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!

No Action

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

We hear the words,

and sing the songs,

and enjoy the beautiful music.

Do we put the message we hear into practice?

Do we just attend church?  Or are we participating in worship?  There is a big difference.

Have our hearts changed and shifted towards God when we leave our worship service?

If not…..why did we go?

God tells us in Ezekiel 33 that he expects us to hear his words and put them into practice. Sept 1 2016 no action

He tells Ezekiel that the Israelites didn’t care about what he had to say to them.  They just showed up to hear Ezekiel because he played his instrument well and he sang love songs with his beautiful voice.

God requires more than that from us.  His Word is designed to transform us into the people he created us to be.  When we open our hearts and actually put his word into action, God’s redeeming power moves in our lives and changes us.

Today is a good day for us to put God’s Word into action.

Please move us closer to you, Abba Father.

Great Faithfulness

On By Judy GlasserIn August, September2 Comments

We are not consumed by our sadness…

or our problems..

or the chaos in our world.

Because God is always loving and caring for us.

One of my special joys in reading through the Bible every year is when we read words that were used in the old famous hymns.  I was raised in a musical, conservative Christian home so these hymns bring back precious memories.

We read in Lamentations 3 that God promises to be faithful to us.  August 30 2016 Great Faithfulness

And, as the sun rises each morning, I am reminded of his promises.

His compassions never fail – we receive more grace and love every morning.

He is never late ( even though it can sometimes appear that way to us).

He is never tired.

He is never distracted.

Whenever doubts about God enter my mind, all I have to do is look back.

And I see God’s faithfulness to me day after day, year after year.

Even when I wandered, God never left me.

He never stopped loving me and caring for me.

Just like he cares for me today.

And I know I can count on him to love me and care for me all of the rest of the days I walk on this earth…and on into heaven.

Great is your faithfulness, oh God, my Father!

A Desolate Wasteland

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

Empty…

Deserted…

Dark.

There are times when our souls feel like desolate wastelands.

The light is gone.

The joy is gone.

Why did I wake up this morning?

God promises in Jeremiah 33 and many other places in his Word that he can restore our joy and gladness.  He can make us prosper again… when we turn back to him and let him guide us where we should go.August 22 2016 a desolate wasteland

He has promised, so it will happen when we do our part.

And then we will add our voices to the voices of the Israelites thousands of years ago as they brought their thank offerings to the house of the LORD, saying,

“Give thanks to the LORD Almighty,

for the LORD is good;

his love endures forever.”

Thank you for giving us your eternal love, Abba Father.

Our Heart Condition

On By Judy GlasserIn August3 Comments

What’s the condition of my heart?

Is it soft?

Is it big?

What’s the condition of your’s?

Writing about the size of our hearts reminds me of one of the Glasser Family’s Christmas traditions.  We watch ‘The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” every year.  The Grinch was very concerned about the size of his heart so he often measured it.  He wanted a small heart so he wouldn’t feel anything or care about anybody else.

What about us?

Do we want a small heart?  A hard heart?August 16 c 2016 Heart Conditions.

God talks to us often about the condition of our hearts.  In Ezekiel 11, God promises restoration if we will repent –

  •  if we will turn from focusing on what we want,
  • if we will turn away from our need for control,
  • if we will turn away from the things that keep us so busy that we don’t have time for God,
  • if we will turn away from whatever is holding us back from loving God with all our heart, soul and mind.

When we turn to God, he promises he will give us an undivided heart – a heart centered on him and his love and his grace.  He promises he will bring a new wind of his spirit into our lives – giving us purpose and meaning.  He promises to replace our heart of stone which is rebellious and self-centered with a heart devoted to obeying God.

When we do this, we are his people and he is our God.

When we’re committed to God, our hearts are big and open to things God loves and cares about.

What is the condition of your heart?

Please grow our hearts, Abba Father.

Full of Radiance

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

We all like to hear good news.

A baby is born.

We got a raise.

Our child got an A in school.

Good news.

There is not better news than the Good News Jesus brought to us when he came to earth.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but will have eternal life.” John 3:16.

Great news!  News that needs to be shared!

Jesus tells the disciples and us several times in the New Testament that he came to make us fishers of men.

That’s why we’re here.

Jesus’ last direction to us before he went home to heaven was to Go!

Go and make disciples.

Of people of all nations.

Teaching them everything he has taught us.

And he will be with us through the end of our life here on earth so he can walk with us into heaven.

Amen!

Towards the end of every service at my church, the Good News is shared. Everyone hearing this Good News is given the opportunity to accept God’s gift of salvation.

During this time, I can feel the cloud of God’s presence filling our church.

Yes, God is there all of the time.

But, as his plan for saving us from eternal death is explained, I can feel an extra sense of his presence.  I feel God’s blessings coming down, covering us with his approval as his Good News spreads out over my church family.

Ezekiel describes something much like this in his 10th chapter. “The cloud filled the temple and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the LORD.”August 16 2016 c filled with grace

The Good News of God’s grace radiates through my church family every service.

Redemption.

Salvation.

Love.

Purpose.

The glory of the LORD is never more evident than when we are doing what he has called us to do.

The Good News.

Who can we share it with today?

Thank you, Abba Father.

 

 

 

In the Darkness

On By Judy GlasserIn August1 Comment

What are the things we do in secret – when no one is around to see?

What do we do when we’re sure we won’t ‘get caught’?

