Be still, be present, become, beloved.

I love offering spiritual direction! It brings me so much joy and fulfilment to hold space for people wanting to deepen their intimacy with God. After many years of pastoral work, preaching and teaching, I know God has called me to a more specific ministry, that of prayerfully listening with curiosity and intentionality to the person right in front of me. Please know that you are safe to bring all of yourself to a session: questions, doubts, laughter, longing, anger, joy, frustration, grief, contentment, confusion, disappointment, regret, desire, fear, hope. Nothing you are feeling or experiencing is ever unwelcome.

I love offering spiritual direction! It brings me so much joy and fulfilment to hold space for people wanting to deepen their intimacy with God. After many years of pastoral work, preaching and teaching, I know God has called me to a more specific ministry, that of prayerfully listening with curiosity and intentionality to the person right in front of me. Please know that you are safe to bring all of yourself to a session: questions, doubts, laughter, longing, anger, joy, frustration, grief, contentment, confusion, disappointment, regret, desire, fear, hope. Nothing you are feeling or experiencing is ever unwelcome.

Directee Testimonials

  • 'I am deeply grateful for Jules as a spiritual companion. She is wise, compassionate, practical and always appears in tune with what it seems the Holy Spirit is guiding me to each time we meet. I’ve been with her for a few years now and find the relationship just deepens. She has, month by month, helped with insight and supported me to identify roadblocks and blind spots; she has mirrored what I bring and helped me listen more closely to my own spirit. I cannot recommend her highly enough. Jules was truly born for this!' 

    Lis

  • ‘Spiritual direction for me has been a time to explore my faith in a safe, non-judgmental space, with a safe, non-judgemental and gentle person. Jules has been amazing at helping me to unpack and reframe my faith journey and to help me see where God has been, and what he is saying to me, even in the times I haven’t realised. Spiritual direction has strengthened my connection with God, how he sees me and how I see myself.’

    Lee

  • ‘Jules was recommended to me by two people I trust and when I met with her I immediately felt safe. My questions, tears and confusion didn't phase her. Silence didn't phase her, waiting didn't phase her, and my journey, as messy as it was, didn't phase her. Something very cool happens when a compassionate listener bears witness to both the messy and the beautiful in our lives. Jules creates space for the curiosity and wonder that are such essential parts of my journey. These can be feared by some, but not Jules. Where silence gives way to a depth of understanding of myself and God, and with wisdom and insight, Jules asks questions that guide me to new thoughts and ideas about who God is and who I am. I'm grateful for the peaceful space she offers, her wisdom and discerning questions, and I really like the art in her office! I love how God truly knows us and knows who we need in our lives.’

    Angela

Spiritual Direction

What is spiritual direction?

In our increasingly fast-paced world where busyness is worn like a merit badge, and digital distraction is a fact of life, the counter-cultural practice of regular spiritual direction offers space to pause, slow down, and become still enough to notice and attend to the movement of God in our daily lives. And it’s proving not only attractive but transformational for those wanting to deepen their intimacy with God amidst 21st century life.

I love seeing God at work over months and years as the gentle work of the Spirit unfolds in real time in people’s lives. Spiritual direction is about noticing what is and being present to what God might be saying or nudging you toward in the very real now of the present moment. I simply listen prayerfully and carefully and reflect to you what I sense God is wanting you to notice. A question here, an observation there… but it’s you who does most of the ‘work’ in a session as you consider and respond. I really do have to pinch myself sometimes because I get to see God’s wonders and works up close and personal!

What do you mean by spiritual director?

The term ‘spiritual director’ can be misleading, because it seems to imply that someone is ‘directing’ you. But spiritual directors create and hold space for you to notice and discern God’s invitations. Spiritual directors are better described as companions and co-discerners who listen alongside you for the Holy Spirit’s guidance. A good spiritual director will ‘wonder with you’, offer new spiritual practices to try, pray for you and may recommend books or resources.

My Practice

My spiritual direction practice is called “Be”. With the tagline ‘Be still, be present, become, beloved.’ I believe that taking quiet pauses regularly to be still and present with God, in a fully embodied and wholistic posture, is vital to becoming our full and authentic selves. We are all beloved by God. We don’t have to do or say anything to earn God’s love for us other than receive it. When we discover and practice this truth, everything changes. It did for me, and I count it such a privilege to accompanying others on their journey into settling into their beloved-ness too.

I’m Ngāti Pākehā and consider myself Tangata Tiriti, and I not only welcome but hold safe space for LGBTQIA+ people of faith in my practice. I welcome those in full-time and lay ministry from any denomination, with The Salvation Army context being what I am most familiar with.

I like to begin and end a session with silence, but this is not mandatory. This is your session and what you choose is central to our time together. I offer prayer but listening quietly together for God’s nudges is the real purpose and work of spiritual direction. I love working with images, praying with the imagination, and breath prayers are my favourite form of prayer, and I am very happy to share/teach these spiritual practices. I am also trained in Dream Work and Interactive Drawing Therapy.

My Testimony

Stepping into the regular practice of spiritual direction saved my own faith by providing me with a safe space to take the lid off the box I had put the God of my limited understanding into. The God of my unknowing leaped out and embraced me! I’m so grateful that I had a spiritual companion accompanying me on that journey as I discovered that God is so much more expansive and gracious, loving and kind, than I had previously allowed. Having someone who listens with curiosity and compassion, and who continually provides a scaffolding of care and hope as I wonder, wrestle, rest, question, explore, discern, wander, re-orientate and wonder again, has been the missing piece to my faith. Finding a new language and way of being with God within the contemplative tradition reshaped and reinvigorated my spiritual life, deepening my relationship with God. Could God be inviting you into a similar journey? It would by my joy and privilege to accompany you.

Book a session