What Spiritual Direction Is

Spiritual direction is a combination of “holy listening” and “spiritual companionship.” It involves regularly meeting with a trained Spiritual Director, who will listen with you as you discern God’s movement in your life, respond to the Holy Spirit’s leading, and seek to help you grow in your relationship with God.

You may find it challenging to hear the “still small voice of God” in the midst of full schedules and daily responsibilities. You may find yourself longing for a more conscious experience of God’s love, presence, and grace. In Spiritual Direction, we seek to create a sacred and unhurried space to focus on knowing God, with the aim of becoming more aware of God’s presence and hearing His invitation to a deeper and more intimate relationship.

What Spiritual Direction Is Not

Spiritual Direction is not counseling. The focus of counseling is often to identify solutions or develop coping skills for problems, behaviors, or difficult relationships. The focus of Spiritual Direction, in contrast, is on identifying God’s activity, presence, and voice in the midst of the various circumstances of life, and then responding to Him. Spiritual Direction is not inner healing or teaching. At times, one or both of those elements may occur, but it isn’t “the main thing”.

Spiritual Direction is also not receiving guidance from a “spiritual guru.” Although Spiritual Directors typically have received specialized training, they are, as Eugene Peterson says, “someone to be with you in a discerning, prayerful companionship, as you work it out yourself.”

We do recognize and acknowledge that the Holy Spirit is our true and ultimate Spiritual Director. During Spiritual Direction sessions, your Spiritual Director will join you to examine what you are seeing, hearing, feeling, and experiencing, offering reflective insight while sharing your journey with care, humility, and wonder.