July 2, 2025 // Wednesday of the Thirteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Read the Word // Open your Bible to today’s Gospel: Matthew 8:28-34
Reflect on the Word //
I woke up with puffy eyes and a slight headache, yet there was a smile on my lips. I recalled how the night before I had fallen to my knees and wept, because my life had strayed so far from God, and I couldn’t live with the emptiness any longer. It was a turning point in my life and the beginning of my return to God and the deepening of my faith. As days passed, I started making changes and distancing myself from friends and situations that were keeping me from living my new life in Christ.
In today’s Gospel reading from Matthew, we witnessed two people who experienced the transforming power of Jesus. The Apostles must have felt fear as they approached the tombs knowing that people avoided this area, because the demoniacs were so fierce. Yet Jesus stood there unflinching. They had no hold on Him. Knowing this, the demons begged, "If you drive us out, send us into the herd of swine" (Matthew 8:31). And Jesus did so.
The noise and chaos of the situation must have been incredible, but as the dust swirled and people yelled, the two persons rescued from the demons were processing what just happened to them. We can imagine how they looked to Jesus and saw His tender smile and felt the power of His mercy. When they saw the townspeople running toward Jesus, they must have been confused when the city pleaded with Jesus to leave, instead of rejoicing in their transformation. Unfortunately, the crowd was more concerned about the swine they lost than the two human persons healed.
Each day God is guiding us and forming us. This is especially true when He is doing great things or healing broken parts of our hearts. Our lives become different. It requires us to let go of things that we’ve become overly attached to or things that keep us away from fully embracing His love and His will. Healing takes sacrifice as we surrender everything to Him. But in the end, it is worth the battle, as we become transformed anew in Christ.
Relate to the Lord // Pray on your knees today and ask for the grace to surrender everything to Him.
Bobbi Rol is a wife and mama living on the Monterey Bay in California with her husband, daughter (also a Blessed Is She writer), and three teen boys. When she is not driving her kids to school, practices, and games, she can be found by the ocean, catching a late night movie, or decorating her planner. She was a contributing author to And Hay Became Holy and our children’s devotional prayer book, Rise Up. Find out more about her at revolutionoflove.com.
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