Spiritual Direction
Spiritual Direction is a prayerful relationship where you are invited to slow down and pause in a safe, non-judgmental space to share what you are experiencing in your life with God and attend to how the Holy Spirit might be inviting you to respond. The director is a co-journeyer, listening together with you to the Holy Spirit, helping you notice God’s presence and activity in your sharing and what is emerging from your own responses to Him.
“In the busyness of everyday life we can become blind and deaf to the river of life that flows in and around us all. A spiritual director listens with one ear to God and the other to the directee, always encouraging the directee to recognize where God can be found throughout the journey… The Holy Spirit is really the Director of the time together as both parties pay attention to God’s movements and call”
As your awareness of God increases in everyday life through the spiritual direction relationship, you begin to more deeply experience God’s love for you as you are formed into Christ-likeness by the Holy Spirit’s leading.
FAQ
- Those who desire to deepen their relationship with God
- Those who want to be more attentive to God in their everyday lives and desire regular time to listen to God
- Those who want to live more fully into their true-self identity as beloved image-bearers of God
- Those who are in a period of transition or discerning a major decision
- Those who desire a safe space to wrestle with their faith questions or fears with God
- Those whose faith feels dry and arid
- Those who want to process more deeply what they are noticing in their spiritual life (from their prayer life, or sermons, what they’re reflecting on from group life, discipleship, etc.)
- A direction session is about an hour long.
- We start with several minutes of prayerful silence and/or a short reflective Scripture reading.
- You are then invited to share whatever you feel the desire to prayerfully explore from your life currently. This may be something that you noticed has been occupying your thoughts a lot lately.
- I may respond periodically with noticings that arise from prayerful listening or with questions that invite deeper exploration as the Holy Spirit leads us. There will be silent pauses throughout to attend to what the Lord is inviting us to notice and pay closer attention to.
- We will close at the end with a few moments to be prayerfully present to what the Lord may be stirring in you from all that was discussed during the session.
- I will then close us by briefly praying for you.
You can initiate whatever you’d like to discuss in the spiritual direction sessions based on what you’re currently noticing in your life with God. This may include thoughts on vocation, relationships, circumstances, health, the life of worship, prayer and service, joys and sorrows, boredoms and adventures, etc.
Consider:
- what feels joyful / what you’re celebrating with God
- what seems unclear (perhaps a decision or direction)
- what you are struggling with
- experiences or reflections with God
- questions and doubts about God
Some prompts to help you to reflect on your life with God which the Holy Spirit may invite you to explore further in your spiritual direction session might include:
- How and when do I experience God these days?
- What has been occupying most of my mindspace these days?
- What do I desire most from God?
- How have I been feeling lately?
- What does my prayer life look like?
- How have I been disappointed/angry/frustrated with God
- How has God surprised me lately?
- What are the questions, concerns, or doubts I honestly want to bring before God?
Before we first meet, you might spend some time reflecting on and praying over your personal spiritual story and sense of God in your life over the past 5-10 years and how He has felt present (or absent) over that time period. Prayerfully consider whether the Lord might be inviting you to bring that into spiritual direction.
I generally recommend that we meet once per month, especially for our first few sessions. This frequency is helpful for building and maintaining trust and continuity for your paying attention to your life with God. Sometimes in times of intense processing and upheaval, it may be helpful to meet more often for a brief time, if desired.
However, as with any spiritual discipline, the frequency will depend on what is most helpful for you personally to connect more deeply with the Lord in this particular season of your life.
My spiritual direction sessions are online via Zoom. However, there may be opportunities to meet in person at a church in West Houston.
Spiritual direction has been such a tremendous gift in my life, one that I hope that all of God’s people will have the opportunity to experience regardless of ability to pay.
Because of this, I offer all of my services for free with the opportunity (not obligation) to pay-it-forward with a donation as the Lord leads you, to help me continue to offer spiritual direction to more directees at no charge.
You might be a good fit for entering a spiritual direction relationship if:
- You want to listen for God, notice His presence, and follow His leading in the ordinary circumstances of life.
- You’re willing to talk about your personal spiritual journey with a spiritual companion who is committed to listening and traveling with you.
- You are willing to prepare each spiritual direction sessions by prayerfully reflecting on how you’ve experienced God in your life since you last met and consider what God might be revealing to you about Him and about yourself.
Generally, counseling relationships seek to fix a particular issue or to process what has occurred in the past for the purpose of healing. Coaching involves helping you become unstuck in order to attain some goal for your future. While in spiritual direction there can be healing and what you process with the Lord may help you get unstuck in order to move forward, these are not the main goals of spiritual direction.
Instead, the primary focus of spiritual direction is to help you pay attention to God’s movement, activity, and invitation within your experience. Spiritual direction in no way replaces these other companioning ministries. It does, however, offer the opportunity to direct your attention to what you are noticing with and of God in the present in what you may be exploring in these other relationships.