BALLAST Soul Care & Coaching
How many of us feel like we’re drifting through life without a compass, starving in obscurity, lost at sea?
Or overwhelmed by crashing waves and wind, tossed into the sea of hardship or indecision, just trying to keep our head above the surface?
Maybe life is full steam ahead, wind filling our sails, but we never seem to land in a port? Even smooth sailing, without a north star or map of sorts, can eventually lead to discontentment and a sense of misalignment with our unique design and purpose.
That is what Ballast Soul Care is for - soul care, also known as spiritual direction, and coaching focused on cultivating a ballast for life deep down in our keel, our core.
Ballast is the heavy material they put in the bottom of a ship or boat that helps keep it stable in rough seas. Life doesn’t always go as we think it will, but with this kind of stability and grounding we will have the counterbalance to withstand any prevailing wind, wave or storm that will inevitably come our way.
Hard things are inevitable in this life. The truth is that we’re either in a hard season, coming out of one, or headed into another. We can do hard things the hard way, or we can do hard things the easy way. But we never have to do hard things alone.
As a songwriter I’ve long written and performed songs about the ups and downs of life and they always seem to point back to a common theme - finding meaning in life and purpose in pain. Over time I began to see that while pain is inevitable, suffering seemed to be a choice. As a Spiritual Director and Soul Care Coach I am here to walk with you, with God, as you discover the next right step in your healing journey of becoming more securely attached to the heart of God.
Reach out via email or book a call to discuss what would be most helpful for you!
I can’t wait to join you on the journey of your soul!
How can Soul Care, also known as Spiritual Direction, benefit you?
As a Christian spiritual director I am a trained listener who walks with you as you share your spiritual journey.
My job is to help you notice God’s presence and activity in your life and to help you grow in prayer.
I am your travel companion on the journey of your soul, someone with an outside perspective who will stay awake with you when you are feeling spiritually weary.
I continue to remind you of the basics of God’s love and care through all of life’s circumstances.
I lift you up before God in prayer with struggles that aren’t quickly or easily solved.
I encourage and celebrate God’s transforming work in and around you.
Most of all, I am someone who values and loves you in Christ and am committed to your growth.
What a spiritual director does:
Provides a sacred space
Purpose: To help you find God’s activity within life circumstances of all kinds.
Prays
Listens
Asks questions
End Goal: To encourage you in growing to be more like Christ.
What is a spiritual director is not:
A licensed counselor or psychologist
Crisis manager
Problem solver
“The whole purpose of [soul care] is to penetrate beneath the surface of a man’s life, to get behind the façade of conventional gestures and attitudes which he presents to the world, and to bring out his inner spiritual freedom, his inmost truth, which is what we call the likeness of Christ in his soul.”
—Thomas Merton
“[Soul Care] is not psychotherapy nor is it an inexpensive substitute, although the disciplines are compatible and frequently share raw material. [Soul Care] is not pastoral counseling, nor is it to be confused with the mutuality of deep friendships, for it is unashamedly hierarchical. Not because the spiritual director is somehow ‘better’ or ‘holier’ than the directee, but because, in this covenanted relationship the director has agreed to put himself aside so that his total attention can be focused on the person sitting in the other chair. What a gift to bring to another, the gift of disinterested, loving attention!” (Guenther, Holy Listening, p. 3)