![\"AWAKE_ADVENT_4\"](\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/AWAKE_ADVENT_4-214x300.jpg\")
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Mark 9:9-13<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Question for reflection:<\/span><\/strong><\/span> What stones are you facing in your life right now? What is a way you might view your \u201cstone\u201d differently?<\/p>\n Prayer for the day:<\/strong><\/span> ~ Laura Whitman, Special Projects Coordinator<\/p>\n Congregational Life Ministries of the Church of the Brethren is offering these simple prayers and questions in connection to this year’s Advent Devotional <\/span><\/strong><\/span>written by Sandy Bosserman,\u00a0a former district executive and ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren. (Available from\u00a0Brethren Press<\/a><\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>in print and E-Book formats). Join us as we look and listen for the coming of the Word through the reading of scripture, Sandy’s reflections, times of prayer, and conversations on t<\/em>his\u00a0<\/em>blog.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mark 9:9-13 Question for reflection: I like the comparison that Sandy uses towards the end of the devotional between the disciples and modern day students. As a recent college graduate, the phrase, \u201cIs this going to be on the exam?\u201d is one that is all too familiar. You start college (or really anything new) with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[54,450,650,874,1104],"class_list":["post-3335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional","tag-advent","tag-find-god","tag-journey","tag-passion","tag-stones"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/blogtest\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nI like the comparison that Sandy uses towards the end of the devotional between the disciples and modern day students. As a recent college graduate, the phrase, \u201cIs this going to be on the exam?\u201d is one that is all too familiar. You start college (or really anything new) with all these passions and excitements. Then after one bad grade or one tiny screw up that pressure to succeed, to get the perfect grades no matter what, those feelings start to creep in. Suddenly, our focus shifts. We might not get as excited as we once did. The Romans text (Romans 9:33) makes it quite clear: we will find God and even our passions when we open our eyes to the \u201cstones\u201d and start viewing them as part of the journey, not just something that is in the way.<\/p>\n
\nGod, give us the ability to look at the stones in our life in new ways. Amen.<\/p>\n