THE AWKWARD MOM

because uncomfortable conversations are the ones worth having

Tag: devotional

Questions to Take Your Relationship With God Deeper

Reading Time: 2 minutes

relationship with God

This week on a phone conversation with a friend, she asked what’s become our custom at the end of our calls: What’s one intimate prayer request I can pray for?

It was probably telling that I didn’t really know. read more

[Being] Present: 7 Ways to Be “All There” with God This Christmas

Reading Time: 4 minutes
being present Minor confession: In the midst of putting out our family’s prayer letter last week…I declined a call. My husband walked into the kitchen, and I had this look like your dog would when it pees on the carpet. I explained my sheepishness. “Why do you feel guilty about that?” he asked, direct as ever. “I want to be the kind of person who will drop everything and be present with whoever needs it,” I shrugged. His eyes had this kind look around the edges. “You know you can only be present by shutting other stuff out, right? You’re present with our financial supporters [my husband and I are supported missionaries with Engineering Ministries International] right now. When you’re present with someone else, you’re shutting out other things you could be paying attention to.” I literally thought about the post I wrote about being distracted with others–and how to be fully, powerfully present. We all know what it’s like to compete with headphones or a smartphone. So often in my attempts to be everywhere, to be everything to everyone, I’m not “all there” with anyone.

Being present is about being there…by not being somewhere else. 

So to be present, it’s fair to say there are boundaries involved.  When it comes to Christmas, being present with God is sucked away by schedules and material stuff and worry: the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful (Mark 4:19). The Psalmist prays, Unite my heart to fear your name (Psalm 86:11). I wonder if I was on God’s mind when he penned this one…because at Christmas, my heart can be going in about 167,856 directions at once.

I’m just not all there with him.

So I’m pulling ideas together to help me/you hone in on being “all there” this Christmas, starting with our audience of One. being present

Don’t do something.

To an already-packed schedule, Christmas can feel a bit like “more bricks, less straw.”

If your goal is being present in the ways that matter, cut out a few of the “have-to’s” that aren’t. read more

Reflection Prompts for Your Soul’s Christmas

Reading Time: 4 minutes

reflection time alone with God

I’ve shored myself in tonight for something I’ve looked forward to for a month and a half.

For my birthday, my husband got me a personal retreat. And the timing is pitch-perfect. (Well, save the fact that my body seems to have been anticipating the drop of adrenaline, welcoming in a cold.) read more

7 Journaling Prompts for a New Year of the Soul

Reading Time: 4 minutes

New Year Soul JournalingMy son asked me today about my New Year’s resolutions.

Weeell…I’m not really the resolution type. But I told him I do like the new year for new beginnings. For reevaluating, for seeing with fresh eyes and finding some intentionality in things that can run away from me in the tyranny of the urgent. (In the past couple of years at this time, I’ve shared ideas and questions to take your relationships to the next level, and some questions to bring your relationship with God to the next level, too.)

Maybe you still have a day or two of holiday time left. If so, I hope these journal prompts (designed for you to “prink” over–that’s pray and think) can help breathe some fresh air into your soul. Maybe you won’t know all the answers to these, and they need to rattle around in your head awhile.  

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