“Lean on, trust in and be confident in the Lord with all your heart and mind and do not rely on your own                                understanding.  In all your ways know, recognize and acknowledge Him and                                                      He will direct and make straight and plain your path.”  Proverbs 3:5-6 AMP

I am glad God is a God of revelation as He speaks through His word.  These verses are familiar ones most of my life.  However, God brings them into focus at the right time.   I had these in my early morning reading this week as I was seeking to determine how to say good by to  my education career of 38 years with grace and care.  He has shown me, it’s not about you Nancy.  It’s about showing people their contribution to education and yes, it’s okay to celebrate.

He has also reminded  me as I leave one career, He wants my total attention for this new life He has provided.I have been longing this whole year to know Him better, but I kept feeling like I took the reins.  Now I will have more time but where is my focus to be? I don’t want to squander anything now. I want to have Him direct, make straight and plain my path.

Prayer of Examen

One way I plan to focus is practice the prayer of examen, which is a time of prayerful reflection on one’s experience of the presence of God over the recent hours.  The goal is to increase awareness of God’s presence.  From the writings of David Benner, in Sacred Companions,one way to practice the prayer of examen is to take time at the end of the day and imagining being in the presence of Jesus.  Thank Him for the day and his presence during it.  Praying then for Holy Spirit  guidance, then ask for the grace to see the day as God sees it.  This can be done like imagining looking out a train window or fastforwarding a DVD, stream of consciousness thinking.  Ask Jesus to stop the DVD  and to focus on whatever parts of the day warrant reflection.  What parts did you notice God’s presence?  If not, what may have been blocking God’s presence?  This can be followed by sorrowful repentance for not noticing God or gratitude for when you noticed Him.  Finally, ask for more awareness of His presence and journal some observations.

This simple exercise can be very demanding and takes practice.  Don’t try to force anything and let your thought gently come back to the day that just happened.   You can ask Jesus to help you remember what you need to remember. I have already found I am noticing more of God’s presence throughout the day.

Taking Time to Listen

Now, I will have more time to listen. I want a different pace to discover the path to take in serving women and how best to get healthy as well as enjoy my family..  How do I best serve the women I am called to serve? Time, listening and prayer will tell.

What this means for you for now is that my blogs for the next few months may be more infrequent.  I want to experiment with some different types of writing.  For sure, I’ll check in with you once a month to see how each of you are seeing God at work in your lives.  I’ll be posting ways you can experiment with the art and science of soulful living, like the prayer of examen as I experiment with new strategies myself. You can also keep up with my adventures at Nancy Booth Coaching facebook page.