✦ Still: 30 Days Finding God in the Rush and the Quiet

Week One - Day 7 of 30

The Weekly Reset.
A Simple Examen.

Ignatian Examen - Week One Review - 5 min read

← Back to Series

Today's Scripture

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

Psalm 46:10
Also Read

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.

Psalm 62:8

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Romans 8:26

You made it through Week One. Before we move into the harder territory of Week Two (the silence, the questions, the seasons when God feels far), let us stop and look back at where He was this week.

The Ignatian Examen is an old prayer practice going back to Ignatius of Loyola in the 1500s. It sounds formal, but it is actually just a structured way of reviewing your day, or in this case your week, with God. Looking for where He was. Where you missed Him. What you want to bring into tomorrow.

I have simplified it here. This version has five questions. You do not have to answer them all perfectly. You do not even have to write anything down, though that can help. Just sit with them honestly for a few minutes.

That is the whole practice.

The Five Questions

1
Be Still First
Take a breath. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see the week clearly. Not to condemn you, but to show you what was really there.
2
Gratitude
What are you genuinely grateful for from this past week? What small or large gift did God place in your path that you want to name out loud?
3
The God Moments
Where did you feel closest to God this week? Where did you sense Him, even briefly, in the ordinary?
4
The Hard Moments
Where did you feel distant from God, or where did you choose your own way over His? No condemnation here. Just honesty. He already knows, and He is not surprised.
5
Looking Ahead
What do you want to carry into Week Two? Is there something you want to let go of, or something you want to hold more tightly?

A word before Week Two.

Week Two is called "When the Silence Comes." It is going to name some things that are real and sometimes uncomfortable: the seasons where prayer feels flat, where God feels absent, where you are doing all the right things and not feeling anything.

I want you to know going in: we are not going to try to fix that silence. We are going to learn to sit in it faithfully. Because the silence, as it turns out, is not the end of the story.

See you in Day 8.

Speak This Out Loud
"I pause in the noise to see where God was this week. I receive His presence in the hard moments and the holy ones. I carry what I have learned into the week ahead, and I trust that He is with me still."
Today's Challenge

Practice the Examen

Take 10 to 15 minutes tonight or this weekend to work through the five questions above. You can do this silently, or you can journal through it. Notice what rises to the surface. Do not judge what you find. Simply let it be seen.

Journal Prompts
Reflection Question

Am I willing to look honestly at my week, without performance or self-defense? Can I let God show me where He was, even in the places I missed Him?

A Prayer for the Week

God, here is my week. The parts I am proud of and the parts I am less proud of. The moments I felt You and the ones where I walked right past You without noticing.

Thank You for all of it. Thank You for being present in more of it than I could see at the time. I am ready for what is next. Go ahead and lead. In Jesus Name, Amen.

Something to Sit With

If I am honest about this week, not performing for God, not putting a good spin on it, what is the truest thing I want to say to Him right now?

- Claire

✦ Week One Complete. Well Done. ✦