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!

Come…..

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Dear Father, we desire to hear and understand.June 24 21015 Come

We want to immerse ourselves in your truth.

Rip the calluses off of our hearts

and open up our ears to you, dear God,

open up our eyes.

Please help us see you with our eyes and hear you with our ears and understand you with all of our hearts.

Dear Father, we turn to you and ask for your healing –

healing for our blindness,

healing for our lack of understanding,

healing for our self-centeredness.

We want to walk in your light every day.

In the redeeming name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

We Lie to Ourselves

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

We rationalize things we do and say – giving ourselves excuses for bad behavior.

‘Well, I can gossip about this person because I know they are always saying bad things about me.”

“And I can do this mean thing to this other person because they are always mean to me.’June 23 2015 We lie to ourselves

“I can say this because it’s the truth.  It may sound mean, but it’s the truth.”

It may be the truth, but saying it at the wrong time and the wrong place is not love.

It’s not forgiveness.

It’s not how God calls us to react to the evil in this world.

We lie to ourselves.

We tell ourselves that whatever we want to do is ‘not that bad’.  Everyone does this and – it’s not like we’re murdering anyone!  Right?

It’s just a little bad.  I never said I was perfect.  Most of the time I’m good.

We talk ourselves into taking the wrong path.  The path that is evil in God’s sight.

We lie to ourselves.

Isaiah tells us, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,

who put darkness for light and light for darkness.”

Woe to us when we lie to ourselves.

Please help us know the truth and live the truth, Abba Father.

Coming Straight at You

On By Judy GlasserIn June2 Comments

One of my favorite things about the Chronological Bible is that the words of the prophets are placed into the reading so they are talking straight at the kings and people who God called them to warn.June 21 Stqaright at you 2015

We are now reading what the prophet Amos has to say to both Israel and Judah.  He was called by God to rebuke the current religious establishment which was focused on leading their people to develop meaningless religious traditions while refusing to give mercy and justice to the oppressed and needy.

Israel was experiencing a time of prosperity which led them to a lifestyle of greed and immorality.

Sound familiar?  Do we see any of this in our culture today?  Immorality – have you turned on your TV lately? Have you looked at billboards along the freeways?  Greed – there are so many examples its hard to figure out where to start.

As we read Amos, God speaks to our hearts and asks us to critically evaluate our religious habits and our ethical conduct.  He also warns us against complacency – getting too comfortable.

Are we too happy about being in our Christian bubble?  For God so loved the world……we have been commissioned to tell the world the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ.  That’s not comfortable – that’s being stretched and reaching into the mess that is our culture today with the love of Jesus.

As we take a close look at our lives, we may find that we have wandered into some immorality.  Or greed.  Or meaningless religious traditions. Or complacency.

If that’s true, God promises us restoration.

When we turn and repent, he restores.  And he renews.  And he gives us strength to change.

Thank you, Abba Father.

 

Do We Want Success?

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

Do we want things to work out well for us?

Do we want to have purpose and meaning to our lives?

Do we want success that is not defined by how much money we have?  June 20 2015 do we want success

Do we want success that is defined by how much faith and wisdom we have?  How much joy?  And peace?

We read the same formula for success over and over in God’s word.  It can’t be said any clearer than in 2 Kings – as long as Kind Uzziah sought the Lord, God gave him success.

All REAL success comes from God.

As we seek him with all of our hearts, he gives us the desires of our hearts.

It’s that simple.

And it’s that hard.

Because we’ve got this sin thing going on that distracts us.

Sin tells us that it’s all about us.  We get confused and we think we can do anything if we try hard enough – focus on it – give it everything we’ve got.

Sin tells us that we make our own success.  Sin gets us wrapped up so tightly with our own achievements that we miss the main player in this drama –

God.

God is the writer, producer and director of the movie of our life.

When we look to him for direction, we’re going to find success.  The movie will be a success.

His kind of success – success that money just cannot buy.

Thank you, Abba Father.

Unlimited Power

On By Judy GlasserIn June2 Comments

Are you convinced of God’s limitless power?

If not, what would it to take to convince you?June 16 2015 Unlimitless power

If a whale swallowed you up when you were drowning in a storm, would you be convinced?

Jonah was.

As a result, he decided he would obey God and warn Nineveh of impending doom if they did not repent and turn to God.

In Jonah’s prayer, he says he was swirling down to the very heart of the sea with waves sweeping over him, down to the realm of the dead.  He called for help and the Lord brought him up from the pit.

Do we ever feel like we are falling deep into the depths with problems and issues piling on top of us, pressing us down?

Are we engulfed by the cares of this world, sinking down into the darkness?

God tells us to turn away from the worries and fears that distract us and call on him.  Repent and obey.

And he will bring our lives up from the pit.  Just like he did for Jonah.

We believe in your power and in your faithfulness, dear Father.

Open My Eyes

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

We can be so blind!

Blinded by the immediate.

