My interest in Spiritual Formation goes back about 25 years. A buzz word floating around then was the term spiritual formation. I liked it. It seemed to me to represent a fuller orbed consideration of what it meant to be a Christ follower. I felt I had been thoroughly discipled from my earliest memories by my participation in church—Sunday school, and youth ministry—teen Bible camps, and my collegiate studies in Christian education and sacred music. But I felt I wasn’t the fully devoted Christ follower I longed to be. I certainly wasn’t everything God had called me to be.
I pursued ministry credentials and was ordained in 2015. My desire for deeper spiritual formation led me to books and articles about spiritual formation, spiritual transformation, and contemplative spiritual practices.
As a busy minister, I found myself often scattered, and stressed about my work and the depth of my spiritual life. In her book, Sacred Rhythms, Ruth Haley Barton says “In reality, it is your desire for God and your capacity to reach for more of God than you have right now that is the deepest essence of who you are.” I wanted more.
In January 2019, I began an earnest, studied approach to my own spiritual transformation journey. I participated in Ruth Barton’s Transforming Community, nine quarterly retreats, with diverse Christian and other leaders from across the nation exploring our spiritual formation together. Of the numerous discoveries from this experience, I came to understand God was calling me to be a spiritual mother. I looked for the best way to answer the call to be a spiritual companion in supporting believers longing for a deeper relationship with God.
Upon completing the Transforming Community, I continued formal spiritual formation training with enrollment in a Graduate Certificate in Spiritual Direction. These studies closely aligned with my calling as a spiritual parent. In April, 2023, I earned a Graduate Certificate in Spiritual Direction from Richmont Graduate University in Atlanta, GA.
Spiritual direction has been part of my learning since the beginning of my transformation studies. At first, I was hesitant about its benefits. Participation in Spiritual Direction was a course requirement in my spiritual direction program. I discovered a valuable spiritual practice (discipline) that continues to enrich my spiritual journey. As I continue in spiritual direction, I am increasingly convinced as to the eternal value of spiritual direction for every Christian.
My journey has drawn me into a better awareness of myself and my place in God’s kingdom. My work as a spiritual director calls me to companion those who enter spiritual direction with me to pay attention too their experience with God and points of self-discovery; to explore together God’s will and purpose in their life. I give myself to listen with them for the voice of God and to help them notice God’s movement in their life and discern God’s call to them. I share in the “ah ha” moments of these dear spiritual brothers and sisters as, together, we discern God’s purposes. These discoveries build up the entire faith community.
