Some questions you may wish to consider:

• How do I respond to the word 'reconciliation'?
• What do I hear this word saying to me?
• How do I respond to a personal invitation to reconciliation?
• Am I willing to undertake a journey, exploring aspects of myself and my world with the aim of reconciliation?
• What might my resistances to this journey be?
• Where do these resistances come from? (for example: family, tradition, cultural practice, historical, social, political or economic factors)

Are there ways in which I can overcome these factors if they are hindering my progress towards reconciliation?

Reconciliation with myself

1. How do I see myself as a woman who is
   

   • my age
   • my appearance
   • my health
   • my status
   • my social position
   • with my responsibilities
   • my disappointments
   • my life experiences
     

2. What are my strengths/talents/gifts - physical, spiritual, social, psychological, intellectual, etc.?
3. Do I have any limitations that I am strongly aware of?
4. How far have I come in accepting and living with myself as I am?
5. Are there aspects of myself or events for which I need to forgive myself, in order to begin or complete a healing process?
6. What gestures, symbolic or real, could I make to signify that I have forgiven myself?

SUGGESTED READING:

Matthew 11 28-30 (The gentle mastery of Christ)
Psalms 46 (God is on our side)

Reconciliation with God

1. What is my understanding of God? Who is God and what is God like?

SUGGESTED READING

Luke 18 15-17 (Jesus and the children)
Luke 6 36-38 (On compassion and generosity)
Luke 12 22-32 (Trust in providence - the gentleness of God)
Psalm 121 (The guardian of Israel)
Matthew 25 34-40 (Love of neighbour)

1. Do I feel a need to reconcile myself to God? If so, how do I respond to the idea of reconciling myself with God? How do I respond to the idea of God reconciling me to him or herself?
2. Am I ready to enter into a closer relationship with God?

SUGGESTED READING

Psalms 63 (Desire for God)
Ephesians 3 16-21 (Paul's Prayer)
Psalm 139 1-24 (In praise of God's omniscience)

1. What have I discovered about myself that can help or hinder developing a closer relationship with God?
2. Do I believe that I deserve this relationship? Do I believe that God deserves this relationship with me?

SUGGESTED READING

John 10 10-11 (The Good Shepherd)
Jeremiah 31 3-4 (Yahweh's love for his people)

1. Do I agree that God wants fullness of life for me?
2. How can I nurture a closer relationship with God? (Could I use prayer, journal writing, quiet meditation to allow God to speak to me?)
3. In what ways has God spoken to me in my life? (We believe that God constantly reveals himself to us in may ways if we are open to this experience.)

SUGGESTED READING

Exodus 3 1-6 (The burning bush)
1 Kings 9-14 (The encounter with God - the gentle breeze)

As a deeper relationship with God is central to the reconciliation process, it is suggested that adequate time be allocated for discussion of participants' ideas, feeling and experiences.

AMASC Study Plan