Taste and See

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I’ll never forget the first time I saw Lake Superior. After setting up camp in Muskallonge Lake State Park in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, we and our kids walked across the street from the campground and then followed a trail that led to Lake Superior. When we emerged from the lush trail and stepped onto the beach, the sight of this gorgeous Great Lake took my breath away. As I gazed at the expanse of beautiful blue water and multi-colored stones covering the beach and extending into the clear lake, the song “How Great Thou Art” welled up inside me. I remember feeling convinced that anyone who’s an atheist has never stood on the shores of Lake Superior.

We don’t have to travel hundreds of miles to experience the wonders of God’s love. Sometimes all it takes is a conscientious effort to look for the amazing blessings that He’s showering upon us right here. Sometimes, we just have to see what’s already in front of us. 

For example, this time of year we can look beyond the corn in the field and the tomatoes in the garden and see God’s loving hand behind them. We can use our imagination to picture Him dreaming up and designing all the different vegetables to feed our bodies with His loving, joyful creativity. Also, we can see our family and friends as gifts from Him to feed our souls and look at them with renewed gratitude. Sometimes we just have to look around with fresh eyes and try to begin to grasp how great God is. 

When we seek God – when we look for expressions of His unconditional love – we move closer to Him. When we acknowledge how He provides for us, we begin to trust Him more. Sometimes, when we look for Him in the beauty of nature and the people we care about, we may experience His presence – not on an intellectual level but sensing with our heart that He’s with us. Sometimes, when we seek Him, we may get just a taste of the magnificence of His goodness. All of this brings us deep joy, as I experienced on the beach of Lake Superior that summer day. And so we keep seeking, drawing nearer to Him, trusting Him, and opening our hearts for a greater understanding and experience of His love.   

God’s goodness is all around us. Let’s seek Him; let’s look for the many blessings He’s gifted to us – in the wonders of nature and the people we love. Let’s let a song of praise rise up to Him from the depths of our hearts for the immeasurable love He has for us.

“Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.” – Psalm 34:8  

Let everything I do be with You, for You, and because of You.

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Comments are always welcome! 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list. 

You can also find my posts on my Facebook page!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the people around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

God Has Something Better

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In the picture above, Jesus is asking the little girl to give Him her precious teddy bear. She can’t see that He won’t take it from her without giving her something in return. She can’t see that He has something better to give her if she gives up what she’s holding onto. 

Jesus offers us the same kind of exchange. If we give up our self-centered, sinful ways and follow His Way, and if we set aside our will to do His will, He’ll bless us with something immeasurably better: His immense joy and deep, lasting peace. 

We mistakenly think that having everything we want to have and doing whatever we want to do will bring us the joy we intrinsically long for. But Christ tells us to ‘seek first (the Father’s) kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you’ (Matthew 6:33). In our narrow minds we think, ‘I want to do things my way. How can denying myself make me happy?’ But God promises that when we give up our self-serving, worldly ways and seek first His Way, we’ll be rewarded with more than we could ever imagine. 

When we pursue what we want even when we know it goes against His will, we block our hearts from receiving His many gifts. When we insist on doing things our own way, the happiness we find is hollow and fleeting. Proof of this is that we’re not satisfied; we keep pursuing the next ‘better’ thing. 

However, when we give up our will for His, God rewards us greatly with everything good He desires to give us, including His love, grace, patience, strength, and wisdom. When we give up our selfish ways and seek what He wants for us, we end up finding what we were seeking all along: We find not just happiness but His deep joy and His lasting peace, which we cannot obtain through worldly pleasures. For He says, ‘Peace I leave you, My peace I give you; not as the world gives, do I give to you’ (John 14:27).

What God wants for us is always life-giving. Like the little girl in the drawing, though, we can’t always see what He has in store for us. We might not understand how following His Way can make us happy. We may be afraid of losing more than we’ll gain. But when we trust Him enough to give up what we want in favor of what He wants, we receive from Him all He desires to give us, plus the profound joy and peace we’re longing for. 

When we give up what we want and accept what He offers us, we receive what we wanted – and much, much more.

“Whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” – Matthew 10:39  

Let everything I do be with You, for You, and because of You.

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Comments are always welcome! 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list. 

You can also find my posts on my Facebook page!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the people around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

"I Am With You"

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During recess, adults who serve as playground monitors tend to stay in the background. They don’t interact with the kids much but are ready if a child needs help. Sometimes, especially if a big kid is chasing him, a small child will run over and stand next to one of these adults. He knows she’ll protect him as long as he’s standing close to her. The playground monitors are always present but, until they need help, the kids don’t pay much attention to them.

We can take this image and expand it, and apply it to God. Though we’ve heard it many times, we sometimes need to remind ourselves that God is always with us; there’s never a time when He’s not with us. Unlike the adults on the playground, though, our Lord isn’t a distant bystander. He’s not watching us with indifference until we need a favor from Him. Rather, He’s watching with a loving, burning desire for us to acknowledge His presence and ‘stand close to Him.’ He wants us to come to Him many times throughout our day to share with Him not only our fears and concerns but also our joys, as we do with a dear friend. He wants us to include Him even in the ordinary happenings of our lives. He wants us to see every moment as an opportunity to stand close to Him.  

