They Sang in Prison

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In the Acts of the Apostles, we read how the apostles went from city to city teaching people about the risen Christ. Usually, the people listened to the apostles and welcomed their message. But on one particular occasion, Paul and Silas were met with hostility; they were beaten and then thrown into prison. Picturing them sitting in a cell with their feet chained to a stake, we might expect that they panicked. We could relate to them if they agonized about what else could possibly go wrong. We could even understand if they ranted at God and questioned how He could allow them to be arrested while they did His work. 

But that’s not what they did. As Paul and Silas sat in their cell, they prayed out loud and sang hymns to God while the other prisoners listened. They were such a non-threat to the jailer that he fell asleep at his post. 

Paul and Silas may have first felt panic, worry, anger, and the other difficult emotions we naturally feel when we find ourselves in a painful situation; we don’t know. But we can follow their example and make a decision to turn our hearts and thoughts to our Lord when the going gets tough and ask Him to help us get through it.

It’s a choice we can make. When we’re in a crisis, we can either let ourselves get into a tizzy – and stay there – or we can pray and praise God even with those difficult emotions. We can use our praying or singing to ask God to help us carry our pain. We can continue to praise Him for His goodness and His love for us, confident that He’ll support us through every struggle. 

This may be difficult to do. We so easily get dragged down into despair! However, if we make it a habit to pray and praise God when things are going relatively smoothly, then it will be more natural for us to do so when life overwhelms us. That’s one reason why Paul writes, “Pray without ceasing. In all circumstances give thanks…” (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18).

Praying and praising God might not take away our struggle, but doing so will help us focus less on the problem and more on the loving compassion of God. We’ll remind ourselves that He will never abandon us, and that reassurance may help ease our burden. We might ask Him, “Now what do I do?” We can listen for direction from Him, spoken either through the people around us or in the thoughts and feelings that come to us. Maybe there will be something we can do to remedy the situation, and maybe not. Either way, we can trust our Lord to lead us through every challenge. We just have to ask Him. 

“About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened…” – Acts 16:25

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! 

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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.

Praise Him With Music

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Music is a universal language. It brings people together; it can connect people of different countries, cultures, and languages where spoken words cannot. It’s like another love language! All throughout our lives, from birthdays to funerals and everything in between, music adds beauty and power to the words we speak. 

What does music have to do with God? In the Bible, music is referenced more than 1,000 times. Singing, specifically, is mentioned more than 400 times. Many of the psalms speak of playing music and singing. Music plays an important role in our liturgies, too. It adds beauty to the celebration, and the songs’ lyrics often strike at the heart when spoken words do not. Praying in song may help us feel more connected to God. Also, when the congregation is inspired to sing along, their fuller participation strengthens the sense of community between its members. And to those who claim they don’t sing because they sing badly I say, “God gave you that voice. Give it back to Him!” 

The last three verses of Psalm 150 are full of music. I was happy to see that the Scriptures for one of this week’s weekday Masses included Psalm 150. I use the weekday Scriptures in these blog reflections. In Psalm 150, you can hear the excitement in the psalmist’s voice as he tells us to use music to praise the Lord. The psalmist seems to be crying out, “Just look at how magnificent the Lord is! Praise Him with your whole being! Blast the trumpet! Clash the cymbals! Praise Him with any and every instrument you have! Sing out!” Listen to the power in the final words: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” As long as we’re breathing, let us praise the Lord!

Side note: It took me a while to understand the difference between praising God and thanking Him. When we praise God, we focus on His nature: “I praise you, Lord, for You are loving and merciful.” When we thank God, we thank Him for something specific: “Thank You, Lord, for my family.” Why does this difference matter? When life is difficult, it’s sometimes a challenge to find things to be thankful for. However, even though our circumstances change, God never changes. So we can praise Him for being loving, kind, merciful, and powerful, even in the midst of our difficulties.