How often do we lie to ‘cover-up’ something we did but we don’t want to held accountable for it?

These are the things – and there are many more – that we do in the darkness.

Always bad choices – that’s why we do them in the darkness, in secret.  We hope these things never come out into the light.

But God sees.

He knows everything that is done in the darkness.

God reminds us of this in the 8th chapter of Ezekiel as we read the account of how God supernaturally brought Ezekiel to Jerusalem to show him the elders of Israel who are standing in the darkness as they worship all of their small gods.August 17 2016 in the darkness

Who did they think they were fooling?

Then they say, “The LORD does not see us and the LORD as forsaken the land.” (vs 12)  )

They knew better.  Who were they trying to convince?

The LORD saw it all.

He had not forgotten about them.  He never forgot about them.

They were the ones who had turned away from God to worship these worthless idols made by man’s hands.

And they chose to do this in the darkness.

They knew it was wrong so they tried to blame God.

But blaming God just doesn’t work.

He is perfect.

He is God and we are not.

He sees all the things we do in secret – all the things we do in the darkness.

And he loves us in spite of all of it.

He has forgiven it all for all time through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus.  When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are forgiven and we are redeemed from the darkness.  We still might wander sometimes, but God is always waiting and wanting us to turn back to him.

God has placed us on this planet to help him push back the darkness, not to be part of it.

God never leaves us.

And he sees everything.

What would our lives look like if we stopped tiptoeing into the darkness?

Thank you for the gift of your grace, Abba Father.

How Did I Get Here?

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

Calamity upon calamity.

Rumor upon rumor.

Wealth that does not satisfy the owner’s hunger.

Lost crowds of people seeking peace in vain.

Cities filled with violence.

Are these today’s headlines?

Yes.  And they are also the headlines that Ezekiel prophesied for the people of Israel as they faced destruction and exile.August 16 2016 then they will know

The plans and schemes of men had brought them to this place and now they were experiencing the consequences of their decisions.

Just like we do

  • when we choose to do things our way.
  • when we rebel and disobey.
  • when we are too stubborn to repent and turn back to God.

But then we don’t like the results.

The calamity.

The lack of fulfillment.

The absence of peace in our lives.

If we’re wise, we figure out the absence of peace in our lives is a result of the absence of a real relationship with God.

When our choices have taken us to a place we don’t want to be, there is only one good choice left.

To choose God.

To turn away from ourselves and turn to him.

Then we will find him.  And know him.

And we’ll like the consequences of this choice – real peace and real love and real forgiveness.

We just have to make the choice.

Thank you, Abba Father.

Trusting in Lies

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

Our culture is full of lies.

We are constantly barraged with wrong information, manipulated ‘facts’ and skewed perspectives.

We truly can’t just believe what anybody tells us.

This is why I am so determined to build my life on the truth of God….and not what people/the media tells me.

I need to read and hear the truth from God through his Word myself.

As we read through Jeremiah, we see him dealing with many false prophets.  These prophets are saying they have heard a word from God but God tells Jeremiah that he didn’t send them.August 2016 trusting the lies

The reality is that our pastors and religious teachers can do the same thing.  They can tell us ‘truth’ in the name of God but it isn’t from God.

This is a scary thought.   How do I know if my pastors and teachers are speaking God’s truth?

I’ll know if its God’s truth when I know what God has said in his word.

Everything we hear – even from our pastors and teachers – needs to be put through the filter of what we know to be God’s truth.

We know it because we read it, we study it, we memorize it, we meditate on it and we pray in line with it.

I need to know the truth so I don’t believe the lies.

What about you?

Please open our eyes to your truth, Abba Father.

 

We Stop Too Soon

On By Judy GlasserIn August1 Comment

We love reading God’s promise that he has a plan for us – plans to prosper us, to give us hope and a future.

Awesome!  We’re feeling great as we read this in Jeremiah 29.August 11 a 2016 we stop too soon

But, if we stop there, we stop too soon.

Because God goes on in the next verses to tell us HOW he is going to do this.  He goes on to tell us our part of this plan.

He tells us that, when we call on him, when we come and pray to him, he will listen.

When we seek him with all of our hearts, we will find him and he will fulfill his plans to prosper us.

He will give us hope.

He will give us a future.

God has a part in this plan and we have a part.

Too often we focus on God’s part and fail to do our part.

Or we can just become lukewarm about doing our part……and then wonder why we have such a unfulfilling relationship with God.

Let’s ask ourselves a tough question today – are we faithfully doing our part of God’s plan?

What would our lives look like if we were seeking God with all of our hearts?

Are there changes that need to be made?

Please open our eyes, Abba Father.

 

So Many Mysteries

On By Judy GlasserIn AugustLeave a comment

We are surrounded by mysteries –

things we don’t understand.

Some of them we can figure out…..

and others we will forever remain a mystery to us.August 8 2016 mysteries a

Daniel calls God the ‘revealer of mysteries’.August 8 2016 mysteries b

How appropriate!

God knows everything.  Nothing is a mystery to him.

As we grow our relationship with God by studying his word and talking with him, he begins to reveal some of the simpler mysteries to us.  We can begin to understand more of why he created us.  His purpose for putting us here on earth becomes more clear.

And – a big one – we gradually figure out who is really in control.

Not us – no matter how hard we try.

God is so huge and unfathomable that we will never understand all of his mysteries.

Its comforting to know that God knows and he’s in charge.

Thank you, Abba Father.