What does this look like?

In the morning, we thank Him for His loving presence and ask Him to show us what He wants us to do as we go about our day. We’re mindful of Him as we work, whether at home or outside the home. Being mindful of His presence with us, we look for ways to go out of our way to be kind and compassionate – to show Him to the people around us. Before we make a phone call or join a meeting, we ask Him to guide our words and help us listen with an open heart. When someone does or says something to us that’s kind or helpful, we thank God for that person. Even while we’re driving or doing a mundane chore like folding laundry or mowing the lawn, we talk to Him honestly about whatever is on our mind. Talking with Him about it draws our hearts closer to His. When we do these things, over time we’ll get to know better, first-hand, His deep Love for us; we’ll want to align our will with His, and we’ll find joy and peace in doing so.

Let’s remember that God is always with us, not as an indifferent bystander but as our loving companion, friend, and confidant. Let’s do our part to look for Him and stand close to Him, not just in times of trouble but in every moment of our day.

“Know that I am with you… I will never leave you.” – Genesis 28:15

Let everything I do be with You, for You, and because of You.

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Comments are always welcome! 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list. 

You can also find my posts on my Facebook page!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the people around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

God Is in Control

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My dear mother-in-law often said that God uses the weather to remind us that He’s in charge. Her words rang true on a recent camping trip that Ted and I took. On Day 1, the wind fought us setting up our tent. Two days later the heavens dropped so much rain and wind that many campsites flooded and tents came down (not ours). We found ourselves checking the forecast frequently on our phones. The evening of our last night of camping, they predicted rain and calm winds starting at 9:30. Then, it seemed as if God said, ‘Watch this.’ Shortly after 9:00 the sky turned black and dumped buckets of water on us. The wind screamed. The rain flew sideways as we fought to keep the tent upright. After a few minutes, Ted called out to me, “How long is this supposed to last?” I pulled my phone from my raincoat pocket and glanced at the radar. “About an hour.” What I didn’t tell him was that this storm was supposed to continue for an hour and then we’d get more, off and on, for several hours.

The oddest thing was that I felt calm. God, in His great mercy, had graced me with a sense of peace even during this storm. I prayed for His help; I knew we couldn’t fight this wind ourselves. I asked Him over and over again to keep us safe.

Then, about 20 minutes after it had started, the storm… stopped. 

When we dared to breathe, we and our neighbors made sure each other was OK. Then, knowing we were in for a long night, we lay on our cots to try to rest. During that calm I read the words, ‘The Lord hears me whenever I call Him’ and also ‘I will lie down in peace and sleep comes at once for You alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety’ (Psalm 4:1, 8). I kept repeating those phrases. Sleep didn’t come to me at once but the Lord did put words from hymns in my heart, traditional hymns like ‘Holy God we praise Thy name’ that spilled from my heart in profound, continuous, joyful thanks. Our God, Who controls the wind and the rain, Who commanded the storm to stop while the apostles’ boat tossed in the waves – He cut that storm short. 

I awoke to seagulls squawking, songbirds singing, and my beloved loons calling to one another. After that violent storm at 9 pm, there were no more storms and no more rain the rest of the night. 

Some might say these events are just part of nature. But God created nature and is still alive among us. Let us praise Him, thank Him for His goodness, and even sing joyful hymns to Him. He is in control. 

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endures forever.” – Psalm 106:1 

Let all I do be with You, for You, and because of You.

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Comments are always welcome! 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list. 

You can also find my posts on my Facebook page!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the people around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Let Your Light Shine

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If we read the lives of the saints, we may be inspired by their great works and heroic bravery. We may also think there must have been something superhuman about them that let them live such holy lives or make such a dramatic difference in the world. In reality, most of the saints were ordinary people like us who did extraordinary things simply by letting God’s light shine in and through them. And while most of us won’t be asked to do something remarkable like caring for people who are sick and dying in the streets as St. Teresa of Calcutta did, all of us are called, with our own skills, to have a holy and positive impact on the world around us. How can we do this?

We can do this with God, Who lives in us. No matter what job or role we hold, all of us who’ve been baptized already have the power of God within us to do good works and change the world around us for the better, in small or big ways. 

God is always with us. When we become aware of His presence and let His light shine in us, we let Him affect all of our thoughts, words, and actions. As our faith strengthens and our awareness of His presence grows, we let the power of His love overtake our hearts. The more we do this, the more we act less from our own strength and inspiration and more from His power. With Him, we know that we can be and do more good than we could ever do on our own. Even as we work to overcome our human weaknesses and failings, we strive not to do what is our will but God’s will. For example, with God we can love those we find difficult; be patient and calm in times of stress; be peaceful, and peacemakers, in our chaotic world. Knowing that He’s present with us, loving us, and guiding us gives us His peace, which no one can take away from us. And His peace brings us deep joy.