Read Psalm 150 a few times and hear the excitement and urgency in the psalmist’s words. Hear the psalmist encourage you to praise the Lord. Praise Him with your voice! Praise Him with an instrument! Everyone, praise our loving God!

“Praise him with the blast of the trumpet, praise him with lyre and harp. Praise him with timbrel and dance, praise him with strings and pipe. Praise him with sounding cymbals, praise him with clanging cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” 

– Psalm 150:3-6

“Lord, I praise You with all my heart and soul and voice!”

p.s. The women’s a cappella quintet I sing with, Grace Notes, has two performances this week! See the flier below for more info. Hope to see you there!

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2024 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

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 Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, 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 families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

God Is Good -- All the Time

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“God is good!” 

“I am blessed!”

Have you ever said that when your prayers were answered how you wanted them to be answered? Those are normal, appropriate responses when we’re feeling grateful, and acknowledging God’s goodness draws us closer to Him.

But isn’t God good all the time? And aren’t we already abundantly blessed? Do we humbly say, “God is good!” even when our prayers seem to go unheard? Do we praise Him for His goodness even when life knocks us down?

That’s a difficult thing to do. And that’s exactly the example Job gave us when Satan destroyed everything and everyone precious to him.

When he had lost everything, Job ‘tore his robe, shaved his head’ – how the ancient people expressed grief – ‘and fell to the ground and worshiped’ (Job 1:20). He felt deep sadness over his massive losses, and still he praised God. Job didn’t blame God, as sometimes we do. Instead, Job acknowledged God’s greatness, and grew closer to Him through his experience. 

God wants us to grow closer to Him, too. How can we make this happen?

Trust Him and His infinite, never-ending goodness when you’re suffering. He will never abandon you. If you ask Him, He’ll give you strength you never thought you had to endure a trial you never thought you’d be able to endure. Ask Him to give you what you need, one step at a time, and watch Him work through your circumstances. Let your experiences strengthen your trust and faith in Him.

I invite you to follow a suggestion a dear friend once gave me: Find a quiet space, spend 10 minutes praising God, and then sit quietly and write down whatever ideas come to mind. No second-guessing or editing; just write whatever comes to mind. Those ideas may be Christ speaking to you. 

Also, listen to what Christ may be saying to you today:

You tend to forget about Me when life is going as you want it to. You tend to take credit for all the goodness in your life. Remember that without Me, you would have none of this. Yet if you had none of this, you would still have Me.

I don’t expect you to rejoice in your sorrows, but remember that I am with you through all of them. Come close to Me and let Me show you, over time, all the good things that will come from these sorrows. Let me use them for your benefit. Let me prove My love to you, not through the richness of your life but through your hardships. 

Even in times of pain and loss I am with you, to love you and strengthen you and bring you to a place of peace.

It’s easy to praise God when life is easy. Let’s praise Him when life gets difficult, too.

“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord!”

– Job 1:21

“Lord, I praise You for Your never-ending goodness .”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2024 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

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 Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate toward a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Be a Thermostat

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Are you a peace keeper or a peacemaker? A peace keeper avoids conflict at all cost and is passive in their interactions with others. A peacemaker, on the other hand, takes active steps to create peace where there is none. In his book Access and Release God’s Peace, Paul Martini says the difference between the two is like the difference between a thermometer and a thermostat:

“We can be either a thermostat or a thermometer. Thermometers tell the temperature and climate of a room, but thermostats actually change the temperature and set the climate of a room. Think of the fruit of peace working in you and through you as something that strengthens your thermostat capabilities – your ability to change an environment. As thermostats, we can confront real-life circumstances and choose to express peace until the environment matches what is inside of us... It is impossible to be a peacemaker, at least the way Jesus intended it, without the Prince of Peace taking up residence in our souls. We must stay connected to Jesus and choose to be bold and fearless in peace if we are to grow in peace and strengthen our thermostat capabilities.” (Pages 53-54)

How do we do this?

