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!

This Is Why

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

“For the Word of God is alive and active.” Hebrews 4:12December 23b 2014 This is why

This is why we spend hours reading and meditating on God’s word to us.

He speaks.

He acts.

He penetrates our minds with his truth – rearranging some of our thoughts and shining a light on others so we can see the lies and discard them.  He adds his truth to our thinking and sets us free.

He judges the attitudes of our heart….

softening the places that have become hard,

opening the parts that have become closed,

bringing his light into the dark areas.

He gives us life, light, joy and peace!

Amen!  Hallelujah!

A Legacy

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

As Christmas cards rolled into my house this year, I became more and more aware of the strong Christian legacy my grandparents created in my mother’s family.Happy birthday Jesus

My grandparents had 16 children in a farm-house in Iowa.  They came over from Holland as teenagers and became homesteaders in Iowa – the original “Little House on the Prairie”.   I’m the youngest of I-forget-how-many grandchildren.  One time I tried to count my first cousins and there were over 50 of them.  I’ve never really figured out how many 2nd cousins I have.

All of my aunts and uncles as well as my parents have passed away.  Hebrews 12 talks about them – they are part of the great cloud of witnesses that cheer us on from heaven.  The fact that they all created a Christian legacy in their families was very evident by the stream of Christmas cards we received celebrating Jesus’ birth and praising our Father God who sent Jesus as a gift of grace to us.

There was not one mention of Santa Claus anywhere.  Not that Santa is bad – he’s just not the focus of Christmas in our family.

A legacy of strong faith in God runs deep in my family.  It’s a blessing that is being handed down from generation to generation – each generation personally accepting salvation and passing it along.  This family skipped the ‘handing down’ of silverware, furniture or jewelry.  They chose to pass along a most important family heirloom – how to live a life faithful to God.

I have been richly blessed by this legacy and continue to pass it along to my children and grandchildren. (The picture is from this Christmas – my grandchildren and I singing Happy Birthday to Jesus.)

If you weren’t born into a family legacy of faith, you have the awesome opportunity of starting one for your family.  They all started with someone –  you are it.

And our cloud of witnesses in heaven cheer us on as we throw off everything that hinders us from running the race of faith with perseverance.

Thank you, dear Father, for the legacy of faith in my family.

So Confusing

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

 

Our culture is filled with confusion.  That’s my favorite word for it.Dec 23 2014 So confusing

Lies are everywhere and large groups of people believe these lies.

Sometimes I’ll be in the midst of a large number of people when something really wrong happens and, when I look around, I realize that no one else looks like they think this is bad.  If its sexual in nature, people snicker and laugh, just like they did in Junior High.  I often feel like our culture is stuck in Junior High when it comes to sex.

People are so confused.

Even Christians.   We get distracted.  We get off-target.  We are never going to be perfect this side of heaven so we’re all hypocrites at times.  We say we are Christians but sometimes do very not-Christ-like things.

Hebrews 3 tells us the key to avoiding getting lost in this confusion.

Fix our thoughts on Jesus.

Jesus is our perfect role-model.  He was never a hypocrite.  He was God made flesh.

I have found this key to be extremely helpful to me.  Because the behavior of Christians can be very disappointing.  The things they say.   The things they do.  If I’m looking to them as role-models, I’m going to see the hypocrisy and I will be confused.

When I look to Jesus as my role-model, I find that I have a lot more understanding and grace for Christians who are on the path of faith like I am.  Jesus loved the broken and lost and confused.  He spoke truth and love.

He is the example of what God created us to be….before sin got in the way.

When we fix our thoughts on Jesus, our thoughts are in the right place.

Thank you, dear Father, for our perfect role-model – Jesus.

Contentment

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

Being content.

It’s an attribute rarely seen in our culture.

Paul says in Philippians 4 that he has learned to be content in whatever circumstance he is in.

Contentment is definitely a ‘learned’ feeling – it doesn’t come naturally to many of us.  We are surrounded by a gigantic marketing industry which constantly barrages us with ‘bigger, better & more’ messages.  We just lived through the largest marketing push of the year.  It’s very clear that we all need a new car, a new computer and a new cell phone.  And we need it now :)!Davey, Grandma and me at Christmas

Learning contentment is one of my goals and my mother was a great role model for me.  She didn’t have much worldly wealth but she was rich in happiness as she lived her life in close relationship with God. (The picture is one of my favorites – my son’s first Christmas.  He’s 33 years-old now.)

As I work on learning contentment, I remind myself that God has given me everything I have.  This is my portion and I need to be a great steward of it.  That’s how I can honor and delight my Father God.

When my thoughts are filled with counting my blessings, I feel that I have more than enough.  I have been abundantly blessed and I am content.

