Trailercast Episode 076: What is Spiritual Direction? Interview with Bonnie Lewis
Interviewee Bio:
Bonnie Lewis, M.A., Theology, is a gifted author, speaker, and theologian and the author of Timshel, the first-ever idiomatic Bible translation that was recently fully funded on Kickstarter. Bonnie is also the co-host of the VOX Podcast with Mike Erre, and lives in Austin, Tx with her husband and two kids. Her favorite colors are camo and leopard.
I began today thinking I would interview my friend Bonnie. Turns out, she was interviewing me. If you have been listening to Trailercast for a while, you’d know that I have been hurt by my previous church. It was a wounding experience and I am still figuring out how to recover my spiritual life because of it.
Elyse: “When we first spoke, I led with so much pain.”
Bonnie: “If you were just all about the pain, you wouldn’t be here ... I’m here to hold your pain with you.”
Bonnie is a spiritual director. What even is that? What does a spiritual director do? She meets with people who have soul topics they want to talk about that may not be able to be worked through in therapy. First, the client and director take an inventory of the soul. Then, they figure out what comes up for the client. Bonnie’s job is to find the patterns. To help the client recognize the voice of the spirit in their life. And then the client does the homework to make intentional space to hear that spirit.
Bonnie: “Spiritual direction starts with the assumption that the spirit or the divine is always at work in your life and you come along side as a spiritual director to be a co-listener in to what they are already saying to you.”
Bonnie does this work because she has lived it. She grew up evangelical Christian and did all the things. It was through disorientation and reorientation that she got to where she is today. Disorientation: a mother with cancer, mold poisoning, an incredible loss of a stillborn baby, a feeling of hearing the Bible read in a cheap way. Reorientation: Learning a new perspective about God, seminary that challenged her and encouraged a deeper way of understanding spirituality, having the bravery to write a new Bible translation.
In this episode, Bonnie treats me as one of her clients. She sits with me in my pain and begins the process of healing. If you are a wanderer If you are migrating from a place that has so many questions, consider spiritual direction. You guys, it is a real part of wellness.
Some things to ask yourself:
- What is the state of my soul?
- Am I really hearing the Spirit/God/whomever I profess to believe in?
If you want to find more of Bonnie, check out her Instagram @bonniegaillewis and look up her translation there as well @timsheltranslation. Stay tuned, as she may be popping up on my website soon for more soulful fun.
If you want to find more of me, check out my Instagram @elysesnipes_collective or visit my website https://www.elysesnipes.com/