Join me for a mini-retreat, with time to pause, reflect on Scriputre, and experience God? Here’s my latest prayer practice (of 7 minutes) that I sent out with my monthly newsletter, perfect for this season of Advent.
We’ll be engaging with some lectio divina (prayerful reading) of the first part of John’s gospel (John 1:1–5, 9, 14, NIV). During the Advent season, it’s beneficial and meaningful to ponder Jesus, the true light who has come into the world.
Feel free to pause the video at any point as you ponder and reflect with God.
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So what is spiritual direction? We’ve inherited this term, and unfortunately, it may conjure up images of a somewhat scary authority figure telling another what to do. That’s not my desire or my way of working! A better name is spiritual accompaniment, which captures the role of one who seeks to notice God’s working in the life of another.
In SD sessions, we examine the person’s relationship with God, how this relationship can flourish, and the directions God is inviting them into. I find it such a joy to hear how people notice God working in their lives and how they are responding to God’s invitations. Often they will have one main topic they’d like to explore in a session.
With my desire to facilitate people encountering God, I offer an opening prayer exercise (such as one from my book 7 Ways to Pray). I give a choice between two or three different ones, as it can be interesting for the directee to notice how they react (including resistance). Of course, they don’t need to start off the session in this way; it’s completely up to them. I’ve found it joyful and encouraging to lead one person in a prayer exercise (in contrast to a group), learning and modifying over the years – such as inviting people to turn off their cameras for privacy, asking them to choose how long to be in silence instead of me moving them along after a set amount of time, and inviting them afterward if they want to share about the prayer time or to address another topic.
Spiritual direction is about the slow but sure work of God. Hearing people notice how they are changing under the Spirit’s loving care brings me such joy. I count it a gift and privilege to walk with some of God’s beloved in this way.
Want more?
You might appreciate reading this short article on why spiritual direction matters to spiritual formation published by Coracle, with whom I’m associated as a SD. Wondering what the difference is between SD and other helping professions such as mentors, coaches, and counsellors? I recommend this article by Margot Eyring, who heads up the SDs at Coracle. I also recommend these 11 questions to consider asking a prospective spiritual director.
Find out more about Amy from visiting her YouTube channel with prayer practices or on social media sites too. She also writes a monthly newsletter and has written seven books and numerous devotional articles.
On this launch day for Still Finding Myself in Britain, I find myself unsettled and lonely for local friends. We moved a couple of months ago, and the house isn’t sorted yet and I don’t have a new gym or local connections.
As I consider my needs, I remember how God has met me in the past, namely when I moved country! As I found myself in Britain, I found myself in God. Yes I made blunders and gaffes, but my new countrypeople accepted me, even while poking fun at me in a lovingly British way! And I learned more about who I am in God, how God has created me, and who I am becoming in him.
God didn’t fail me before, and I believe he won’t now!
How do you need God to meet your needs today? How can you find yourself in God?
Find out more in the wonderful new tenth-anniversary edition of Still Finding Myself in Britain, with a fabulous new foreword by Paul Kerensa and published by Authentic Media.
Over the past four years, I’ve added a moniker to my biography – “spiritual director,” an old-fashioned term for someone who accompanies another on their journey with God. I’ve noticed recently that I don’t share about this work much. As I’ve pondered why, I’ve realized that the main reason is that my role feels hidden and precious. When people share deep and tender offerings during our sessions, I promise to hold their thoughts and feelings in confidence.* I also don’t name those with whom I meet to my family or friends, nor state on social media that I might know someone in this context. My guarding of their stories has seemed to seep into me not talking about being a spiritual director at all.
Perhaps I’m extra careful about confidentiality because as a writer, I could be tempted to mine the stories I hear. In my introduction letter that I send to people enquiring about working together (although I’m currently fully booked), I state something that should go without saying but I feel needs to be spelled out:
I promise never to write up anything that you talk about during our sessions. God is a God of abundance and for my writing I can find plenty of already-published stories to share.
