What is it?

In short, spiritual direction is practicing the presence of God with someone else. It is about attuning to God by noticing and nurturing His work in your life.

Sometimes I like to see spiritual direction as setting the table of hospitality with Jesus. In spiritual direction, you have a companion to sit with as you recognize God’s presence and activity in your personal, day to day life. This may be through the interactions and relationships you experience, through thoughts occurring in your mind, feelings and stirrings in your heart, the realities and responses of your body, or nudges within your spirit. All of these are helpful to pay attention to and to bring to God with curiosity. This process helps identify God’s invitations for you and how you might respond in honest, life giving ways. All in all, it’s all about relationship. The goal of spiritual direction is deepening your relationship with God. “The goal isn’t healing. The goal is relationship. And where there is relationship, healing will naturally come out of that because God designed us that way.” Brian Hohmeier

How it is Practiced?

Spiritual direction is the act of intentionally attuning to the presence of God in your life through prayerful conversation, listening, and reflection. There will be moments of conversation and questions as well as more room than you are likely used to for moments of silence and listening. A traditional spiritual direction session is about 1 hour, once a month, and can be done in-person or over zoom. Spiritual direction can also be practiced within the context of a group setting. In addition to traditional one-on-one direction, I also offer written spiritual direction (via e-mail) and spiritual direction in nature for anyone who might benefit from these forms of the practice. I am currently working alongside a few others locally in the establishment of spiritual direction groups in Evansville, IN(more info coming soon).

Who is it For?

Spiritual direction is not just for those who are going through difficult seasons, confusing circumstances, making important decisions or walking through major transitions (though these may often be true) but for anyone who is interested in deepening their relationship with Christ, in the midst of the mess and the mundane. There’s room for all of you here.

Emily P. Freeman describes her invitation and introduction into spiritual direction in her podcast episode, Spiritual Direction for Beginners:

“Ruth Haley Barton writes this, “There are a few places where the soul is truly safe, where the knowing, the questions, the longings of the soul are welcomed, received, and listened to rather than evaluated, judged, or beaten out of us.” Seven years ago on the first day of lent, I’m looking for a place where my soul will feel truly safe, and I visit a spiritual director for the first time…

As I observed myself during that season of my life, I could see I was becoming more private, less comfortable around strangers, more suspicious of people in general, less inclined to move toward longtime friends. I was less aware of God’s presence and more skeptical of God’s love. All of those mores and lesses began to terrify me. I had been to Christian counseling before, but this felt like a different kind of need. I didn’t have a presenting problem exactly. I wasn’t in a particular crisis. I wasn’t looking for solutions, coping strategies, accountability or advice. Although I will say I’m a huge fan of counseling and of counselors and have been seeing a counselor and will continue to see a counselor, but at this time I was looking for companionship, and so I found my way to a spiritual director. A woman recommended to me by a trusted long-time friend, who himself is a spiritual director. “She will hold space for you,” he said. When I emailed her, she said that too.”