Attuning Your Heart to God’s Voice

by Lori Wilson

“What is spiritual direction? What do you do?” These are questions I often field when I tell people about my work. For me, it feels very simple: Spiritual direction is attuning one’s heart to God’s voice.

God can be found in all things—in all encounters, in all experiences—but we often miss God’s presence. We often miss God’s voice.

Listening Beyond the Expected

In my experience, God speaks to us throughout our day, yet we sometimes listen for that voice through a very narrow gate. I expect to hear God at church—in the scriptures, in the music, in the homily. I expect God to use the people closest to me: my friends, co-workers, my family, especially my grandchildren.

But what about the unexpected places?

God might speak through the newspaper article that stops me in my tracks, or through music I wouldn’t normally choose. God’s voice echoes in the created world—in the changing seasons, in the morning light, in the bird at my window. And perhaps most challenging: God speaks through people I don’t naturally like or feel drawn to.

Even more intimately, God speaks directly to me—in my thoughts, my feelings, my ideas. How often do I dismiss these as “just me” when they might be God’s gentle whisper?

The Sacred Space of Direction

Spiritual direction creates space for the directee—the one seeking direction—to share their prayer, their prayer practices, their experiences, all with the desire to deepen their relationship with God.

What does the director do? I listen deeply to the experiences and desires being shared, then ask questions to help the directee think about their experiences a bit differently, perhaps a bit more deeply. Sometimes I gently challenge. Sometimes I simply witness.

As I sit with my directee, I am also listening—listening for God prompting me to ask a particular question, to offer an invitation to explore a thought or idea, to suggest a different way to pray, or to offer a scripture passage to sit with.

The Journey Together

This work requires a genuine desire to grow in relationship with God. It also requires vulnerability and a willingness to be authentic with your director.

My own director is very patient with me. Sometimes I arrive quite emotional and spend entire sessions sharing my story through tears. Other times, we sit together and savor how close God has been. My director has offered ways to be on retreat and makes herself available when my life is particularly challenging—to pray for me, to be present with me.

An Invitation for All

For anyone seeking to see, know, and love God more, spiritual direction is a wonderful way to deepen your adventure. And it’s not reserved for people of a particular religion or state in life.

I have accompanied women and men, young people in high school and college, priests and seminarians, Catholics, Presbyterians, and Episcopalians, those who don’t identify with a particular faith tradition, and those who come from Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, and Christian backgrounds.

What I know is this: There is no one right way to God, and there is no one way to pray. God loves diversity—and that includes the spiritual life.

A Prayer

God, who always reaches out to us first,

Open our minds and hearts to you.

Help us see you in ways we haven’t yet imagined.

Calm our anxious minds when you feel distant.

Give us the ability to see you—in the people we encounter,

in our experiences, in our music,

in this beautiful world you have gifted us.

In gratitude for this journey you invite us on,

we pray in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Reflection Questions

• How have you experienced God inviting you to a deeper relationship?

• How has God spoken to you in ways that have surprised you?

• What do you sense God calling you to in your life at this time?

• What do you have to say to God about your relationship?