For most of us, prayer does not come naturally. We have many questions along the journey. Where do we begin in prayer? What do we do when the conversation feels stale, or God feels far from us? How can we persevere in prayer if we never feel that we "hear" a response from God? This fictional back-and-forth between a spiritual director and his directee paints a picture of how we can grapple with these and other issues in our prayer lives. Our hope is that the exchanges reflect the directee's journey from novice to maturity, with suggestions given at each stage that come from years of experience discipling and providing spiritual direction for maturing Christians. The story will take some liberty with the role of a spiritual director, sometimes being more like a mentor or discipler, especially in the beginning.
We are a father and son team. Nader (the dad) has been a spiritual director since 2007 (North Park Seminary), and has his Doctor of Ministry in Spiritual Formation from Tyndale Seminary in Toronto. Ben (the son) is the operations pastor at a local Chicagoland church, and a writer who is passionate about prayer and literature. We both have a heart for personal prayer, and long to see others draw near to God in their prayer journeys. We hope the Holy Spirit speaks to you through these entries in the ways that only He knows you need.
