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!

Psalm 91, 2013

On By Judy GlasserIn MayLeave a comment

He is my refuge, my God, in whom I trust.

Surely he will save me from believing the lies that swirl around me every day.April 24 Psalm 91

Surely he will save me from the guilt and pain that comes from remembering and reliving old mistakes.

Surely he will save me from the terror of nights filled with worry and wanting to be in control.

Surely he will save me from problems that fly at me like arrows all through the day.

Surely he will save me from the things that take bites out of me in the darkness – jealousy, malice, and anger.

Surely he will save me from the disease of negativity in my brain – failures, regrets and unforgiveness.

People all around me will become victims of these things, but not me.

Because I know God and he loves me.

He is my refuge, my God, in whom I trust.

We’ll Never Know……

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

how often God protects us.

But I caught a glimpse of God’s protection recently as I was driving to work after my regular 6 am Bible study group April 19 2013meeting every Thursday morning.  We had been discussing the topic of how often God protects us but we never know it.

As I drove down Thunderbird road, I saw a car just like mine – same color, same model, looked like the same year.  We just bought this car and I’m still really enjoying how different it looks from my last car.  So I kept peeking over to the next lane to see how it looked.

I was stopped by a red light and the other car zipped through on the yellow so I didn’t see it anymore.  As soon as the light turned green, I realized that the traffic was suddenly going a lot slower.  Great!!  That’s all I needed.  I still had a long drive to work.

We were inching our way up to the freeway when I saw what the hold up was.  The car that looked just like mine had been rear-ended in the middle of the road and it looked like more than just a little fender bender.

That could have easily have been me.  And maybe it would have been if God had not protected me.

I’m not saying that God protects me from all car accidents – I’ve had a few.  I believe that God protects me from some bad things while permitting other bad things to happen.  There is a comfort in that for me.  When bad things happen, I know that God has let them happen for a purpose.  He wants to use this situation for my good and for his glory. 

Just like David says in Psalms 5, I find refuge in my Father God and rejoice.

All of It

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

David stands surrounded by huge piles of gold and silver and bronze that have been donated to build the temple for God.  He lifts his hands to God, saying:

“Yours, Lord is the kingdom, you are exalted as head over all.April 19 2 Sam

Wealth and honor come from you;

you are the ruler of all things.

In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.

Now, our God, we give you thanks and praise your glorious name.”

This is one of my favorite visuals in the Bible.  Every time I read it, David reminds me of something that is extremely important.  I need to remember it, believe it and act like it every day of my life.

It’s all God’s.

Everything. 

He gives me things to take care of for him but it’s still all his.

Really believing this and acting like it has been a gradual process in my life.  The toughest but most precious change was when I realized my children weren’t mine – they were his.  He gave them to me to love and nurture but they were always his.  Really believing this is actually a relief – especially now that they are grown and have their own lives.  God is always with them – loving and protecting them.  They are his. 

I’m just grateful that he let me be their mom.

Thank you, dear Father!

His Hair Became a Snare

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

David’s son, Absolom, had beautiful hair.  We read in 2 Samual that it was heavy and long and gorgeous.  He cut it once a year and weighed it.

April 14 2113I wonder how often Absolom stopped to look in the mirror to admire his hair?  (Did they have mirrors back then?  Maybe shiny pieces of metal that reflected back their image?)

If he made this big deal about his yearly hair cutting, I would image that he was extremely proud of his hair, don’t you?

I’m sure it was a constant source of compliments for him.

And then we read in 2 Samuel 18 that Absolom was riding his donkey under a tree in the midst of battle when his hair got caught in the tree.  He was pulled from his donkey and was left handing in midair while his donkey just kept on going.

Only really thick hair would be able to do that, right?

While Absolom was hanging there,  Joab plunged his sword into his heart and killed him.

If Absolom had thin hair or even regular hair, this wouldn’t have happened to him.

The thing he was so very proud of became a snare that caused his death.

So the question to us today is – what is the thing in our life that we are most proud of?

Do we need an attitude adjustment  before we find ourselves in a snare?

Are we already caught in a snare?