Blinded by what everyone else thinks.June 10 2015 Open my eyes

Blinded by what we want or what we think is right.

Blinded by our routines or traditions.

Blinded by worry.

Blinded by trying to control everything and everyone around us.

Sometimes we’re so blind!

Unable to open our eyes…

open our minds….

open our hearts….

To the truth….

to a new reality…

to uncomfortable yet very real feelings.

We need God’s help to heal our blindness.

Sometimes we can be just like Elisha’s servant in 2 Kings 6 who was afraid of the huge enemy army which surrounded the city they were in.  Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, Lord, so he may see.”

And when the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, he looked up and saw the hills around Elisha full of horses and chariots of fire.

God’s army.

Elisha was not worried – he knew the truth.  God had his back and there was no cause for alarm.

Elisha’s eyes were already opened to the omnipotence and faithfulness of his Father God.

He knew the truth.

Please open our eyes, Dear Father.

 

Sword Fighting Class – Do We Know what is Right and Just and Fair?

On By Judy GlasserIn Sword Fighting ClassLeave a comment

It is very encouraging to me to know that there are several of you who are memorizing Proverbs 2 with me.  And I know you’re feeling it – God’s wisdom seeping in as he writes his words on our hearts and minds.  Thank you, Father!Proverbs 2 1st page - this one

“My Child, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and you will find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom, from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.  He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless.  He guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.

Great job!  Listen closely to this next verse:

Then you will understand what is right and just and fair – every good path.

EVERY GOOD PATH!

Who would like to know every good path?

God says we will understand every good path when we search for his wisdom like hidden treasure, call out for insight and apply our hearts to understanding.

We will know.

Thank you, Abba Father.

Audio file below of Proverbs 2: 1- 12

No Turning Back

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

He was committed.

He didn’t give himself an ‘out’.June 5 2015 no turning back

There was no turning back.

Elisha was plowing in his family’s field when Elijah threw his cloak around him, calling him to become a prophet of God.

Elisha burned the plow he was using to cook the meat for his going away party.

He didn’t know where he was going.

Or what was going to happen.

But he was leaving and he didn’t need the plow anymore.

Elisha was making a total committment to God.

Whatever.

However.

No going back.

How many of us have made this total, no exceptions, faith committment to follow God – wherever that takes us?

 

 

He Never Sleeps

On By Judy GlasserIn JuneLeave a comment

June 4 b he never sleepsGod is never tired, he is never impatient, he is never distracted, he is never busy.

We are made in his image – little glimpses of him show up in each of us.

But he is not like us.

This fact brings me a lot of peace and confidence.

I desire to be more like Jesus.

I am eternally grateful that he is not like me.  He has none of my weaknesses or failings.

Sometimes God tell us about his emotions in the Bible – anger, sadness, and joy.  All of his emotions are perfect – for the right reason.  They are not like our emotions which can often be centered on ourselves.

When Elijah mocked the priests of Baal in 1 Kings, he was trying to point out the godlessness of their gods.   When Baal didn’t respond to their requests,  Elijah suggested that they shout louder in case Baal is sleeping or busy.  This kicked the Baal prophets into a frenzy of shouting louder and slashing themselves with  swords and spears.  They often did this trying to get a response from Baal.

I grimace when I imagine this scene of four hundred and fifty bleeding prophets of Baal – crying out to a wooden statue which was made by a man.  Hoping for some answers.

How futile!

How wrong!

How lost?

When we look at the world which immediately surrounds each of us, we can say the same thing –

How futile!

How wrong!

How lost!

Jesus came to bring his light of truth, grace and salvation to everyone who would believe.

He lives within each believer and he has commissioned each of us to be his light in our part of this dark and broken world.

Dear Father, Please help us shine your light brightly right where we live, work and play.

Sword Fighting Class – We are Protected

On By Judy GlasserIn Sword Fighting ClassLeave a comment

Listen to God’s promises in the verses we have memorized so far in Proverbs 2:

‘My child, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and you will find the knowledge of God.  For the Lord gives wisdom, from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.  He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless’.Proverbs 2 1st page - this one

Wow!  The fear of the Lord, the knowledge of God, wisdom, understand, victory and a shield!

Here’s our next verse:

‘He guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.’

God’s grace makes us the ‘just’ in his eyes – amazing, isn’t it?  He promises to guard our course.

And if only one thing can be said about me after my dust has been blown off of this planet, I want to be remembered as being faithful to God.

Devoted.   Loyal.  Reliable.  Consistent.  All of these words show up in the definition of being faithful.

He protects our way when we are faithful to him.

It is promises like these that give me peace.  God’s peace.  He is in control.  I just need to do my part of obeying and seeking and looking and search and committing his words to my heart and turning my ear to his wisdom.

Then he can do his part of guiding and teaching and guarding.

Thank you, Abba Father.

 

Audio file below of my memory verses in Proverbs 2 so far: