Woven

This week we discuss the practice of the Prayer of Examen. Karyn McDaniel returns to walk us through one of these prayers. Our prayer is that you will use this episode as a resource to listen to over and over again.

Over the next three weeks, for our Spiritual Practices series, we will discuss 3 practices- contemplation, the prayer of examen and lectio divina. Each week we will use one episode to introduce the topic and in the other episode, a guest will lead us through the specific practice we've discussed. The purpose of separating the episodes are so that, if you are interested, you could go back and re-listen to the practice over and over as a resource.

This week we discuss the practice of contemplation and more specifically, how to use affirmations or promises to aid us in contemplating God's love for us. Dr. Angela Schaffner returns to discuss affirmations and to lead us through some specific contemplative affirmations.

Resources:

www.angelaschaffnerphd.com

Angela's Affirmations

God created me just like God created the earth, moon, stars, and sea.

God breathes life into me when I feel like it's difficult to find my next breath.

God created me in the divine image, capable of being both loving and powerful.

God saw me and knew who I would become even before I was born.

God knows my words before I say them, and God is attentive to even the minute details of me and my life.

God took great care in making me. I am God's precious creation.

God has entrusted me with authority.

I'm not perfect and God knows it.

Even though I've fallen short, gotten distracted, and turned away repeatedly, God loves me.

God sees the eternal picture and offers it to me when I am stuck in a mindset that only sees what is right in front of me.

Grace is greater than the discrepancy between who I am and who I want to be.

My belief in God is a powerful source of belonging.

God is the perfect parent, both warm and strong, always present to guide me.

My regrets can be left by the wayside, because every day is new in my walk with God.

God doesn't criticize me the way I criticize myself.

When I see my efforts as hopelessly falling short of God's intentions for my life, God sees beyond my efforts. God sees me, already forgiven and already cleansed from my worst moments.

I am insecure sometimes, but I can return to the security I find in God, moment by moment.

My worst personal decisions, my worst parenting decisions, my worst career decisions- none of it can separate me from God's love.

No one's lack of kindness or hurtful behaviors can remove me from God's secure embrace. I can always find rest in the shelter of God's wings.

While people may leave me or fail to meet my emotional needs, God remains present and is always only a prayer away.

In God, I belong to a body of believers, my family of faith.

Christ is in me, and I am in him. We remain in one another always.

When I come to Jesus in prayer, I find life.

The Spirit shows me what I need to know moment to moment, helps me do what I need to do, and empowers me to do amazing work.

God transforms me into someone more true and authentic day by day.

In the end, I will find ultimate fulfillment and I will be complete. Everything will become clear.

God allows tears, and Jesus himself wept. God also lovingly addresses my sadness and wipes the tears away when I am ready.

God wants me to partake in a guilt-free feast with food and quality wine.

Living in God's kingdom means living in eternal fullness of rest, joy, and pleasures.

I am light, and I can walk as a living light when the darkness of pain surrounds me.

I am a saint, a servant, a steward, and a soldier.

I am working as a witness of God's love.

I have already overcome a lot, and I have a good future.

Jesus wants me to communicate a uniquely valuable message to the world that only I can bring to it.

Here's the second part of our affirmations episode with Dr. Angela Schaffner. After listening to the intro episode, this episode can be used as a resource to listen to over and over again.

Happy Summer! Our first series of the season focuses on ways to develop spiritual practices such as contemplation, prayer of examen, lectio divina, meditation, etc. We all live busy lives and while we often desire to develop and sustain healthy spiritual practices and rhythms, we struggle to find the time. Courtney Ellis joins us this week to discuss this very subject which also happens to be the theme of her new book, Almost Holy Mama (Life Giving Spiritual Practices for Weary Parents). Courtney is a great friend of the podcast and once again, with humor and honesty, she discusses the struggles of sustaining a healthy and intimate relationship with Jesus in the midst of one of the busiest times in life. She's a fount of wisdom and we are grateful she joined us again to kick off this series.

Almost Holy Mama just released on Monday, June 3. You can find it wherever books are sold including Amazon. Want to read the first chapter for free? Hop over to Courtney's website.

Love Courtney like we do? She was also on Woven back in February (Episode 44) discussing her first book Uncluttered. Have a listen!

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Want to join the Woven community? Visit www.patreon.com/woveninhim to learn more.

To wrap up our "Won't You Be My Neighbor" series, we asked our friends Meredith Copley and Shannon Doyle Bell to join us to discuss engaging racial diversity in our communities. Shannon and Meredith met when they got involved in a local Be the Bridge group last year, and we are so grateful they joined us. Our discussion was rich and deep and important and lengthy, so lengthy in fact, it will be a two-episode discussion. Thank you to Meredith and Shannon for their willingness to engage in this conversation. We threw out tons of resources which are listed below.

Be the Bridge

A Very Good Gospel

White Picket Fences

Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria

White Fragility

Just Mercy

The New Jim Crow

The Gospel in Color Set (for families)

13th- Documentary on Netflix

Inclusive Performance Strategies

Community Engagement Toolkit

Instagram Account- @nowhitesaviors

National Center for Civil and Human Rights

To wrap up our "Won't You Be My Neighbor" series, we asked our friends Meredith Copley and Shannon Doyle Bell to join us to discuss engaging racial diversity in our communities. Shannon and Meredith met when they got involved in a local Be the Bridge group last year, and we are so grateful they joined us. Our discussion was rich and deep and important and lengthy, so lengthy in fact, it will be a two episode discussion. Thank you to Meredith and Shannon for their willingness to engage in this conversation. We threw out tons of resources which are listed below.

Be the Bridge

A Very Good Gospel

White Picket Fences

Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria

White Fragility

Just Mercy

The New Jim Crow

The Gospel in Color Set (for families)

13th- Documentary on Netflix

Inclusive Performance Strategies

Community Engagement Toolkit

Instagram Account- @nowhitesaviors

National Center for Civil and Human Rights

Continuing in our "Won't You Be My Neighbor" series, this week we talk with Chaffraix Rowles about how community can be built around food and a common table. Chaffraix is part owner of Oak Grove Market in Decatur, GA. OGM embodies their mission of being a place of fellowship for all people so beautifully. What a rich discussion we had!

If you'd like to learn more about Oak Grove Market, visit www.oakgrovemarket.com. You can also visit them on Facebook @oakgrovemarket.

As always, to join the Woven community, please visit www.patreon.com/woveninhim.

It's almost summer! And, with summer, often comes a slew of body image thoughts and concerns. More skin often equals less confidence. But, we want to fight the cultural narrative that we can only have a great summer if we have a great summer bod. More importantly we discuss how all of our bodies are wonderful and we need to start seeing them that way. Dr. Angela Schaffner once again graciously gives of her time to sit down with us as we revisit what has proven to be a very popular topic on Woven.

Also, if you'd like hearing a bonus episode on Woven, Patreon supporters get a bonus once a month. Head on over to www.patreon.com/woveninhim to learn more!

Resources Mentioned:

Seculosity

This week we begin our new series, "Won't You Be My Neighbor?". In this series we'll explore who our neighbors are and how we can engage our community better. In Part 1, we discuss how to engage our older neighbors and the elderly in our community more thoughtfully. We speak with our friend Laurie Dorough and glean wisdom from her heart towards the older generation. We talk about why it's so hard to engage others in different life stages than us and how we can get more comfortable doing it. It was a rich discussion!

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Want to be more involved in the Woven community? Join us over at www.patreon.com/woveninhim

As we head into summer and a new season on Woven, we're spending this week processing our highs and lows, and discussing what our plans are for our summer series!

We are so thankful for all of our listeners! Thank you for your continued support. To get even more involved with our Woven community, visit www.patreon.com/woveninhim.