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!

I Am Well Pleased

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

These  were the words of God coming out of the heavens during Jesus’ baptism.

This is one of my favorite moments in the New Testament because Jesus hadn’t started his ministry yet.  He hadn’t DONE anything yet to earn God’s favor.October 22 2

He just ‘was’.

He was God’s son and God was pleased with him.

Just like God is pleased with me because I am his daughter.  Through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, he made it possible for you and me to become children of God just like he was.

When we accept Jesus as our Savior, God adopts us as his own – his precious child – in whom he is well pleased.

It’s true……..and its a miracle!

Thanks you, dear Father!

Prepare the Way!

On By Judy GlasserIn October1 Comment

The voice of one calling in the wilderness.  Prepare the way for the Lord!

John the Baptist spoke truth into people’s lives and helped prepare their hearts and minds for the time when they would meet their Savior.

Whose voice is calling out now?  Who is speaking to the wilderness of lonely, broken and lost people all around us?

Who is preparing the way so that the Spirit of God can touch these people with the truth?

This is supposed to us …….our voice.October 22 c2013

God has called us to be his witnesses on our block, in our neighborhood, in our city and where ever we go.

He has lavished his love upon us so that it can overflow to everyone around us.

He has given us the opportunity to hear and believe the truth and it’s not just for us.  We need to share it.

He has washed us clean with his mercy and grace.  We know it, we feel it.  Now we need to share it.

Let every valley be raised up and filled with His Light!

And our mountains of problems and issues leveled out by God’s hands.

Our crooked and confused paths made straight.

The love of God will smooth the rough road ahead of us.

And ALL people will see and understand God’s Salvation!

Amen!

Hello, Wise Men!

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

We’ve read through the Old Testament – congratulations!

I’ve met many Christians who have told me that they avoid reading and studying the Old Testament and they have a variety of reason for this.  I have only one thing to say about that – they are missing out!

As we just witnessed, God has a lot to teach us in the Old Testament.  The treasure is plentiful.  And it’s obviously important to God because 3/4 of his entire revelation to us is in the Old Testament.

Chronologically, biblical history is silent for about 400 hears between the OT and the NT.  A lot of things were happening during this time but God must have decided that those things were not an integral part of his love story to us so they weren’t included in his word.

The New Testament begins with the four gospels and the story of Jesus’ birth.  Angels filled the sky as they announced the birth of the newborn king to the shepherds.  Simeon and Anna were blessed for their faithfulness by having the opportunity to personally meet the Baby Jesus.October 21 2013

And the Wise Men made a very long journey following a star – they knew something big was up.  When they saw Jesus they were overjoyed.  They laid down their treasure before him and worshipped him.

Everytime I read this, I am amazed once again at how the religious people of the time totally missed the whole thing.  The Pharisees and Sadducees were so wrapped up in all of their laws that they missed the fulfillment of prophecies made 700 years before.  We know they knew the scriptures – that was their life work!  They had all the head knowledge but they couldn’t see what was happening right in front of them because their eyes and hearts weren’t open to God.   If they knew God as well as they knew the scriptures, they would have been worshipping Jesus right along with the Wise Men.

They had it all wrong – knowing the scriptures but not knowing God is meaningless.  Our goal is to know and experience God through his word. 

Dear Father, please help us keep our eyes and our hearts open to you!

A Test……

On By Judy GlasserIn October, UncategorizedLeave a comment

that God always passes.

God tells us in Malachi 3 that, when we bring our whole tithe to him, he will throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there won’t be enough room to store it.

Have you tested him?

If you have, then I’m sure you’ve experienced the same thing that the rest of us who have done this have experienced.

God always keeps his word.  The blessings start rolling in, pouring out and multiplying.

Sometimes its actual money – an unexpected check, rebate or promotion.October 5 2013

Most of the time the blessings are things that money just can’t buy.  Things like joy, contentment, improved relationships with family and friends, a clear sense of direction and purpose.

And there’s an additional blessing of knowing that we are handling our finances in a way that honors and pleases God.

This is the only place in the Bible where God challenges us to test him.

He knows that it’s so easy for us to want to be in control of our money – even when it’s clear that we’re really messing it up.  Money can quickly become the god we are slaves to as the debt rises and the god of ‘more’ takes control.

God doesn’t want that for us.  He wants us to live a life filled with joy and freedom – freedom to serve him.  We can’t do that when we’re slaves to money.

So he challenges us to let him take control.  Because he loves us and he wants the best for us.

Thank you, dear Father.

For Such a Time as This

On By Judy GlasserIn October, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I am always inspired by Queen Esther’s story.  Lots of drama, lots of intrigue but she listens to her Godly Uncle and responds to God’s call upon her life.

God’s calls us to use the gifts and talents he has given us to meet a need in the world around us.

It’s true for all of us who love God.

When I was younger, I thought only pastors and missionaries received a calling from God.  I’m not sure where I got that from because it’s clear throughout the Bible that God calls each believer to faithfully respond to him with a ‘yes’ and fill a need around them.  Its not a vague, general calling – he has a specific need all picked out.

And it’s now.  For such a time as this.

