God’s Garden
May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love.
Ephesians 3:17, NLT
Receiving God’s invitation to take a stroll in the Garden.
Spiritual direction is about being in the place where God (The Master Gardener) is at work in your life. An ancient Church practice and a discipline of discipleship, it is a set a part time where a spiritual director helps facilitate a conversation between the directee and God. A spiritual director holds space and invites the directee into honest prayer with God.
Spiritual direction offers a time and place once a month to:
- Pay attention to God’s personal communication to you by His Spirit and through His Word
- Respond to God’s communication
- Grow in intimacy with God
- Live all of life out of this relationship with God.
- Let “your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s love!”
How to get started:
If you are feeling invited to begin the journey of receiving spiritual direction, here is how I invite you to consider pursuing spiritual direction and discerning a good fit. You can find the steps below to get started!
Reach Out and express interest
Fill out the Contact Card so we can connect! If you want, you can share how you became interested in receiving spiritual direction.
Discern if we are a good fit
It is important that we co-discern whether we might be a good fit. Some advise meeting four times to decide whether you would like to continue meeting or pursue another spiritual director.
Set up an initial meeting
The first meeting is free and will be different than other sessions. This is a time for me to get to know you and learn about your journey with God.
If you want to continue...
I offer spiritual direction once a month. I can offer this on Zoom.
A little bit about me (as a spiritual director):
As you begin your journey of seeking spiritual direction, here’s a little bit about why I do what I do with the directees with whom I get to walk. Spiritual direction is a three-way conversation between the spiritual director, the directee, and the living God who is present to both director and directee. As we learn to listen for God’s voice, just like in a conversation, it is important to speak and important to take times to listen. Thus, my direction sessions tend to involve both speaking and extended times of silence, both questions and times to listen to God’s still, small voice. While I will occasionally include scripture readings and other prayer disciplines from the history of the church, most of what I do involves encouraging directees to receive the gift of time and space that direction offers to deeply listen to God’s unique communication to them. God speaks the dialect of our heart, and it is a joy to discover alongside directees the unique ways our Lord speaks to them.
How to discern a good fit
Discerning a good fit in spiritual direction is similar to finding a good pair of walking shoes. When purchasing a pair, you want something that is not too snug for your feet such that they hinder your ability to walk. You also don’t want a pair that is too roomy, such that the lack of structure doesn’t allow you to walk. You want a pair of shoes that can be trustworthy to support you on the journey affording good structure for your feet without smothering them.
Here are some questions I invite you to ask yourself as you discern a spiritual director with whom to meet:
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- How do I sense God’s invitation in this spiritual direction relationship?
- Does this relationship have the potential for honest dialog?
- Does this fit me in this season like a good pair of walking shoes? (I encourage meeting with a spiritual director four times before answering this question).
Spiritual direction is about discerning God’s presence and invitation with the directee. As such, you can also ask yourself, how does the spiritual director invite me to be with God?