Dear Father, we are so blessed to have you in our lives lavishing us with your mercy and your love.  We confess our pridefullness.  We need you.  Please help us only be proud of you and what you have done for us.

The Battle Rages On

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

We all have them – issues that we battle over and over in our lives.

The same  problem rears its ugly head again and again.  It may start out looking like it’s something different this time but it’s really not.  The core of it is that same old problem.April 10 2 sam

In 2 Samuel 21, the Israelites had the Philistines that they were battling with over and over.  And over and over.

We have our own Philistines, don’t we.  These are areas of our lives where we just aren’t winning the battle.  We can’t seem to conquer this issue.

I thought it was really interesting to hear about the Israelites battling a huge Philistine in Gath who had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot.

Some of the things we battle can also feel like they have extra fingers.  They reach out these extra fingers to mess with other aspects of our lives creating more consequences and more issues.

God promises that he can give us victory in these battles.  Nothing is beyond the power of God.  Our role in this is to trust him and let him fight the battle for us as we obey him.  It’s tough to do but that’s what it’s going to take to find the victory that we’re looking for.

We forget.  We try to win the battle ourselves.  And we fail.  As long as we turn to God when we fail, we’ll keep moving closer to One who has the power to win these battles for us.  One step at a time.

Dear Father, please keep drawing us nearer to you.  We trust you to bring us victory over our personal Philistines.

Holy, Holy, Holy

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

We’re singing along with the angels in heaven as they surround the throne of God – that’s what I think about whenever we sing ‘Holy, Holy, Holy” in a worship song.April 9 this one 1 chron

Our voices rising to heaven in perfect harmonies with the multitude of angels who sing praises to God 24/7/365.

We need more songs with those words in them 🙂

As I read 1 Chronicles, I realize that King David organized the first worship services and we follow his directions every time we join with our family of Christ to worship God.

David told the priests to minister regularly, doing what was needed.

He told Obed-Edom, Hosah and the sons of Jeduthum that they were greeters at the gates.

He asked others to present the offerings regularly.

Heman and Jeduthun ( whose sons were also serving as greeters) were responsible for the band – the trumpets and cymbals and other instruments.  David told them they were to give thanks to the Lord whose goodness endures forever.

We re-enact David’s plans for worshipping together every week.

We join with our faithful ancestors from throughout the ages in worshipping our awesome God.

Love it!  Thank you, God!

Whatever Works for You

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

Sounds good – let’s all do whatever works for us.   Then we’ll be happy.March 26 Judges 21

Or not.

Everyone did as they saw fit – this is how the book of Judges ends.  It may sound good until we scan back a couple of chapters and realize what they thought was fit to do. 

Family members were stealing from each other.  They obviously thought this was an ok thing to do.

Family members were kidnapping each other.  They thought this was ok as well.

Family members were killing each other to the point that they virtually annihilated one of the tribes.  I wonder how they could think this was ok but they did.  They could rationalize anything!

Their moral judgement was quickly spirally into total chaos and confusion.

Because they had no compass.

When we base what is right and wrong on what we think, we’re in trouble.  Then we’re just like these Israelites – doing what we see fit and letting our standards waiver in whatever direction the wind is blowing.

God has been very clear to us on moral boundaries.  We may not like them all or agree with them but that doesn’t make them untrue.  He has given us the choice to follow his compass or not.  What are we choosing?

Dear Father, we desire to walk in your path of truth.  Please guide us so that your moral standards become what ‘fits’ us best.

He Loves to Dance!

On By Judy GlasserIn AprilLeave a comment

Now he loves to dance for God.  It’s a beautiful thing.handsome micah (2)

We have been handing over my little 2 ½ year-old grandson to the Toddler room volunteers at our church every Sunday morning for almost a year.  Every time we left there was a possibility of tears because all of the different big people and the loud noises struck a note of fear into his tiny heart.  He was not happy to be going there.

Now everything has changed- he’s excited about going to church. His big blue eyes light up and he gets a huge smile on his face as he says ‘ Dance’.  Have you ever seen a pack of toddlers dancing and singing to God?  It’s amazing.  It’s inspiring.  It’s a beautiful thing.

