{"id":395,"date":"2022-04-28T17:21:07","date_gmt":"2022-04-28T17:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/?page_id=395"},"modified":"2026-03-21T19:23:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T19:23:52","slug":"spiritual-direction","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/spiritual-direction\/","title":{"rendered":"Spiritual Direction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/20210129_124540-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-433\" style=\"width:457px;height:257px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/20210129_124540-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/20210129_124540-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/20210129_124540-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/20210129_124540-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/20210129_124540-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/20210129_124540-1140x641.jpg 1140w, https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/05\/20210129_124540-600x337.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Spiritual direction is a ministry of walking alongside another person on their spiritual journey. Christian spiritual direction is biblically grounded and Trinitarian in focus&#8211; recognizing that we are invited into an ever-growing, loving relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It can be hard to make space for God in the midst of life&#8217;s demands; spiritual direction is one way to prioritize spiritual growth and transformation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As a spiritual director, I accompany others as they seek to discern God&#8217;s presence and voice, exploring questions, doubts, desires, dreams, and struggles&#8211; the stuff of real life, whether in upbeat times or when struggling and feeling spiritually weary. Our meetings include prayer and listening in the context of a three-way conversation between the person I am with, me, and God. My role is to direct our attention to God by listening, asking questions, and suggesting times for silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What to expect in spiritual direction:<\/strong><br>* Meetings are generally monthly, either in person or by Zoom, and are about an hour in length<br>* Our discussions are in the context of prayerful attentiveness to God, including times of silence to quiet ourselves in his presence.<br>* Spiritual direction differs from pastoral counseling in focus; while we may discuss problems and concerns, the focus is on discerning God&#8217;s invitation in the midst of those circumstances, rather than having a problem-solving focus.<br>* Our conversations are led by the Holy Spirit; I don&#8217;t come to them with an agenda, but with a posture of listening.<br>* As a visual thinker and prayer, I often include art in my own prayer times, and welcome my directees&#8217; creative expressions in prayer and pondering.<br>* I maintain confidentiality, unless I feel that you or someone else is in danger of serious harm. If that is the case, I will discuss with you what actions I may be required to take.<br>* I do not charge for spiritual direction, but would encourage donations to your church or other Christian ministry of your choice.<br>* Contact me at melissa@theartofprayer.space<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Earth&#8217;s crammed with heaven,<br>And every common bush afire with God:<br>But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,<br>The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.&#8221;<br>                                                       Elizabeth Barrett Browning<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spiritual direction is a ministry of walking alongside another person on their spiritual journey. Christian spiritual direction is biblically grounded and Trinitarian in focus&#8211; recognizing that we are invited into an ever-growing, loving relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It can be hard to make space for God in the midst of life&#8217;s demands; spiritual direction is one way to prioritize spiritual growth and transformation. As a spiritual director, I accompany others as they seek to discern God&#8217;s presence and voice, exploring questions, doubts, desires, dreams, and struggles&#8211; the stuff of real life, whether in upbeat times or when struggling and feeling spiritually weary. Our meetings include prayer and listening in the context of a three-way conversation between the person I am with, me, and God. My role is to direct our attention to God by listening, asking questions, and suggesting times for silence. What to expect in spiritual direction:* Meetings are generally monthly, either in person or by Zoom, and are about an hour in length* Our discussions are in the context of prayerful attentiveness to God, including times of silence to quiet ourselves in his presence.* Spiritual direction differs from pastoral counseling in focus; while we may discuss problems and concerns, the focus is on discerning God&#8217;s invitation in the midst of those circumstances, rather than having a problem-solving focus.* Our conversations are led by the Holy Spirit; I don&#8217;t come to them with an agenda, but with a posture of listening.* As a visual thinker and prayer, I often include art in my own prayer times, and welcome my directees&#8217; creative expressions in prayer and pondering.* I maintain confidentiality, unless I feel that you or someone else is in danger of serious harm. If that is the case, I will discuss with you what actions I may be required to take.* I do not charge for spiritual direction, but would encourage donations to your church or other Christian ministry of your choice.* Contact me at melissa@theartofprayer.space &#8220;Earth&#8217;s crammed with heaven,And every common bush afire with God:But only he who sees, takes off his shoes,The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.&#8221; Elizabeth Barrett Browning<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-395","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=395"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":868,"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/395\/revisions\/868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theartofprayer.space\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}