First, believe that Christ is alive and wants to help you. Pray repeatedly the simple prayer of St. Faustina: “Jesus, I trust in You.”

Next, look for ways to be proactive in creating peace. In times of trouble, maybe you need to leave the room for a moment. Ask Christ to calm your nerves and help you find a way to express your feelings without attacking the other. Ask Him to help you listen with an understanding heart. Ask Him to help you be compassionate instead of judgmental. Ask Him to help you offer His love to the other. Also, God designed each of us to feel better with specific activities like digging in the garden, writing in a journal, or going for a walk or bike ride. Doing this helps you blow off steam and organize your thoughts. Then, ask Christ to show you a peaceful solution. 

Also, a dear friend once told me: “Take ten minutes to just sit and praise Jesus. Just ten minutes of praise. Then ask Him, ‘How do You want me to handle this?’ Write down everything that comes to mind. Don’t try to force it or edit it. Just write down what comes to mind. That’s how Jesus speaks to you.” When you’re faced with a dilemma or difficulty, follow my friend’s advice. Praise Him, and then write down what He says to you. He wants to help you.

Instead of passively waiting for peace to happen, let’s strive to create peace where there is none. Let’s be bold thermostats. Let’s be proactive in bringing Christ’s peace to ourselves and to our world.

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” – Matthew 5:9

“Enlighten me, Lord, so that I may know how to bring Your peace to every situation.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2024 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

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 Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate toward a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

There's Power in Praise

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We were walking around the neighborhood with our son under sunny blue skies that gorgeous June day when I looked around and said, “Oh, what a beautiful day!” Michael didn’t miss a beat and replied, “Yeah, and the weather’s nice, too!” 

On sunny days, literally and figuratively, our blessings are easy to find. It’s easy to praise God when things are going the way we want them to go. It’s easy to feel grateful when the sun is shining. The challenge, of course, is to thank God and praise Him in all circumstances and for all circumstances. How do we manage to do this?

Let’s look at the feast of Pentecost, which we celebrated this past Sunday, for some insight. On Pentecost, not only do we commemorate the day when the risen Christ sent the Holy Spirit to empower His disciples, but we also remember that He sent the Holy Spirit to empower us, too, when we were baptized. We were given this power to help us become more like Christ and bring His kingdom to earth. The Spirit is within us to fill us with gratitude, guide us in making difficult decisions, strengthen us against worldly temptations, help us grow in charity, and otherwise lead us closer to Him. For as long as we live He’ll give us more of His power whenever we ask Him to. 

So, when we thank and praise God, in easy and challenging times, we take the focus off ourselves and remind ourselves of His infinite goodness. We open our hearts to receive more of His loving power. We move closer to Him. Then, we’re able to see more clearly how He wants us to use His power to grow in charity and bring about His kingdom. 

When He empowers us, we grow in holiness. Through the Spirit, we all have the potential to be holy, which goes far beyond simply being good people. With His power within us, we’re able to give more than we thought we could and bear what seemed to be unbearable. We’re able to do the impossible, as Christ did:

“...whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and they will do even greater things than these...” – John 14:12             

When we use His power, we’ll experience what we most long for: His peace and joy. And the more we exercise His power, the more powerful the Spirit becomes in us. Charity – holy love – becomes a habit, a part of who we are. We mature in holiness and become more like Christ. 

We change our world. And it all starts with thanking and praising Him.

So, praise and thank God in every circumstance. Open your heart, and ask Him for more of His Spirit to empower you so that you can do the impossible, as Christ did.

“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall be ever in my mouth.” – Psalm 34:2

“Lord, increase in me the power of Your Spirit!”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2024 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

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

You can also find my posts on Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate toward a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Chocolate Trees?

