God Needs Us to Work His Miracles

 

“And He took the five loaves and the two fish and, looking up to heaven, He blessed them and broke them, and gave them to the disciples again and again, to serve the crowd.”

 – Luke 9:16

The miracles of God’s marvelous creation are on full display in the western sky this month. According to NASA’s website, Jupiter and Venus are visible now, and Mars will be visible February 27! 

You’re probably familiar with the above story of Jesus feeding the multitudes. Notice, though, that He didn’t immediately take away their hunger. He needed the cooperation of the people around Him in order to perform the miracle: The apostles approached Him with the dilemma; they trusted that He could remedy the situation; the boy generously offered his bread and fish; and the apostles followed Jesus’ instructions to distribute the food.

How did his followers so confidently trust Him? They had spent time with Him, listening to Him. Jesus’ teachings were so different from those that had been passed down through the generations. His teachings weren’t about following rules; they were about loving people – all people! They believed that He wanted only what was good – what was of Love – for them.  

What miracle are you hungry for? Affirmation? Direction? A sense of purpose? Healing? Turn to the One Who created you. He Who made the planets and fed the multitudes can work miracles in your life, too, if you have faith and trust in Him. 

Remember, God doesn’t simply remove our difficulties; He needs our participation. Talk to Him about your situation – that’s prayer. Believe that He wants only what’s good for you. Offer Him what you have: your skills, your resources, your time, your creativity. Let His grace act in you to soften your heart and open your mind. Pay attention to the thoughts God puts in your mind: If they’re rooted in love and if they give you even a mild sense of peace, you know those thoughts are from Him. If they fill you with anger or restlessness, those are not from God but from the evil forces of the world trying to distract you. 

God lives in us and uses us and our circumstances to work miracles and feed our souls. He lets us experience His love in the words and actions we share with each other. He expands our hearts in awe of His creation. He teaches us the magnitude of His love through His words in Scripture. He needs us to cooperate with Him in creating our children! He helps us understand the simplicity of His loving message when we hold a sleeping baby or laugh with a giggling toddler. 

He needs each one of us to share His love and peace with the world.  As Mother Teresa said, ‘We are His hands and His feet.’ 

God needs you. What a miracle that is!

“Lord, I believe You need me. Help me trust in You.”

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!

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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:

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Be Like Michael Jordan: Teachable

“Blessed are they who seek Him with all their heart.” – Psalm 119:2

NBA great Michael Jordan said, “My best skill was that I was coachable. I was a sponge and aggressive to learn.” In a word, he was teachable. 

People who are teachable don’t presume to have all the answers. They’re open to learning more, even when they’re already successful. 

Matthew the tax collector was teachable. Matthew was good at his job and was financially successful. He was despised by his family, though, for working for the Romans. When Matthew heard Jesus speak about God’s peace, he paid attention. By opening his mind to Jesus’ message, he made room in his heart for the peace he was seeking, both in his heart and in the relationships damaged by his occupation. He subsequently stopped collecting taxes, followed Jesus, and let our Lord use him to write down His life story and His words – in what we call the Gospel of Matthew. 

Are you teachable? Maybe you’ve been hearing Matthew’s and the other gospels since your childhood. You’ve got a pretty decent understanding of what Jesus taught. Consider, though, that life is always changing; your circumstances and challenges today aren’t the same as they were before. Ask Him to help you understand how His teachings relate to your life now. 

Seek Him with all your heart – read or listen to the scriptures with an open mind to understand His words in a new light and on a deeper level, one that brings you closer to Him. No matter what we already know or how successful we’ve been in our work or personal lives, God wants us to understand and experience more of His love and peace. If there’s turmoil in your life, ask Him for guidance and then pay attention to the thoughts that come to mind regarding that issue. Maybe there’s a different way you can handle the situation; an idea you hadn’t thought of before might come to you. If you get a sense of peace when considering that option, that’s a clue the Spirit is guiding you.

Open your heart to receive God’s message in a new way. Learn from Him and let Him bring you closer to Him. Be teachable as Michael Jordan and Matthew were in their respective fields, even in times of success.

“Lord, I know You want me to be closer to You. Let me understand You and Your words on a deeper level.”

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/...

Keep It Simple

“Thus says the Lord… Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless, clothe the naked, and do not turn your back on your own.” –Isaiah 58:7

Happy February! Do the holidays we celebrated just weeks ago feel far away? How are you doing with your New Year’s resolution? Are you trying to cultivate a virtue, as I suggested in my January 4 reflection? The experts advise us to pick just one goal, or one virtue, to work on, and keep it simple. 