We don’t have to hold an official role as a spiritual director to prize confidentiality, of course. When a friend or family member shares vulnerably with us, we can treat that confidence as a wrapped gift, one meant to be opened only between them and us. And God can help us to keep our mouths closed, nudging us through the Holy Spirit when we’re tempted to share someone else’s problems or concerns under the banner of intercession or “keeping the body informed.” God is a God of respect and honor, and, being made in his image, we too can exude these qualities.
How important is confidentiality to you?
* I only would share in certain safeguarding situations. Also, when I meet for peer-group supervision or with my own spiritual director, I might give generalized details as I reflect upon the work and how it’s affecting me and my life with God.
What does it mean to be God’s beloved? How do we view God, and how does God see us? We will spend time in the loving presence of God as we explore some spiritual practices that help us live as a new creation in Christ. These transformative encounters help us to live out our callings with joy and freedom.
Join me on Saturday, October 4, for a time of communion with God and others.
About this Retreat Series
From the comfort of your home, join Coracle and me as we encounter God’s loving presence together in an online retreat. Each retreat will include a mixture of gentle teaching with generous spaces to encounter God and unpack your experiences with others. I’ll lead four retreats throughout 2025-26, and you can join one or all four, or any other combination. The timings all fall on a Saturday: 10am to 1pm for the East Coast, 7 to 10am on the West Coast, and 3 to 6pm for the UK.
Jesus with us is God in human form, Emmanuel. This mind-blowing reality has transformed all time, and those who believe in him. As we explore this mystical and down-to-earth truth of the God who became a baby and lived among us, we embrace his presence with us as we also prepare for his second coming.
February 21, 2026 – Friendship with God
Jesus loved his friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and their home in Bethany was his second home. As we unpack the three gospel stories we explore action and contemplation, faith and doubt, despair and longing, resurrection and hope, sacrificial love and the meaning of home. Deepening our friendship with Jesus through these stories is fitting during Lent as their events pave the way for Jesus’ death and resurrection.
June 6, 2026 – 3 ways to pray
Our prayer lives can be rich and multifaceted. We’ll engage with three ways to pray, each rooted in ancient practices, that can give us fresh pathways to God. They are acknowledging the indwelling God through practicing God’s presence, prayerfully placing ourselves into a gospel story through our imaginations, and the prayer of examen. God loves to meet with us as we come to him.
Coracle is a U.S. tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization, supported by donor funding. We offer the majority of our programs as “By Donation” as we believe that finances should never be a barrier to anyone who wants to pursue God through the programs and resources we offer. There will be an option to select either “paid” or “free” tickets. Donor support makes offerings like these possible. If you feel led to invest in Coracle’s ministry above the cost of this offering, there will be an option to do so when you register. Thank you!.
Did you know that Jane Austen was a devoted Christian? We have access to three of her prayers – those when she led the family prayers at night. Join me at Jane’s home in Chawton, Hampshire, England, with an adaptation of one of her inspiring and uplifting prayers. The images are all from the grounds at her final beloved home, where she was able to be most fruitful in her writing.
You can find the three prayers in their original form here.
On this International Friendship Day, Icelebrate friendship by sharing a poem that was a gift for my birthday by a dear friend, Amy Scott Robinson. Amy and I and Tanya Marlow have met weekly for years, loving and supporting each other, and I frankly don’t know how I would do life without them! I loved receiving this gorgeous creation for my birthday, and I trust and pray that you will enjoy it as much as I do. (Sorry about the background noise – we were in a busy London restaurant!)
Friendship is a gift from God, and our friendship with God is a gift that I wrote about in Transforming Love: How Friendship with Jesus Changes Us. Our friendship with Jesus strengthens our friendships with others. Something to celebrate, to be sure!
Join me in watching the video:
Explore friendship with Jesus in Transforming Love. Find it – including a free copy of the introduction and first chapter – here.
It’s the Easter season! We’re in the time in the church calendar marked off for celebration – after all, Jesus is risen and lives!