Last weekend as we walked around the neighborhood, my husband and I admired the many trees full of apples, pears, and peaches. I said to him, “Why didn’t God make chocolate trees?” Wouldn’t it be great to pick a Hershey bar or even special dark chocolate off a tree! Then I added, “Well, He did give us cocoa plants. I guess He left it up to us to figure out how to turn that into something delicious.”

In addition to providing us with fruit and other food, God has generously allowed us to experience the joy of creating all kinds of wonderful items made from the basics. We’ve learned how to make ice cream from milk, bread from wheat, and wine from grapes. Can you imagine the excitement the ancient peoples felt when they first tasted rich chocolate?

God didn’t make chocolate trees because, in His wisdom, He knows that we learn patience and the value of hard work when we have to put in some effort to get what we want. We appreciate it more. Picking tomatoes off the vine that we planted and watered for many weeks is incredibly more satisfying than picking one out of the bin at the grocery store. Also, just as loving parents don’t give their child everything he wants when he wants it, in His love for us God doesn’t give us everything we want, either. We may want chocolate to be as readily available as the fruit that grows on trees, but fruit contains vitamins and nutrients that help keep our body functioning properly. Chocolate? Not so much. 

This appreciation goes far beyond growing food, too. Maybe you’ve felt happy in your work when you finally solved a problem, discovered something new, or finished a project you’d been working on for a long time. 

All work is valuable. Through it we learn, produce, and interact with other people. Some work we get paid to do; other work may keep our household running smoothly or benefit the community in some way. Everything we do can be considered sacred if we do it to the best of our ability and thank God for the opportunity and the people we work with. Whether we work in a chocolate factory or are a stay-at-home parent, the work itself is less important than the way we do it. 

As Augustine of Hippo said, “I will suggest a means whereby you can praise God all day long, if you wish. Whatever you do, do it well, and you have praised God.” 

“May the gracious care of the Lord our God be ours; prosper the work of our hands for us!” – Psalm 90:17

“Lord, thank You for letting me see the value of my work. Help me to do it to the best of my ability, and always with love.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2023 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

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

P.S.

We continue to pray for an end to the war. If you’d like to help the people of Ukraine through the Cleveland Maidan Association, you may use either PayPal or a credit/debit card here:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/...

P.P.S. If you’re able to help the people of Maui, here are a few organizations that are accepting donations:

The Hawaii Community Foundation 

The American Red Cross

The Maui Food Bank

The Power of Encouragment

 

I keep this verse in our kitchen as a reminder of the power of kind words. I also put it on the ‘front page’ of my blog for the same reason.

Encouraging each other is a simple way to influence how we see ourselves and what we might accomplish. A bit of reassurance might inspire a young woman to see herself as a valuable person who can make a positive difference in her community. Also, our encouraging words let a friend know we have confidence in him, which may help him have more confidence in himself.

Our words – spoken and written -- can build people up. They can instill hope and calm in the midst of chaos. When we encourage a coworker who’s struggling, our support lightens his load; it might make the difference between him giving up and persevering. Our words can also encourage a friend who realizes it’s time to try a new approach or move on to a different path altogether. Kind words assure her that we’re glad she’s our friend no matter what happens.

Encouragement is different from praise in that encouragement places the spotlight on the recipient instead of the speaker. It's more effective than praise, especially when talking to children. For example, notice the difference between “You worked hard on that!” and “I like what you did!” The first example points to the recipient and their effort; the second focuses on the speaker and what the speaker thinks of it.

“Encourage one another and build one another up.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:11

When you see someone searching, or struggling, or making an effort, try to shine the spotlight on them. Let them see – and believe -- the value of themselves and their efforts.

 “Let my words build up the people around me, Lord.”

 

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2022 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! Feel free to share it with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Thanks!

 If you would like to receive these reflections directly to your inbox, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

 p.s.

We continue to pray for an end to the war. If you’d like to help the people of Ukraine through the Cleveland Maidan Association, you may use either PayPal or a credit/debit card here:

https://www.paypal.com/donate/...