Unfortunately, I don’t always stay in the Land of Contentment…..but I know how to get back to it.  When I find myself straying down the ‘bigger, better, more’ aisle, I know I need to spend more time 1 – on – 1 with my Abba Father so he can get my desires lined up again with his.

And – poof!  I’m back in the Land of Contentment!

It’s supernatural!

It’s God!

Thank you, dear Father!

Our New Self

On By Judy GlasserIn December2 Comments

 

We need to put on our new self……

become the person God created us to be – righteous and holy.Dec 15 2014 our new self

New attitudes.

Different behaviors.

Take off our old, selfish, sinful thoughts.

“Be made new’, Paul tells us in Ephesians 4.

In our minds.

In our hearts.

This is a life-long process for all of us.

We each has a lot of ‘old’ that needs to be put off and ‘new’ that needs to be etched in our mind so that we can be transformed.

So we stay on this journey towards God, putting off the old and putting on the new.

We let God renew our minds with the truth.

And we become more and more like Christ everyday, every month, every year.

That’s the goal.  As we race into January of a new year, lets commit to letting the Holy Spirit shift our transformation into turbo gear next year.  Out with the old – in with the new!  2015, here we come!

Please guide us, dear Father.

Sword Fighting Class – The Only Thing That Counts

On By Judy GlasserIn Sword Fighting ClassLeave a comment

‘Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.  James 1- 1-9

‘If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.  But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.  That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord, he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

‘The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position.’

How are you doing in memorizing James 1?  When we ask God to help us write his word upon our hearts, its amazing what he can do!  We’re up to verse 10:

“But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower.”

Those of us blessed with significant earthly goods (which is most of us in the United States) need to understand our true position of sinful poverty in front of a holy and perfect God.

When we’re in that mindset, we know just how badly we need the free gift of grace that God offers us.  Our money, our possessions, our influence – they are nothing.  They pass away just like a wild flower.

Only God remains.  And our relationship with him.  For eternity.

Thank you, Abba Father.

 

As God’s Chosen People

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were God’s chosen people.  Under the New Covenant in the New Testament, the church is God’s chosen people.december 14 2014. God's chosen people.

Not the church building.  The people of the church.

We are the church.

And Paul gives us clear directions in Colossians about how we – as God’s chosen people – will act when we let the Spirit of Christ live out loud in our lives.

God’s chosen people –

– are clothed in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

– bear with each other, forgiving each other as our Father has forgiven us.

– love one another in a way that provides perfect unity.

– let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts.

– wisely let the message of Christ inhabit our minds, our teaching and our praise.

We live a life defined by gratitude, giving thanks to our Father God.

So be it – Amen.

For Those Who Love Him

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

In Romans 6, God promises to work all things for the good of those who love him.

When people quote this verse, they often leave off those last 5 words.Dec 8 2014 for those who love him

This is God’s promise to believers, not unbelievers.  Those are very important words to include when we use this verse.

God goes on in this passage of Romans to tell us that he has called us, he has justified us, he has glorified us.

And he promises us as his children that he will work all things out for our good.

We can count on it!

Thank you, Abba Father!

 

Don’t Rely on Yourself

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

We just talked about this!  And here in the first chapter of 2 Corinthians, Paul tells us that his group was under great pressure – far beyond their ability to endure.  They thought they were going to die.  But Paul says this happened so that they would learn to rely on God, not on themselves.dec 4 2014 don't rely on ourselves

And then Paul reminds us something that was true for him and is true for us today.  God has always delivered us in the past and he will deliver us again.

Such a comforting truth!  I often remind myself of this reality in my life.  God has always been faithful in the past.  He will be faith now – in this situation I’m facing today.

It’s not in God’s character to drop the ball – to be too late or too early.  His plan unfolds at just the right time in the right way – if we let it.

We will face trials and situations that are far beyond our ability to endure on our own.

But nothing is impossible with God!

Amen!  Hallelujah!

There is a Purpose

On By Judy GlasserIn DecemberLeave a comment

I bet you can relate to this – when something bad happens in my life, I often wonder why this is happening?  What’s the purpose?  I have learned to get very close to God during these times and ride out the storm – not knowing why this had to happen to me.  Then 2 years, 5 years, 15 years later, someone walks into my life who needs to hear about that specific time in my life and how God helped me through it.

It happens all the time.dec 4 2014 a purpose

Paul tells us this is going to happen in 2 Corinthians 1.  We receive comfort from God in our troubles so that we can comfort others.

God has a purpose for everything that he permits to happen to us.  Everything flows through his hands into our lives.

As we learn to trust him more, we can be confident in the knowledge that God is in total control.

God’s got this.

We know God.  He loves us.  He has a plan for us.  He wants the best for us.

All is well.

Thank you, dear Father.