The Presence Project Podcast

Encounter the Good Shepherd with this Ignatian Contemplation.

Are you wanting more? Join the Presence Project and get a mini-retreat based on contemplative spiritual practices here: https://mailchi.mp/athirstforgod.com/mini-retreat

Before we burst into this new year armed with color-coded goal charts and shouldering the weight of a personal-reno project, let's be gentle with ourselves.

Let's sit down on the seam of the year and remember who and Whose we are.

Want to read along?

Find the transcript at SummerJoyGross.com

The way a shepherd tends the bummer lambs who have been abandoned by their mothers deepen our view of our Shepherd. This is your invitation

In the Presence Project, we're focusing on the character of God through the scriptures and music of Handel's Messiah this Advent. In the end of a hard year, I'm regaining my equilibrium through worship. Join me?

https://mailchi.mp/athirstforgod.com/messiahadvent

Music from the MIT concert choir found here:

http://hebb.mit.edu/FreeMusic/MIT_Music/Handel/

Join the 16 day Advent Journey here.

Maybe you're like me and you feel the darkness pressing in this year. This Advent I want to spend all of my time gazing on the light of Christ.

Captivated. Worshipping.

Together, let's become captivated by our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Handel's Messiah along with these quiet devotionals are just what we need after 2020 to bring our gaze back to our Prince of Peace.

And here's my embarrassing truth: Gratitude has always felt a little like a box to check off, more duty than delight. For years, I've checked off the box faithfully knowing it was vital for mental, spiritual, and emotional health, but honestly, it felt a bit like taking vitamins.

But interactive gratitude, the first stage in Immanuel Journaling, has surprised me with its power. It's been like discovering a key I didn't know existed to enter into deeper delight with God. A key to a door to mutual delight. Did you read or watch Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett as a kid? Think discovering the key under hanging vines of low expectations and turning it in a rusty old lock that didn't appear promising but opening the door to security, the loveliest walled safety, to a profusion of beauty, to ongoing revelation.

And could anything be more important than joy and delight in a time period perforated with a steady influx of grief and anxiety? Who couldn't handle more delight in 2020?

Through the structure of Immanuel Journaling, God metabolized emotion with us so it didn't have time to metastasize into trauma.

Our emotions are just messengers that there's something underneath that's trying to get our attention. They are an invitation to listen to the tender places of our heart. And God loves listening with us.

Summerjoygross.com

patreon.com/thepresenceproject

A Pentecost gift for you. See how your fear shifts when Jesus walks through your closed doors.

K. J. Ramsey and Summer Gross talk life with COVID19, grief, and the brain science of anxiety, giving practical tips for our journey back to awareness of our Prince of Peace.

Finally, Summer leads us through an Ignatian style scripture practice where we can walk into the gospel story of Jesus blessing the children.

Truth is, sometimes connecting with God in the middle of chaos and anxiety can be near impossible. Anxiety disconnects our prefrontal cortex, making it difficult for us to be rational and relational. During times like this, the world feels off-kilter. We feel off-kilter.

Today I'm going to walk us through an Ignatian scripture exercise of Mark 4:35-40 using holy imagination and the senses. Why? The senses ground our anxiety and then heighten our ability to focus.