Awaken (A Review)
Meg Chaney
I was asked by B&H Publishing I wanted to take on an additional review for this month, Pricilla Shirer's new devotional, Awaken! Lately, it feels like my world has been surrounded by Pricilla! For awhile now I've been reading through her book Fervent. My Bible Study at church is in the middle of doing her re-released Discerning the Voice of God study. And just last Spring, my church also did her Gideon study. I love how Awaken feels like a continuation of all of these. A peek into her quiet time throughout the years, what she must have been mulling over as these other Bible studies and books came to be.
Awaken consists of 90 separate devotionals. Each devotional has a scripture for the day, some thoughts, and additional space for journaling. My favorite part has often been the extra scriptures at the end. I find myself hunting them down in my own Bible, tucking them away in my own journal for remembrance.
Each devotional isn't supposed to take long, but is supposed to strike a cord, make you think, encourage you to pause at the beginning of your day for prayer and reflection.
Here are a few of my favorite thoughts:
“So give. Even in your deficient places. Especially in those places. Given, even when what you’re giving is more than you feel like you can afford.”
“Abundant living mandates different living—different even from other believers who amy be complacent with their freedom, lulled to sleep in their wilderness wanderings”
“Digging deep, hitting bedrock, and pouring a solid foundation on Christ alone and His Word alone are what secures you solidly to the ground. Because, listen to me, the storms are coming. And yet you can be strong, steeled, and storm-proofed because you’ve not only heard what the Spirit says, but you’ve put hammer to nail and implemented it into your architecture”
“Give yourself permission to wait, remembering that waiting is not the same as inactivity. Waiting is a commitment to continue on in obedience until God speaks”
“You need only to start operating in the power He has granted you as His child, and then you are on your way to witnessing the steady growth of spiritual transformation you’ve been struggling so hard to generate yourself.”
These are deep thoughts, thoughts that I truly want to tuck away in my heart. I love when any book hits home like that. This devotional is extra sweet, because I can come back to it time and again. The connections I'm making to her other various books and Bible studies only make it better for me. A certain devotional may strike a cord, and remind me of a truth from a past study. Sometimes we need to see the connection, we need to hear that a storm is coming, but that He has us firmly in His hands. This devotional is that for me. Truly a gift!