30 day examen challenge

This past Sunday at church, the Pastor preached about how committed we are to our prayer lives. He gave us a challenge as he taught us about examining ourselves and our prayer lives. He talked a little bit about the 95 Theses nailed to the doors of the catholic church that changed Christianity forever. It's pretty intense how rude those statements actually are when you translate them from old-English to plain-ol' English! like... Martin Luther wrote and nailed to the wall a statement that said "The pope cannot forgive you your sins. He cannot take away any penalties given you by God...The pope does not have power to remove guilt from you, only God can"... In fact, he calls priests "ignorant and wicked" for exercising penance for purgatory and calling it biblical! He also said that "the dead are dead. they aren't bound to religious rules! (A.K.A. Purgetory is crap)".

So anyway, it was neat to hear some of those things in plain English. Here's a link to see the 95 Theses (not in contemporary English) if i've sparked your curiosity!

My plan with this blog post, is to share the 30 day challenge with you, and write it out for y'all to see!  The thirty day challenge is a challenge to examine ourselves every day, spending time with God. It's an evaluation of each day with God, and a way to see Him working in your life. Here's how it works!

- Become aware of God's presence (sense the spirit, get in "the zone")
- Review the day with gratitude (thank God for the stuff he did for you yesterday or today-depending which day you are examening-)
- pay attention to your emotions (or invite the spirit in...Be aware of what the spirit is doing in you right now)
- Evaluate the day (like...point by point, go through the entire day and see where God was in everything)
- Now what? (ask God what he want's you to do with what you've just evaluated. Is He putting anything on your heart?

So here I go! I'm just gonna pray it as it comes and write it all down!

Become Aware: God, please meet me here in this moment... speak to my heart and let me feel you in a very present way. God I want to sense you are here, and I want others to see you are rediculousely personal! Help me focus on you right now in this time. Please keep me from being distracted, and guide me as I examen yesterday.
Review the day with gratitude: God, yesterday thanks for giving me a relaxing day while I was sick. Thanks for giving me enough energy to do the tasks that needed to happen. You gave me more creativity to make cards! Thanks! Thanks for somehow giving me energy to apply for Jobs, and for carrying me as I found out that I didn't get the job in Little Grand Rapids... God, thanks for providing our supper and giving us time with our family in the evening! Thanks for giving us a place to relax and spend our evening. I think Curtis would've gone crazy if we were home all evening...after three days off of work... Speaking of which, thanks! I know you will provide for us! And God, I also thank you for the way you gave both Curtis and I patience amidst our exhaustion and sickness to communicate effectively and enhance our marriage. You really do bless us!

And...ya... Well you know i'm a little cheezed off for not getting this job up north. Especially cause I thought I heard from you that it was your will for me to go up north... I still have faith in that. I know you don't lie and I know I heard you. But I guess your plans will happen later! Thanks for being clear when I wasn't sure how to discern your will. I know you've got the perfect job in mind for me, and I am so grateful for the patience you have given me in waiting for that Job. You have kept me from utter discouragement, and have continued to motivate me in seeking out jobs. You are sharpening my interview and resume skills, keeping my writing skills and knowledge fresh until your job for me comes.

Pay attention to your emotions: Spirit... I can feel you encouraging me as I thank God, you....for my day. I love that I don't need to ask for anything, but merely thank you, and I know you will provide. I can sense your peace in my heart right now, and I know you've got everything under control. I sense your security and know that you will protect me from warfare. I sense you cleansing my heart, removing the estigma's in my spiritual eyes that I have acquired in the past 48 hours since I talked to you last. Thanks...please continue...

Evaluate the day:

•  God made it so I didn't have any commitments while I am sick
• He gave me enough energy for my tasks despite being sick
• God blessed me with creativity in my card making
• God motivated me to apply for jobs
• He comforted me in finding out I didn't get a specific job
• God provided supper for us when neither of us was up to cooking
• He gave us a relaxing evening with the harders who were also quite tired
• God guided my conversation with my husband in a way that lead to blessing our marriage instead of hurting it.

What now?: God, please direct me to do your will today... I feel as though you want me to take care of myself tonight... Interesting! Last time you told me to be selfless and take care of curtis, but tonight you are asking me to relax and care for myself.... hm! Well it's hard to say no to that request!

You also want me to support curtis and help him feel appreciated and respected...
Any specifics God? or is that just sort of in general?
I feel like you're saying "in general" but that something specific might come up! Hm! Well I will keep my eyes peeled!

Amen!


**well there you have it! An Examen! You know, the hardest part about doing it, is that there is no "requests" portion of the examen. You know how hard it is to JUST do the examen without making requests in the middle? it's pretty hard! I mean, it's not like I don't pray other times in the day, but it seems like when I take the time to get THIS personal with God, I should be alowed to ask for a thing or two! But I've been so blessed since I took up the challenge, just by thanking and appreciating my creator!

You know, when people around us just take time to be with us, appreciate us...and don't have requests, we actually tend to do MORE for them don't we? ...Just food for thought!

If you have actually kept reading till the end of this, then I encourage you to try the 30 day examen challenge! Write out your prayers for 30 days! You can do it! 6 days a week (one day off! Yay! you don't have to talk to God on one day! :P). Trust me, it'll be worth it!