The Blessing of Breath Prayers

Type A and Type B leaders can be on different wavelengths with opposing priorities and needs. While this may often result in conflict, there is also deeply important work to be done to learn and grow from these differences.

Join us for this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi unpack their experiences as a couple with different values, drives, and personalities. We need relationships that refine us like iron sharpens iron. Even in painful times, you can come to see these differences as a gift of love from the Lord to shape you to love and serve like Jesus. You’ll also learn ways to talk about these issues with your loved one.

Resources for this Episode:

• Healthy Feelings, Thriving Faith: Growing Emotionally and Spiritually Through the Enneagram
• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Upcoming Retreat Dates and Locations
• Earn a Certificate in Spiritual Direction
• Earn a Certificate in Coaching
• Donate to Support Soul Shepherding and Soul Talks

We all face difficult circumstances at some point in our lives. Even though they may not be what we would choose, they provide us the opportunity for deeper formation in Christlikeness.

Tune in for this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi discuss enduring discipline. While we may struggle in hard times, we can learn to see God loving us in them and willing good for us. Reflecting on Jesus’ example of suffering helps us practice submission and trust and recognize the hidden blessings in our own sufferings.

Resources for this Episode:

• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Earn a Spiritual Direction Training Certificate
• Donate to Support Soul Shepherding and Soul Talks

Real community is critical for the care of our souls. When you press into Jesus with your needs and join with others doing the same, your intimacy with Jesus grows and you find space for your soul to rest. 

Tune in for this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi discuss the benefits of a retreat community. You’ll catch a vision for the ways this powerful form of soul care creates opportunities for necessary growth and healing and equips you for more fruitful ministry and life.

Resources for this Episode:

• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Earn a Certificate in Spiritual Direction
• Donate to Support Soul Shepherding

Suffering is hard. When we face an unexpected stretch of illness or other difficult circumstances, we may feel disoriented and lost. Yet in the pause from our normal rhythm of life, God is doing a deep work. 

Join us for this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi discuss a recent experience of suffering. Even in the trial, there is intimacy and sweet companionship to be found in a greater understanding of Christ’s sufferings for you and his presence with you.

Resources for this Episode:

• Earn a Certificate in Spiritual Direction
• Earn a Certificate in Coaching
• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Donate to Support Soul Shepherding

How can the Enneagram help your marriage? The Enneagram is a beautiful tool for growth when it’s used in the right way. Increasing your understanding of yourself and your spouse strengthens your relationship so you can grow together.

Tune in to Soul Talks as Kristi interviews author, Enneagram coach, podcast host, and experiential specialist Jackie Brewster as they discuss her new book, The Enneagram and Your Marriage. When you understand behavior patterns in your relationship, you can take responsibility for your own challenges and grow in empathy and compassion for each other.

Resources for this Episode:

• Become a Spiritual Director
• The Enneagram and Your Marriage: A 7-Week Guide to Better Understanding and Loving Your Spouse
• Thoughts to Ponder- Download by Jackie Brewster
• Healthy Feelings, Thriving Faith: Growing Emotionally and Spiritually Through the Enneagram
• Donate to Support Soul Shepherding

Older devotional classics enliven our hunger for God and help us recognize our desperation for Jesus.  Reading stories of average people powerfully transformed and used by God encourages our faith and deepens our intimacy with Jesus.

Join us for this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi share insights gleaned from a Russian spiritual director in Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude and Prayer. This expression of spiritual direction will inspire you to view your soul as a private prayer space for the Lord (a poustinia) where you receive others with hospitality and love.

Resources for this Episode:

• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Earn a Spiritual Direction Training Certificate
• Donate to Soul Shepherding
• Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude and Prayer

Are you longing to go deeper with Jesus in emotional health and loving leadership? Joyful, anointed by God, overflow ministry goes beyond techniques. It’s a rhythm of life and a way of being with God and others in relationship.

Tune in to this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi talk about their journey of growth through spiritual direction and answer common questions about Soul Shepherding’s certificate in spiritual direction. No matter what your background or life stage, whether this is for your own formation or to pursue working as a spiritual director, this accessible and practical training will equip you to joyfully follow Holy Spirit’s leading in all of your relationships and ministry.

Resources for this Episode:

• Journey of the Soul CHRIST Stages Assessment
• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Earn a Certificate in Spiritual Direction
• Donate to Soul Shepherding
• Healthy Feelings, Thriving Faith: Growing Emotionally and Spiritually Through the Enneagram
• Earn a Certificate in Coaching

Do you long for more in your relationship with God and from your relationships in ministry? Spiritual direction can foster your formation in intimacy with Jesus, and out of the overflow of your own growth, help others experience the same thing.

Join us for this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi talk about earning a certificate in spiritual direction. If you long for time to focus on your own discipleship to Jesus, meet with a spiritual director, process with soul friends, be guided by Holy Spirit, and train in soul care and spiritual disciplines, consider entering our spiritual direction training program. It is a powerful time of growth for your own journey that will bless others as well.

Resources for this Episode:

• Earn a Certificate in Spiritual Direction
• FAQ for Certificate in Spiritual Direction
• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Meet with a Soul Shepherding Sr. Spiritual Director
• Journey of the Soul CHRIST Stages Assessment
• Donate to Support Soul Shepherding

In life, the journey is as important as the destination. While goals and resolutions are important, focusing so much on outcomes can cause us to lose sight of God’s work around us.

Tune in for this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi discuss the joy of living in perpetual wonder. Remembering what God has done in the past feeds our hope and faith as we adventure with Holy Spirit and leave the outcomes to him.

Resources for this Episode:

• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Journey of the Soul CHRIST Stages Assessment
• Your Best Life in Jesus’ Easy Yoke
• Join our devotional email list
• Donate to Support Soul Shepherding

In a culture full of wishes for a better life, true hope is much more than wishful thinking. Robust, Biblical hope is the anticipation of the goodness and truth of God in our lives.

Join us for this episode of Soul Talks as Bill and Kristi explore the impact of living with real hope. This honest exploration of hope, reflection, circumstances, trials, and transformation will encourage your heart as you look to the year ahead. 

Resources for this Episode:

• Attend a Soul Shepherding Institute Retreat
• Journey of the Soul CHRIST Stages Assessment
• Earn a Certificate in Spiritual Direction
• Earn a Certificate in Coaching
• Healthy Feelings, Thriving Faith: Growing Emotionally and Spiritually Through the Enneagram
• Donate to Support Soul Shepherding and Soul Talks