Why we're glad you asked! Many Protestants or evangelicals are new to the practice of spiritual direction, so finding a director from your faith tradition may feel daunting. Although it's not necessary to see a director who shares your doctrinal values, it may be helpful for those entering spiritual direction for the first time.

The Evangelical Center for Spiritual Wisdom provides a list of trained and certified spiritual directors, which is searchable by U.S. location. In addition, they provide tips for choosing a spiritual director.

What has your experience be

If you're new to spiritual formation, or perhaps just looking for a really good teaching series on spiritual formation, Talbot School of Theology offers Dr. John Coe's (director of the Institute for Spiritual Formation) Spiritual Formation Lecture Series available as a free download. It's a really great resource. I hope you enjoy it. And feel free to pass it on and share the love. :)

The lectures cover:

• Resisting the Temptation of Moral Formation
• Why We Sin When We Know So Much
• Drawing Near to God When God Seems Far Away
• Going on with God in Dark Nights
• How to Put on Christ

If you've listened to the lecture series, what did you think? What surprised you? What brought relief? What caused anxiety or fear? Feel free to share in the comments section below.

Visio Divina came to me while studying at Talbot School of Theology's Institute for Spiritual Formation. One day while I was meeting with my spiritual director she brought in a paper copy of an icon. She had me gaze and reflect on what it meant to me, without telling me what it was supposed to mean or what the right reflection was. As an artist I was intrigued by how God's Spirit would speak to me in such a unstructured manner -- there was no text to exegete or commentary to reference to see if I got the answer right. It was God speaking to me personally through beauty and my senses. I later learned that St. Ignatius highly recommended visualizing Scripture -- using your imagination to observe yourself playing a part (observer, one of the key characters) in the text. He believed new and deeper understanding would emerge. Genius.

All that to say I found an interesting article by Patheos.com on "Praying with Art: Visio Divina" that I wanted to share.

How have you experienced God speaking to you through art, or beauty? How did that impact your relationship with God? I'd love to hear - please share in the comments.

As I was journaling the other day I felt like God revealed this insight to me out of Matthew 11:28-30:

Creative spaces are created in unforced rhythms of grace...where it can flow and transform and cove us.
It takes shape over who we are and invites us to learn how to live freely and lightly.

I'd love to hear from you:
In what creative spaces have you discovered grace? How did it feel?