As individuals seek meaning and connection with themselves, others, and God, many are turning to the support of a spiritual director. In this blog, we will highlight some of the benefits of receiving spiritual direction from a trained and seasoned spiritual director.  

 

To Know and be Known

A spiritual director serves as a dedicated companion. Through conversations of the soul, a spiritual director can help you deepen intimacy with yourself, others, and God. The spiritual direction relationship - a relationship marked by attentiveness, presence, safety, and careful listening - fosters the dynamic of being “fully known” (I Cor 13:12). To know and to be fully known is at the core of all intimacy, including intimacy with God - in fact, it is the experience of love.  

Increasing Inner Awareness

Your interior life is the focus of spiritual direction, and by engaging in spiritual direction you will learn, more and more, to become aware of and articulate your inner experience (The Practice of Spiritual Direction, Barry & Connelly, 1982, p. 67). The articulation of inner experience is critical to a rich and authentic prayer life as it allows one to pray with feeling, with the “affectations of the heart.” This, of course, is exactly how prayer appears in the Psalms and is the stuff of a true and deep relationship with God.      

Discerning Authentic Religious Experience

Do we believe in a God who communicates with people both corporately and as individuals? Do we believe that this God can be met personally? And can a relationship with this living and personal Holy presence ground an individual's life? If we do believe these things, where do people meet this God?  Where is God and how do we know God in all the stuff of life?  How do we discern authentic religious experience? These are the essential questions of discernment, and they underscore the need for a well-trained, and experienced spiritual director, one who can help you notice “signals of transcendence” and a “rumour of angels.”    

Navigating the Landscape of Life

Life is often marked by challenging terrain with many changes, comings and goings, beginnings, endings, failures and successes, and a spiritual director can be an anchoring guide through these varied landscapes. In times of desolation, doubt, or crisis, their compassionate presence becomes a source of strength and understanding. The spiritual director's role is not to provide easy answers but to help you walk with God through the complexities, allowing you to find insight, perspective, healing, and grace.

Facilitating Growth and Transformation

Through ongoing dialogue, prayerful reflection, and guided engagement of spiritual practices, Christian spiritual direction can help you to open yourself to the gift of Jesus’s transforming love.  At the core of this transformation is the desire to love, follow and imitate Jesus as we contemplate him in the New Testament gospels. This transformation involves both a letting go of all that blocks the flow of love, and a moving forward as we learn and embrace a more intimate knowledge of Jesus.

 

Receiving spiritual direction with a well-trained spiritual director can be a transformative experience that is deeply personal. It is a matter of the heart. Your heart. If you're ready to embark on a path of knowing yourself and God more fully, consider the benefits of having a spiritual director.

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