My late dear mother-in-law used to say, “Life is simple. We make it complicated.” So true! Watching TV used to be simple. We sat together in the living room to watch a program on one of three channels available. Now, thanks to the internet, we have thousands of programs to choose from, on many different devices. We might want to examine whether we’re still using technology to bring people together, or if it’s gotten complicated and we’re using it to avoid interacting with others. 

Our spiritual life can be simple, too. God spoke through the prophet Isaiah to remind us that He doesn’t want us to make grandiose sacrifices like fasting if we treat our neighbors poorly. He asks us to simply act with love:

 share what we have with those in need, and take care of those entrusted to us. 

As counterintuitive as it may seem, this kind of sacrifice for others will bring us joy. God created us this way. It might not be easy, but it is simple.

Also, those ‘others’ aren’t as different from us as we might imagine. Think of the times when you’ve been on the receiving end of someone’s generosity. Maybe a teacher or coach gave you attention and made you feel important when your parents wouldn’t or couldn’t. Maybe you were just starting out and a coworker invited you to join her family for dinner. You probably didn’t think of that as a hand-out! In those cases and countless others, someone had to give away something they had so that you could benefit. We can do the same.

What does the last part of this verse mean, ‘do not turn your back on your own’? Mother Teresa has an answer: “If you want to change the world, go home and love your family.” Maybe we can work patiently with the child who needs extra help with her homework. We could sit down over burgers and fries with the teen who’s looking for attention and acceptance, and listen to what he has to say. We could offer insight to the young adult who asks how she can contribute to society, and encourage the adults burdened with their own jobs and families.

Giving to others might not be easy, but it is simple. Let’s try to keep it that way.

“Lord, help me remember that giving doesn’t have to be complicated.”

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/...

It's Not About Me

“Whoever boasts, should boast in the Lord.” –1 Corinthians 1:31

Our youngest child celebrated her 26th birthday this week. Of course, I remember the day well! I also remember the day before and the excitement leading up to her birth. Yet for me and most moms, when the child is born none of what happened before matters any more. We turn all our focus on the child. All the celebrating is for the child, and we thank God for her. Moms know, “It’s not about me.”

Think about what actors, musicians, and professional athletes say when they receive an award or win a game. They’re proud of their win and are also usually quick to thank their families, their teammates, and everyone else who helped them reach success. Some of them thank God for the talent that got them there. They don’t brag about themselves; they know, “It’s not just about me.”

We can adopt this same attitude regarding our achievements. Our Lord created each of us and gifted us with a particular set of skills and talents. He has placed people here to journey with us. We feel proud of our achievements, and we thank God for the opportunities, ability, and drive to achieve what we believe He wants us to at each stage of our life. We know we don’t do it on our own. 

We praise God for His gifts, thank Him for everything, and say, “It’s not about me.”

John the Baptist could have said, “It’s not about me.” John’s mission was to direct people to Jesus. He could humbly say he succeeded if all of his followers left him to follow Jesus. 

Jesus could have said, “It’s not about me.” Everything Christ did, He did to bring us closer to the Father. He praised the Father and thanked Him for hearing Him when He performed miracles. He didn’t do anything for His own glory. He showed us how to love as God loves: to sacrifice for each other, to show kindness even to those who aren’t kind to us, to love even those who don’t love us, and to forgive those who hurt us. Christ teaches us that imitating Him will bring us closer to the Father. He wants us to experience the Father’s immense Love and Peace.

Let’s follow these examples. Let’s give God credit for His gifts, His guidance, and His Love. When we celebrate any milestone or achievement, let’s turn our focus on Him, thank Him and say, “It’s not about me.”

“Thank You, Lord.”

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/...

Take a Day to Unwrap Your Gifts

 

“The sabbath was made for people…” –Mark 2:27

When our four kids were little and I was a stay-at-home mom, I needed to make Sundays different from the rest of the week. Otherwise, the week would feel like one long continuous day, without a break. So, Sunday was the day for church, an easy supper, and no laundry. Church: I set aside one hour a week to formally thank God for everyone and everything we have. Supper: The family God gave me needed to be fed, and on Sundays I kept it simple. Laundry: This never-ending chore could be done the other days of the week. Making Sundays different helped me feel a bit rested come Monday morning.

What does this verse in Mark’s gospel mean, ‘the sabbath was made for people’? Look at it this way: What would happen if you didn’t insist your toddler take a nap or go to bed at night? Is it cruel to demand that he stop playing and go to sleep? No; you know that the child needs to rest to have the energy to run and play when he’s awake.

