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December 2024

December 03, 2024

The Gifts of Consolation and Desolation

An important part of any spiritual journey is remembering consolation, appreciating the joy and experiencing...

June 2022

June 28, 2022

Starting a Spiritual Direction Practice in 2022: A Step-by-Step Process by Laura Lies

For today's post, I'm delighted to feature guest Laura Ann Lies for this guide on...

April 2022

April 21, 2022

Attributes of God: Divine Light

Throughout history and among many spiritual traditions the divine has been associated with light. In...

October 2021

October 14, 2021

Discernment Challenge: How Do We Know It’s God?

One of the most prominent questions in spiritual direction and discernment is this: When I...

July 2021

July 20, 2021

Contemplative Practice in UCC: Becoming Still to Encounter the Still-Speaking God

The denomination I am ordained in, United Church of Christ (UCC), has a catchphrase: “God...

March 2021

March 15, 2021

Inclining our Ear Toward God: Listening As A Church

In a world full of solutions, opinions, and advice, listening is one of the...

November 2020

November 29, 2020

Visualization of Inner Freedom: Releasing Ourselves from Self-Fastened Shackles

Sports psychologists use visualization. So do shamans and spiritual directors. Visualization is a powerful...

October 2020

October 23, 2020

Are You OK?: A Few Thoughts on Life and Spiritual Direction

Two commonly heard phrases (or some variation) I have noticed on social media: "Are you...

August 2020

August 28, 2020

Defining Spiritual Direction: An Interview with Dr. Melissa Hofstetter

What exactly is spiritual direction? Shepherd Heart Ministry Consulting's Executive Director Dr. Melissa Hofstetter sat...

July 2020

July 22, 2020

Back To School Pandemic: Choosing Without Obvious Choices

Parents of school-aged children are currently facing the hardest discernment situation one can face: making...

July 06, 2020

Heart Work is Hard Work – The Spiritual Direction Workout

It’s not uncommon to hear a client say, “I’m exhausted at the end of...

June 2020

June 16, 2020

Getting the Most from your Spiritual Direction Session

You’ve made the commitment. You’ve set aside the time for spiritual direction. But you wonder:...

May 2020

May 18, 2020

Mindfulness: Developing Spiritual Awareness Through Meditation and Prayer

It's not always easy to sit down and meditate, but practice makes perfect! If...

April 2020

April 19, 2020

Praying the Ignatian Examen: Video Guided Prayer Exercise

Cultivating a relationship with God can be hard in the midst of our busy lives,...

February 2020

February 28, 2020

Daily Lent Prayer: Discernment Through Ignation Examen

Put simply, Lent is a Christian season during which we honor the sacrifice Jesus made...

October 2019

October 10, 2019

Sitting with a Choice: Discernment Through Ignatian Examen

Here’s a simple spiritual practice you can do when sitting with a choice you need...

July 2019

July 02, 2019

Reflection Prayer: The Traditional Ignatian Examen

One prayer exercise to get in touch with our inner senses is called The Examen....

October 2018

October 12, 2018

Sharing Wisdom in Discernment: We All Have Something To Offer

We’re taught to “put our heads together," to combine our collective wisdom, to solve problems...

May 2018

May 22, 2018

Wrestling with My Inner Donald Trump

Part of my task as a spiritual director these days is coming to terms with...

April 2018

April 02, 2018

Spiritual Direction Demystified

I can’t tell you how many times people have told me if they had only...

November 2017

November 01, 2017

Learning from our Reactions Along the Spiritual Path

There seems to be a universal pattern to life, including the spiritual path. Action →...

September 2017

September 25, 2017

Discernment in a Fake News World

To practice spiritual discernment—the process of making faithful choices—you must have as many facts as...

May 2017

May 16, 2017

Who are we doing all this for? God-talk on The Leftovers

The urge to speak with God face to face and understand great mysteries is a thread...

May 01, 2017

What Clergy Need to Know about Spiritual Direction

Spiritual direction is a clergyperson’s best friend. Deep listening and discernment enhance the life of...

April 2017

April 26, 2017

Spiritual Direction for the Resistance

A young minister colleague came to me last week and said, “we really need spiritual...

January 2017

January 20, 2017

How to Say Goodbye to your Spiritual Director

All relationships have a lifespan, and the relationship between a person and their spiritual director...

January 03, 2017

5 Ways Spiritual Direction Can Improve Your New Year

Have you included “getting spiritually grounded” on your list of goals for 2017? If so,...

December 2016

December 02, 2016

Discernment as a Visioning Tool

Many churches and faith based organizations do good work in the present but have difficulty...

October 2016

October 31, 2016

5 Spiritual Discernment Questions for the Undecided Voter

With only a few days left before the 2016 Presidential election there are still those...

October 03, 2016

Spiritual Direction and Election Anxiety

For highly sensitive people like me, news in the fall of a presidential election year...

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