And there’s more.  One of the young dancing and singing volunteers is a daughter of someone we know.  My husband and I are privileged to teach one of the Fresh Start classes at our church and the young volunteer’s mother, Maria, was in our last class.

Maria was one of the most engaged and faithful members of that class.  She always had great questions and was very open about wanting to figure out how to become a better follower of Christ.  She clearly had found what she was looking for when she found God and she was doing everything she could to grow in her faith, even against some stiff opposition from her Catholic family.

So, while we were serving and teaching and encouraging Maria, her daughter was serving and teaching and encouraging our grandson.  This is one of the truly beautiful things about a church family when it is centered on God and his truth.  As we all love and serve God together, he blesses us through each other.  And he just keeps on blessing us.

And now Micah loves to dance for God.

Great Distress

On By Judy GlasserIn MarchLeave a comment

A new generation of Israelites grew up and they know nothing about God or what he had done for them.

We read of this happening during the time of the Judges and several other places in the old testament.March 17 judges 2

It is extremely hard for me to understand how this could happen.  How can a whole generation of Israelites grow up without hearing about God and his constant faithfulness to them?  They had awesome stories of God leading them and fighting for them and feeding them and freeing them.  What were those parents thinking when they didn’t take the time and effort to pass those along?  Now that I’m a grandparent I also wonder what the grandparents were thinking?

They obviously weren’t thinking.  This passage tells us that they were all wrapped up in their false gods.  They worshipped the various gods from the regions where they lived.

How could they do this?  If we’re honest, we know how easy it is to get distracted from what’s good and true.  Our world provides innumerable false gods that are worshipped faithfully by the crowds of people around us.  These are the gods of money, success, a big house, a new car – the list goes on.

These false gods entice us to spend our time and energy on things other than worshipping, serving and loving our God.

And our children watch.  They know what our priorities are by how we spend our time and money.  It doesn’t matter what we say – what we do has the most influence.

We are told that the Israelite’s lack of faith aroused God’s anger.  Woh.  Not a good thing.

And we are told that their children lived in great distress because of the actions or, probably more accurate, the lack of actions of their parents.

None of us as parents want our children to live in great distress because of things we have done.  Or not done.

If we’re not where we need to be in this area of our lives, today is the best time to start to make a change.  One step at a time.  We first need to get our own priorities straight – lined up with the Truth – and then we can teach our children by example.

Even when our children are adults, they are still watching our lives.  We can influence them by how we choose to live, how we spend our time and our money.  We can stop preaching at them –  they don’t listen anyway 🙂

When our grown children see the love and peace and grace of God shining out of our lives, they will want to check it out.  Because they won’t have it if their lives aren’t lined up with God.

Dear Father, help us to be good examples of fully devoted followers of Christ so that our lives along with our words show your goodness and your truth.

Make a Choice

On By Judy GlasserIn March2 Comments

Whether we realize it or not, we all make a choice about who we serve.March 15 Joshua 24

A lot of us serve ourselves.  Looking out for #1.  Do I like it?  Does it benefit me?  Do I wanna do it?  Do I feel like it?  What’s in for me?  Oh, yeah.  These questions come pretty easy because we use them a lot.  Maybe not out loud….

Many of serve our debts.  We have to work extra hours or extra jobs to pay for all of the stuff we already have.  We’re upside down on cars and houses.  When we’re not working, we’re worrying about paying the bills.  The best line about our money I’ve ever heard is – “The secret is not in how much you make.  It’s in how much you spend.”  Oh, yeah.

Some of us serve our hobbies –  like sports or gambling or shopping.  While we’re shopping today we’re planning about the next time we can go shopping.  Before the game we’re watching is over, we’re flipping to the next channel for the next game and then the next game and then the next.

We all choose who or what we will serve.

Joshua makes this very clear to the Israelites in Joshua 24 as he throws down a challenge.  “Choose this day whom you will serve…  But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

We also need to make a conscious choice.  If we’re serving something or someone else, we need to lay down our ‘idols’ at the feet of the One, True, Living God and begin a new chapter of our life by serving him only.

There’s no better time than right now to make this choice.