Mind, I’ve not felt very celebratory. Both Nicholas and I came down with covid on Easter Sunday, and I’ve only left the house a few times since. The virus left with me fatigue, although I’m gaining in strength each day and managed a gentle pilates workout yesterday. So although I’ve not celebrated much, I’ve been aware of this season set aside to give thanks, to wonder, to delight. Sometimes that’s how we have to celebrate – while acknowledging the pain we’re also in.
And how do we do so? With the presence of the risen Christ, of Jesus with us. I love this photo that Janet Nielson took, which I share with her permission. She was one of the pilgrims to Iona on the wonderful McCabe Pilgrimages trip at the beginning of April I got to lead. To me this photo reeks of the glory of God in our midst… it’s almost like I can see Jesus’ outline in the light.
How might you celebrate today? Through gritted teeth or not…
As we approach Holy Week next week, the culmination of the season of Lent, we can be gentle to ourselves, however we’re feeling, whether tired, weary, hopeful, or perhaps wishing that we’d kept more rigorously to the practices we chose at the start. Whatever has gone before us, know that God welcomes us to journey with Jesus in the here and now. God’s loving invitation to deepen our faith during this holy week stands.
One way to approach this week is to consider what Jesus experienced each day of his life that week. To help imagine what was happening at various moments, I invite you to download an outline of the events, which I’ve adapted from the NIV Application Commentary: Matthew by Michael J. Wilkins (Zondervan, 2004), pp. 709–10.
I also invite you to join me on Tuesday for a half-hour of prayer via zoom as I lead an engagement with Jesus’ journey via Coracle’s Space for God. More information here.
Lord Jesus Christ, as we enter into the events of this Holy Week, I come to you in humility, confessing my wrongdoing and receiving your forgiveness. May the events of this last week of your life be brought alive to me, that I might know you more intimately and be more grateful for your sacrifice, which gives me life. I join the crowds to shout out with joy, “Hosanna to the King of kings! Blessed are you who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
I loved co-leading a “Poetry and Prayer” retreat with Amy Scott Robinson recently at Launde Abbey, learning from Amy as she helped us to explore different forms of poetry. One of those is the biblical poetic form of the refrain, which is a wonderful way to express ourselves to God. And it’s easy to write one; I promise!
As Amy shared, what’s so wonderful about the poetry in the Psalms (ancient Hebrew poetry) is that it doesn’t depend on patterns and rhythms of words, but patterns and rhythms of ideas. It uses synonyms and antonyms, metaphors and refrains, all of which we can see in translation. Isn’t that amazing! We who aren’t able to read Hebrew don’t miss out.
A form of poetry in the Psalms is refrain—a repeated line or phrase that adds emphasis and rhythm in a poem or prayer:
Psalm 136 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever.
Here’s a refrain that I wrote while on the retreat with Amy (and thus I did it in a short space of time). I hope you see how the repeating of lines helps us to consider again the idea – maybe it helps us move more from the head to the heart?
From Job 1:21
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
When sorrow strikes at the season’s end: A call to obey and relinquish… The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.
From a distance I see new gifts to welcome while bidding the familiar farewell. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
When I led this prayer exercise recently for Coracle’s Space for God (which happens regularly on a Tuesday), I was delighted with some of the refrains shared at the end of our time together. Here’s one from Jamie:
Identity
You are all fair, my love There is no spot in you.
Created with intention and beauty I see the goodness of God in you You are all fair, my love
Washed clean and made new Clothed in Christ’s righteousness. There is no spot in you
You are all fair, my love There is no spot in you
And here is one by Jerry Herbert, who was one of my teachers some years ago (!) on the American Studies Program in Washington, DC:
Your Word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path
Your Word is a lamp to my feet A guide in the midst of confusion A help when all is chaos
And a light to my path A spectacle when all is obscure A knife to slice thru the darkness
Your Word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path
I’d love to invite you to write a refrain! Here’s how:
Take 2 lines of scripture (or a line in two parts)
State them
Separate them with your own lines of context and interpretation
Bring them together again
Suggestions for verses:
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105)
The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you (Numbers 6:24-26)
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. (Psalm 23:1)
The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21)
The earth with its bars closed behind me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit (Jonah 2:6)