God makes us aware of it at just the right time.  If we’re listening.  If we’re watching what’s going on around us.  If we’re meditating on his word.

As we walk down this path of faith, our callings also change.  We receive a new, ” For such a time as this.”  And then later we get a different “For Such a time as this.”

But there’a always a purpose for us.  When we have nothing else to do here, God brings us home to heaven.

If we’re still breathing, we have a calling, a purpose, something planned out by God for us to do.

For Such a Time as This.

Don’t Miss the Point

On By Judy GlasserIn OctoberLeave a comment

They refused to pay attention.September 28 2013

They turned their backs.

They covered their ears.

They hardened their hearts by refusing to listen to God.

This made the Lord Almighty very angry.

Then God said, ” When I called they did not listen,

so when they called, I would not listen.”

Our Father God is the same today as he was several thousand years ago when he said these words to the Israelites through his prophet, Zachariah.

He expects us to pay attention.

He expects us to open our ears.

He expects us to soften our hearts by listening to him as he speaks to us through his living word.

Then he will listen.

Who Are Our Enemies?

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

The Bible often tells us how God helps us conquer our enemies.  In our world today, our enemies may not be as obvious as in Biblical times.  No one is throwing a spear at us…..or, are they?

In Ezra 4, the Israelites are rebuilding the temple after their exile to Syria and their enemies are discouraging them and making them afraid to go on building.September 24 2013

Discouragement.

Fear.

Do we have people in our lives who discourage us?  People who tell us we should be afraid?

These are weapons of our enemies and they are very clear weapons of our chief Enemy – Satan.

Satan loves to whisper discouragement into our ears.  He loves to bring discouraging people into our lives so that they can help him speak lies and negativity into our minds.

Satan loves to make us afraid.  It’s not a coincidence that God tells us so many times in his Word to not be afraid.  Satan loves to make us fearful – then we’re defeated before we’ve even begun.  Fear handicaps us, it haunts us, it can consume us.

Yes, we have many enemies.  And God promises us that he has already conquered them.  When we walk closely with him, we can also be conquerors.

Thank you, dear Father!

Nothing is Impossible….

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

with God.

Such wonderful mysteries – how God works his will in our world!September 25 2013

Through God’s influence, Persian rulers helped to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.   They not only freed the Jews to go back to their country, the rulers paid for the restoration in full  through the royal treasury.

When God wants something to happen, it happens.  He is in complete control even of those who don’t believe in him.

You would think that finishing the temple would be easy at this point.

Not when the people of Israel themselves were part of the problem.

They were not working on rebuilding the temple because they were consumed with their own issues.  They were experiencing drought and famine so they were focused on themselves, not on God.

God tells them through the prophet Haggai that they were planting much but harvesting little because their priorities were wrong.  They were not caring about what God wanted them to do so God was holding back the rain and he wasn’t blessing their crops.  They could plant twice as much and they weren’t going to reap any more until they got their priorities straight.

Does this ever happen to us?  Are there times when we are working hard and then working harder and then even harder but we reap very little for all of our efforts?

Maybe these are the times we need to re-evaluate our priorities.

Are we in a drought because we’re neglecting to focus on God and his purpose for our lives?

God speaks to us today through Haggai just like he did so long ago to the Jews when he says, ” Give careful thought to your ways.”

There is good news about the Jews.  They responded positively to Haggai’s words and they changed their priorities.  The work began again on re-building the temple and they experienced God’s blessings on all of their efforts.

Please help us to respond in the same way when we are in a drought, dear Father.

 

The God of Daniel

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

September 22 2013It’s amazing how much Daniel and his faith influenced King Darius.

The king could easily see Daniel’s integrity and faith.   He didn’t want to put Daniel in the lion’s den.  He was tricked into it.

King Darius couldn’t sleep that night as he worried about Daniel and the lions.  He was overjoyed when Daniel was still alive the next morning and he made sure everyone knew it.

King Darius was so impressed by Daniel’s faith that he issued a decree telling the people in all parts of his kingdom that they needed to honor and fear the God of Daniel.

What a witness Daniel had!  The light and truth of God shown through Daniel so clearly that the King saw it.  And the King knew where this was coming from.

May our witness shine as brightly, dear Father!

I Can Read the Handwriting on the Wall

On By Judy GlasserIn SeptemberLeave a comment

I had probably said this phrase over 100 times before I realized that this come from the book of Daniel in the Bible.

How appropriate!september 21 2013

I’m a strategic thinker so I have used this phrase in situations where I was connecting the dots of what was going on and I could predict what the outcome was going to be. 

I can read the handwriting on the wall…..in some situations.

Sometimes, with more complex issues, I would really love for a hand to appear on the wall next to me and write out the future.  Or even my next step.  Spooky, yes.  But directions clearly written out for me would be worth the goosebumps.

Oh, wait!

I already have God’s directions all written out for me, don’t I?  I have all of it in black and white (and red) and I hold it in my hands when I’m reading the word of God.

His guidance.  His revelation to me.

Everything he wants me to know.

So I’m on the right path when I’m reading and studying and meditating on his word.  It’s all here.

Thank you, dear Father.