God designated the sabbath as a day of rest for our benefit. We slow down to relax, talk, listen, and laugh with each other, and thank God for gifting us with each other. Also, He wasn’t talking about neglecting the people around us (see Mark 3:4). For example, there’s much work inherent with raising children that could be called Love in Action: tasks like feeding them, reading to them, hiking and playing with them, and teaching them. If you love to cook and it doesn’t feel like work to you, then this could be the day the whole family shares in the creative fun of preparing dinner together. And if your employer requires you to go to work on Sunday (or Saturday if that’s your sabbath), and not showing up would cause you to lose the job that allows you to provide for your family, then you may designate a different day as your sabbath. 

There’s more to it than not working, too. It’s acknowledging that God created all people and all of nature. It’s ‘taking church outside’ by making space in our hearts for the people around us and seeing the wonders of the natural world as exactly that – wonders.  

The point is to set aside time to rest, recharge, and refresh our bodies, our minds, and our spirits so as to strengthen our relationships with each other and with our Lord. 

It’s taking one day a week to unwrap and see as new the countless gifts God has given us, and thanking Him for all of them.

“Lord, thank You for insisting we take time to rest.”

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/...

You Don't Have to Have all the Answers

“I delight to do Your will.”  –Psalm 40:9

There’s something about hanging up the January calendar that offers us a bit of tranquility, along with hope and anticipation. The rows of empty squares are a welcome sight after the holidays: the hustle and bustle are over and we settle back into familiar, comfortable routines. Also, you may be looking forward to discovering what the new year holds; you may look inside yourself and contemplate what you’d like the months ahead to look like. 

Even if you’re content with life on the outside – your job, home, and leisure activities – there’s something deep inside of you that wants to BE more (see the reflection I wrote last week). You know from past experience that you feel most fulfilled when you give of yourself, and you’re looking for some direction as to what that could look like in the coming year. No matter your work or state in life, you have a deep desire to feel that you’re contributing to the good of your world. You’re longing for peace.

 “Be still, and know that I am God.” –Psalm 46:10

Christ is goodness, love, generosity, patience, and kindness. Take some time each day to be quiet, and trust our Lord to guide you. Take each day, each moment, as it comes, and choose whatever it is that is most loving, generous, patient, and kind in that moment. Each step will bring you closer to the Peace you’re longing for. 

Keep in mind that you don’t have to see the end of the tunnel before you take the first step. You don’t have to have all the answers before starting. You don’t have to have everything in your own life figured out and straightened out before you can give to others. Just take the next loving step. 

Remember that Mary and Joseph didn’t have all the answers when baby Jesus was born. Even they had to take life one moment at a time. Jesus grew up like any other boy, learning from His parents how to get along with others, learning a trade, and learning about God. They trusted that God would guide them, one day and one step at a time, toward Him and His plan for their lives – to teach us how to find fulfillment and peace by serving others… 

…one moment at a time.

“Lord, help me choose what is most loving, one step at a time.”

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/...

Focus on Being Instead of Doing

 

“...we shall be like Him…” –1 John 3:2

Early January is as good a time as any to make a new year’s resolution. Many resolutions revolve around making some kind of change in what we do. Exercising, quitting smoking, picking up a hobby, and spending less money are a few common goals people set for the coming year.

While those goals may be healthy and valuable, how about trying a different approach?  Make a resolution that focuses more on your interior and less on your exterior. Strive to be more rather than to do more. 

We know that we were created in God’s image. If we want to ‘be more like God’ – and God is Love – then we want to be more loving. 

What does this look like?

“Love is patient and kind. It’s not jealous, it doesn't brag, it’s not arrogant, it’s not rude, it doesn’t seek its own interests, it’s not quick-tempered, it doesn’t brood over injury, it doesn’t rejoice over wrongdoing…”  (See 1 Corinthians 13:4-6)

Choose one virtue to cultivate this year. Choose the one that struck a chord with you when you read this verse from Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. This will give you a starting point.

Do you want to be more kind, considerate, generous, and helpful? Do you want to be less arrogant and less self-centered? Do you want to be a better listener and break the rude habit of interrupting when someone is speaking? Making a deliberate decision to grow in a particular virtue will help you be more mindful of your actions.

Also, be sure to encourage yourself. Look in the mirror and smile! See a patient person, a kind person, an even-tempered person. It’s amazing how much we believe what we tell ourselves, and we act according to what we believe. So, remind yourself often that you’re becoming a more loving person, and let Christ fill you with His joy and His peace over this. Your desire to become more like Him is something to celebrate!

Be mindful of your goal and over time the virtue you wanted to cultivate will become a greater part of who you are. Then, at the end of the year, you will be able to look back and see that, yes, you have grown. You are more like Him: you’re more loving, more joyful, and more peaceful. 

What a wonderful way to be through the year.

“Lord, shine Your light on how I may be more like You.”

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/...