When we let God use us to be beacons of light to the people around us, we really can have a holy and positive impact on our world. And when others see God working through us then they, too, will want the peace and joy that we have. They, too, will thank God for His loving power.         

So our kindness toward others, our loving actions, and our peaceful, joyful demeanor all happen when His light shines in us. For that and all that comes from Him, we give thanks and glory to God.

“You are the light of the world…. Let your light shine before others so that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.” – Matthew 5:14, 16  

Let all I do be with You, for You, and because of You.

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Comments are always welcome! 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list. 

You can also find my posts on my Facebook page!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the people around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

I Call You Friend

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Remember the excitement of being chosen for a team? Whether it was for a neighborhood game or a varsity sport, being chosen certainly put a glow in your heart and a smile on your face. Someone wanted you! 

Now, imagine Christ calling out your name! Imagine it, and realize that it has already happened. He hasn’t chosen you to be on a sports team, though. No, this is something much better, much deeper. It’s more profound and more personal: He’s chosen you to be His friend. His friend!

Christ doesn’t want to be just an acquaintance, someone you talk to mostly about the weather. He doesn’t want to be merely someone you read about once in a while, a distant figure who did great things for people 2,000 years ago. And He doesn’t want you to think of Him as a kind of automatic favor-dispenser. 

No. He wants to have a relationship with you – a close relationship with you. He wants you to know that He’s chosen you to be His friend. 

So turn to Him like you do your human friends. You don’t have to present to Him only your ‘good’ side; share with Him your deepest desires, fears, successes, and frustrations. He knows about them anyway – why not tell Him about them? And don’t just give Him just the news; tell Him how you feel about what’s going on. Learn to be honest with Him, and then open your heart to hear what He might say to you about what you’ve shared. That’s what true friends do, isn’t it? We share our hearts with each other. Sometimes we talk and sometimes we listen. We learn from each other. We affirm and encourage each other. We make ourselves vulnerable and trust each other. Over time, the bonds of friendship strengthen and we grow closer. 

Christ wants that kind of relationship with us. Our God wants to be friends with us! Let that sink in; it may take quite a while to do so! It’s an incredible truth we can hold onto. He wants us to trust Him and open our hearts to Him.  

Christ knows you more intimately than you know yourself, and He loves you more deeply than you could ever imagine. He could never not love you! He sees where you’re strong and where you’re weak; He sees you try and fail; He sees your heart and your motives. He sees all of it, and loves you with all of it. So share all of it with Him. Let Him affirm you, console you, teach you, encourage you, and strengthen you. Let Him fill you with His love and His peace. 

Christ has chosen you to be His friend. Let the wonder of that reality sustain you and bring you joy.

“I have called you friends… It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.” 

– John 15:15, 16

Let all I do be with You, for You, and because of You.

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Comments are always welcome! 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list. 

You can also find my posts on my Facebook page!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the people around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Give Up Cruise Control

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When we travel to a destination we’ve never been to before, we drive mindfully. We follow the GPS. We pay close attention to the road signs and we stay focused. On the other hand, when we’re driving to a familiar place, we’re more nonchalant. We set the cruise control and relax. We don’t have to watch the signs too closely. Sometimes we don’t even think about where we’re going. 

In a similar way, sometimes spiritually we operate on cruise control. We get set in a familiar routine and don’t think too much about where we’re going. We forget that our ‘destination’ is to grow closer to Christ and to attain the joy and peace of that close relationship. We become lukewarm with our prayers and nonchalant with how we treat the people around us. 

Lent is a time for us to give up our ‘cruise control complacency’ and to do our part to strengthen our relationship with Christ. We remind ourselves that Lent is less about what we do and more about what we allow God to do in us through our prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. We remember that Christ wants us to experience His loving presence in more real and meaningful ways, and so we open our hearts to His Spirit so that He can strengthen us in His love.  

Over the next 40 days, take a step toward Christ. Let Him move your heart. Ask Him to open your eyes to experience His love for you. 

Here are a few suggestions as to how you may be more intentional in growing closer to Christ. Take a moment to let Him reveal to you more ideas: 

* Schedule a few more minutes each day for prayer. Acknowledge Christ’s presence with you, speak from your heart – and listen.

* Write your prayers in a journal. Look back on it later to see how your prayers were answered.

* Let His compassion and peace detach you from your abundance and inspire you to give more of your finances or your time to someone in need.

* Let Him give you the courage to reach out in love to an estranged family member.

* Let Him soften your heart to remove fear and bitterness.

* Let Him move you to share His love and peace with others. 

* Place your challenges on His cross and let Him use them for His purpose: the salvation of the world.

This Lent, give up your spiritual cruise control. Take a step toward Christ, Who is waiting for you. Offer Him a bit of your time and energy, and let Him fill your heart with His deep and powerful love. 

“This, rather, is the fasting that I wish… sharing your bread with the hungry, clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.” –Isaiah 58:6-7

Open my eyes, that I may see You. Open my ears, that I may hear You. Open my heart, that I may love You in the people around me.

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Comments are always welcome! Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list. 

You can also find my posts on my Facebook page!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the people around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.