REMEMBERING GOD'S PRESENCE IN MY LIFE-STORY

INTRODUCTION:

Biblical faith affirms that God is present in all things. Methodist tradition stresses the reality of God's prevenient grace that has companioned us since the moment of our conception. The question is: has the awareness of his loving presence throughout my life really taken hold of me? This exercise is a simple help towards discerning God's presence in our life- stories.

Hence the material over which we shall pray is the 'stuff' of our own personal histories - the events, experiences, people who have crossed our paths, gifts we've been given, accomplishments, failures. In the Lord's presence and with his help we go down 'memory lane' seeking to discern traces of his love and grace in our lives.

EXERCISE OUTLINE

• make yourself comfortable wherever you are, spend some time collecting and relaxing yourself in God's presence;
• pray for the grace of a deep-felt appreciation of how the Lord has been present in your life;
• take time to remember your own personal history. This remembering is an awareness of the exterior events in your life and your interior responses to them. Memory makes them present. Let one memory touch off another. Make a list of these events and experiences. (I suggest not more than 10.)
• as you remember these events/experiences in your life-history, try to notice all the gifts you have received. As Paul writes: "What do you have that you did not receive" (1 Cor 4:7)
• ask God to show you now how he has been present in these experiences and events. Sometimes reading a psalm like Ps 139 can deepen your awareness of his presence in your personal history.
• after you have been in touch with these special moments when you have experienced the Lord's presence, repeat the trip down 'memory lane'. However, now seek to notice how the Lord has been constantly with you in a more dynamic way, not only in isolated moments, but continuously as companion, friend, guide, lover...
• from time to time through the exercise, express your feelings and thoughts to the Lord, asking him for a deep-felt appreciation of how he has been present in your life.
• think of one word or phrase which would describe God's presence in your life, take that phrase with you into your day so that it is always near you, draw on it from time to time.

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