of love for many years as I read through the Chronological Daily Bible each year and share what I hear from God when he stops me. I am inviting you to come along on one or both of my journeys. Please share as often as you'd like. Thanks so much for reading!

Open Doors

On By Judy GlasserIn JanuaryLeave a comment

Closed doors.

My life has been a series of God opening doors and closing doors.  I wonder what doors he will open in 2018?  I’m sure there will be some that close.

When I understand that God is opening a door and guiding me down a specific path, I tell him ‘I’ll go’ and I add, ‘But close the door if I’ve got any part of your message wrong.”

Then I will move.

I’m not always sure of all the details so asking him to close the door if I don’t have it right gives me confidence that I’m on the right path.

Because I have seen him close the door if I misunderstood.  I have seen him close the door is it was something I wanted and I talked myself into thinking it was God’s direction.  I have seen him close the door if it wasn’t the right time – yet.

He also encourages me to keep moving when I’m on the right track by opening up more doors.  Recently, my family and friends have started the David Glasser Foundation to honor and continue the work of my son who was a Phoenix Police Officer killed in the line of duty last year.  The doors God has been opening for this foundation are amazing!  We have all seen them and we continue to see them.  God has made it crystal clear to us that we are on the right track.

Have you ever asked God to open or close doors?

For me, this works much better than asking for signs.  I know God speaks and guides us in a multitude of ways and he knows I am easily motivated by opened doors. I really like seeing a door close as well if it’s not the way I should be going.

One of the keys for me is to ask and then watch carefully.  Because God answers.

As we start another new year, I am reading ‘In the Beginning’ of the Chronological Bible again – for the 7th time.  I noticed a line I don’t remember ever reading before.  In Genesis 7 right before the flood began, Noah and his family entered the ark along with the ‘pairs of all creatures that have breath in them.”

Then –

“The Lord shut him in.”

God shut the door.  It wasn’t like the movies where Noah had figured out how to close the door himself.

God reached down and shut the door.

I can imagine Noah standing there, watching this big, wooden door close slowly right in front of him.  If I were him and I needed any more proof that God was in control of whatever was happening, I would have been convinced.

And I am convinced.

Because I have watched God open and close doors in my life this same supernatural way.  God has always been in control and he is still in control as we move forward into whatever is coming our way in 2018.

Are you convinced?

Thank you for your faithfulness, Abba Father.

 

Why?

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

Why me?

Why now?

Why more?

We often ask these questions when trials and tough issues come our way.

When I ask this question, God gives me answers.  One of the answers is Romans 5.  “Suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

I have learned to watch for God moving in my life as I’m persevering through trials.  Where is he re-molding me?  What thoughts is he renewing in my mind through this suffering?  What is he washing out of my life through all of these tears?

I know he is building my faith as I persevere because it’s never more obvious to me how much I need him than when I’m going through a painful experience.  And I have watched him strengthen my character as I persevere.  He reveals areas of weakness in my thinking and replaces them with his truth.  He tests my convictions and transforms me as I ask for wisdom in my trials.

Through all of this, he gives me hope.  I can see him working.  My trust in God grows as I watch him bring light out of the dark sufferings in my life.  He has a purpose.  He has a plan as he draws me closer to him.

As I count on him, God covers the pain with his grace and love – every day.

This is why.

Thank you for answering my question, Abba Father.

Fighting My Battle Well

On By Judy GlasserIn December2 Comments

It’s not easy to fight the battle well.

It’s not easy to consistently stay in line with God and keep the faith.

It’s not easy when so many others around me reject God,

or shipwreck their faith with really bad decisions.

In his first letter to Timothy, Paul challenges Timothy to fight his battle well and hold onto his faith.  And then he tells Timothy to pray for all people, including the kings and all of those in authority.

Pray.

How much different would our country be if everyone prayed for our government leaders instead of criticizing them and spending all of our energy spreading the scandals?  I think we would be pleasantly surprised by how much God can do in correcting the things that are wrong in our government and in our world.  If we would pray.

Paul tells us that our prayers please God who wants all people to be saved by knowing the truth.  “Therefore, I want people everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.”

It’s almost the new year.  Let’s fight the battle well in 2018.

May the way we fight the battle please you, Abba Father.

 

A Christmas Blessing – Colossians 1, 2017

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

I have not stopped praying for you.

I have asked God to help you know and understand the purpose he has planned for you.  May his Spirit give you wisdom for the journey.

May you live a life that pleases our Father God – spreading love and joy everywhere you go.  May you grow in your relationship with God and become strong in your faith, having great endurance and patience.

May you gratefully praise our Father who has saved us and adopted us as his children.  We are his holy people who will live eternally with him in heaven.

Thank you, Abba Father, for rescuing us from darkness by giving us the free gift of salvation through your son, Jesus.

Please bless all of us this Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

A Bad Exchange

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

Taking steps forward – not backward.  Growing in goodness – not growing in selfishness.  Softening my heart – not becoming bitter and cynical.

Change can be good – or bad.  It depends on how and what I’m changing.

I’m reminded of this as I read God’s word to me in Romans when the Gentiles rejected God.  “Their thinking became futile and their hearts were darkened.  They exchanged the truth about God for a lie.”

They changed – in a bad direction.  They became defined by worthless thinking and dark hearts.  They based their lives on lies, turning away from the One True God.  Then they took it a step farther – they encouraged others to do the same thing.

