Considering Your Spiritual Journey

I often suggest to new directees that we begin our first session together with their spiritual biography. Margaret Silf, in her book Inner Compass, describes it this way:

A faith story (or faith biography) is simply an account of your inner journey through the outer events of your life. It is the story of how you have gradually (or suddenly) become aware of a relationship with God and the ways in which he has been leading you.

A reflection like this can be helpful in a few ways:

• It can be helpful to get a broad understanding of what your faith journey has looked like, and how you have related to God throughout your life.
• It can be helpful for you to be more aware of patterns and themes for how God has spoken to you or shaped you throughout your life.

Of course, it often makes the most sense to just work through a chronological account of your spiritual life. But even as you reflect through that, here are some key questions to reflect on to be aware of important themes or seasons of your story:

• What are the times you've felt closet to God? Or farthest?
• What are the most significant experiences or seasons of growth and formation in your spiritual life?
• How have you experienced God guiding or speaking to you?
• What church traditions have you been part of? What did you gain from them?
• What spiritual practices have been the most helpful for you in prior seasons of your life?
• What spiritual practices are most helpful to you now?
• Who do you hope you are becoming?

And one final question, which I think is helpful as a starting point for spiritual direction, but also something worth reflecting on any time:

• How do you feel Jesus feels about you?