Nearly a year ago, my best friend, Jenay Brewer, was called to write a book. She honored me with the invitation to join her as editor and then graciously welcomed me to write the foreword for her finished work. Taste and See is a beautiful collection of devotions carefully and prayerfully created to help build relationship through meaningful conversations and fellowship around the meal table. While the book is still in the printing process, we will keep you all informed as it becomes available and hope you derive as much joy from reading it as we did writing it.

Foreword

This project was created before the foundations of the world, but Jenay and I didn’t really know about it until the fall of 2023.

We first met in the fourth grade—Mrs. Whitley’s class—and we were instantly inseparable until high school, when changes in our parents’ lives brought changes in our own. Life did what life does and we drifted apart; then God did what God does and brought us back together. After nearly three decades, in March of 2020, we each stepped off our respective airplanes at the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, and as though not a single moment had passed since we were little girls, we picked up where we left off: talking and laughing and crying and trying to figure life out.

We’d both spent the intervening years engaged in somewhat similar and somewhat dissimilar activities, but the common thread was our gift of writing and by the Grace of God—finally—our faith.

Then on a cold January day in 2021, we sat around a hotel room table in Billings, Montana, notebooks and pens and Bibles in hand, trying to figure out what kind of book to write together. Alas, we were trying to force our vision onto God’s plan, and the timing was not His.

Flash forward to October of 2023, this time seated at a patio table in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, sharing wine and nachos, when the Lord laid out His plan for this book of dinner devotions: Jenay would write it; I would edit.

And so it has been for the past eight months—a labor of love and faith and friendship, an endeavor of growth and joy and great spiritual reward, a partnership between two little–girls–at–heart and the Holy Spirit.

As I finish reading and checking and rechecking, I am moved by the wisdom and humor God has given my dear friend; not only does she have a gift for writing but also the courage toמש ע
(sh’ma): to lean in, listen, and obey. Her heart beats for her Lord and Savior, and her passion for Him propels her to share her light with all she invites in—and that’s pretty much everyone she meets. She is hands–down the best I’ve ever met at bringing people together and asking great questions—questions that get them thinking about Jesus and themselves and what they’re doing and why.

I know you will find as much joy in experimenting with this collection of conversational recipes as I have. Each one will help you prepare rich and filling comfort food for the body, soul, and spirit, even if they feel a bit daunting at first glance.

My prayer is that you take leaps of faith and lead with courage and embrace the awkward in every conversation, because these devotions are fearfully and wonderfully made to draw us closer to one another, to ourselves, and most importantly, to God.

Shalom!
Kyle Suenaga