They became filled with envy, murder, strife and deceit.  They became slanderers and gossips, God-haters and boastful.  They had no understanding, no love, no fidelity and no mercy.  And they approved of their way of life.

Just thinking about what their days were like and how it must have felt to live like they were living turns my stomach.  What about you?

They lived worthless lives doing exactly what Satan would like all of us to do.  Satan could ignore them – they were sold out to his lies and they had given in to his schemes.  They were no threat to him.  His work with them was done.

Exchanging the truth for lies is always going to be a bad exchange.  I’m so glad we’re all on this journey towards the truth together so we can keep our compass pointed right at God.

Thank you, Abba Father.

 

You Are A Letter

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

You are changed.

I am changed.

When we accept Jesus as our Savior, his spirit comes to live inside of us.

He speaks to us.

He loves us.

He redeems us.

He changes us – when we listen and obey.

Paul writes about this transformation in his second letter to the Corinthians.  He calls them “a letter from Christ…written not with ink but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on tables of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”

You and I are Christ’s letter to our world – not written in ink but communicated by how much we love God and how much we love others.

Faith, Hope and Love…

and the greatest of these is love.

We love you, Abba Father.

 

His Child

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

Redeemed from paying the price of my sins for all eternity.

Redeemed from trying to be ‘good enough’ to get into heaven.

Adopted by God.

I feel it –

don’t you?

Every moment, I feel God’s love – not as a servant or friend.  But as his child.

God tells us through  Paul in Galatians that he sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts and the Spirit calls, ” Abba, Father’.

Daddy.

This has a very special meaning to me because my earthly father went to heaven almost 40 years ago.  My heavenly Father has been my only Father here on earth for a very long time.

And my spirit calls him ‘Daddy”.

I know my Abba wants the best for me.  I know he can do anything – nothing is impossible for him.  He works good out of evil.  He forgives.  He is patient.  He loves me enough to discipline me……and comfort me.  He is faithful.

My identify as a child of God is the most important thing in my life.

Thank you for being both my earthly and heavenly Father for all of my adult life, Abba.

This Doesn’t Look Good

On By Judy GlasserIn December2 Comments

It looks like pain.

It looks like grief.

It looks harsh….

really tough.

Life happens to us and many times it doesn’t look good.  It’s nothing we would ever want to happen to us.  We would not choose this path in a million years.

Life like this keeps happening to me – I know it happens to you, too.  If you don’t have any trials in your life right now, just wait.  It’s not a question of ‘if’, it’s a question of ‘when’.

When things are looking bad, those of us who believe and trust in God can be confident that God is working through this trial to bring good into our lives.  He has promised, so it will happen if we remain faithful and obedient.

I see God fulfilling this promise as I read the book of Acts.  The believers are being persecuted for their faith.  This is bad – a lot of pain and loss and problems.  So the believers fled.   And they shared the Great News as they fled, spreading the truth into other countries.  They touched many people who had never heard about Jesus and grace and salvation.  Good – out of bad.

God has done this in my life.  Evil was done and God is reshaping the results to bring good out of it.  It still hurts.  It’s not easy.

But God is proving himself faithful once again by bringing good things and purpose out of my trials.

When things on earth don’t look good, Abba Father, please help us look up.

They Missed It!

On By Judy GlasserIn NovemberLeave a comment

But you and I don’t need to miss it.

Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane having a long, agonizing conversation with his Father about his crucifixion which was coming closer every minute.

Why did he keep going back to wake up his disciples?  He went back three times and they were asleep each time.

I think they were supposed to be learning an important lesson that night but they missed it.  Jesus was giving them a first-hand example of how we should respond to trials and tragedies in our lives.

Jesus talked with God all night.  He laid his human concerns and worries and fears at his Father’s feet – over and over and over.  For hours.  He let the love of his Father wash over him – pushing back the anxieties and concerns.

And did you catch the part where God sent an angel from heaven to give Jesus the strength to be obedient?

The disciples were asleep – but I’m not.

And I got the message.

In times of struggles and pain, I need to get as close to God as I can.  I learned this lesson years ago and I have found that it works – no matter what kind of nightmare I’m living through.  The closer I get to God, the easier it is for him to help me get through the darkness and hurt.  When I’m close, he can quickly wrap his arms around me, helping me to feel safe and loved.  When I’m right beside him, he it’s easier for him to guide me through the rough parts of this journey.

When I’m focused on him and his Word, I can see the angels he sends to give me the strength to be obedient….

and still.

This is what Jesus showed us in the Garden of Gethsemane.

And I know it works.

And now you know.

Please help us not miss this lesson, Abba Father.

How Can I Know the Way?

On By Judy GlasserIn November6 Comments

How do I figure out my next step?

How do I know who to believe?

How do I decide which way to go?

These are all tough questions with important answers.

Thomas asked Jesus this same question after Jesus told him he was going away to prepare a place for the disciples.  Thomas replies, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus replied, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

Jesus is the way.

I’m not going to choose the right path without him.  I’m not going to know what to believe unless I know the Truth.  I’m going to wander and end up places I don’t want to be if I don’t follow the Way.

It’s just that simple –

and that complicated.

I need to commit each day to following him,

commit each hour to believing in him,

and I need to commit each minute to trusting him if I really want to know the Way.

Please guide each of us in the right Way, Abba Father.