About

The usual stuff:

I am a spiritual director,  writer, blogger, and speaker.

I have been married almost 34 years to the same guy and we have four amazing adult children, and soon to be granddaughter.

I have a Master’s degree in Spiritual Nurture from Western Seminary- Seattle.

The understory:

I am…

A lover of Jesus… I belong to my beloved and his desire is for me.

A highly sensitive person- limited capacity, depth> breadth, easily overwhelmed.  Highly sensitive does not mean weak… I am learning that owning my sensitivity is the key to my resilience.

A gentle healer- I offer a gentle, often silent, presence; many experience me as safe and healing.

A listener- I listen deeply to others, to what is said and what is not; intuitive.

A merciful prophet- As described by Walter Brueggemann in Prophetic Imagination, one with a vision for the fresh work of God, the growing, alive “edge” of the Kingdom; an artist who criticizes with grief and energizes with hope.

A wordsmith- Offering others both language and vision, synthesizing authentic human life experience and Divine wisdom.

A grief magnet- People tend to speak their grief to me perhaps because I see grief as an organic and divinely healing path.  I am not afraid of sharing deep pain, seeing it as birthing.

A lover of Scripture- The Book is alive and relevant to me, an active source of wisdom.  I see those words and stories as possessing a special healing power of the Spirit.

One who gathers stories- Stories are the language of Scripture and life.  They can envision and speak truth and love more deeply and thoroughly than precepts.

An Episcopalian (Anglican)- A lover of sacrament, liturgy, the middle way, and incarnational spirituality.

A spiritual director- Though “director” is likely not the best moniker, I have a gift for helping others come to see God’s work and ways within their own stories and envision new possibilities.  Midwife, friend, teacher, and hostess are better descriptors.  I feel the pleasure and wind of God in this work.

A writer- I enjoy the process of forming sentences and paragraphs that communicate complexities in accessible language.  I feel the pleasure and wind of God in this work, also.

A non-authority based leader- I tend to be most influential and effective apart from authority.  It offers me opportunities to speak to pieces of hearts that those in positions of power cannot access.

One who has heard the cry of wounded women in the church- Historically voiced primarily in the masculine experience of God, often the church lacks awareness of and attentiveness toward the unique needs of women.  I can verbalize such needs, demonstrate them from Scripture, and advocate at times.

One who has known God’s healing touch on her feminine soul- Therefore, I have a special sense of God’s healing graces in gender issues and God’s love for the unique features of the feminine soul.

Invisible no more- A core message of my life and calling is to invite women to voice and presence so that their experience of God’s love, growth, and effective fruitfulness might increase.