Learn how to nurture your awareness of and response to God's love and guidance through the historical practice of spiritual direction.
Holy Invitations is about how to listen to your heart--and to God. Through the historical practice of spiritual direction, increasing numbers of Christians are discovering the benefits of having a special friendship with someone who can help nurture their awareness of and response to God's love and guidance. Holy Invitations is a comprehensive introduction to spiritual direction written to reclaim the discipline for the contemporary church.
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1 An Introduction to Spiritual Direction
1 What Is Spiritual Direction?
2 The Heart of Spiritual Direction
3 Who Comes to Spiritual Direction?
4 Spiritual Direction and Trust
5 Preparing for Spiritual Direction
6 Selecting a Spiritual Director
7 Shaping the Spiritual Direction Relationship
8 Spiritual Direction Conversations
9 Group Spiritual Direction
Part 2 Subjects Frequently Considered in Spiritual Direction
10 Experiencing God
11 Scripture
12 Prayer
13 Discernment
14 Christian Disciplines
Part 3 Possible Complications and Benefits of Spiritual
Direction
15 Common Areas of Difficulty
16 Potential Benefits of Spiritual Direction
Notes
Bibliography
Jeannette Bakke (Ph.D., University of Minnesota) has a certificate in spiritual direction from the Shalem Institute of Washington Theological Union and a D.Min. in spiritual direction from the Graduate Theological Foundation. A spiritual director herself and faculty associate at Bethel Theological Seminary, she lectures and teaches regularly on the topic. Bakke lives in White Bear Lake, Minnesota.