How did I discover Spiritual Direction?

Sandy Henkel serves as the Assistant Coordinator for Christos’s Tending the Holy Spiritual Direction program in Chicago. She shares a few words about how she discovered Spiritual Direction, and how it’s incorporated into her life’s work:

Attuned to God’s presence in my life

“I was introduced to spiritual direction in my 15th year of full-time ministry on the south side of Chicago. Along with the many positive, energizing, and hopeful aspects of ministering in an under-resourced urban context, I was also increasingly experiencing dangerous levels of discouragement, weariness, doubt, and depletion. Meeting with a spiritual director provided a safe place to process these paradoxical experiences, to learn contemplative practices that replenished me internally while I was serving in a role where I was pouring out so much, and to attune more experientially to God’s presence in my life. 

I graduated from the Christos Tending the Holy Program in 2011 and began to intentionally interweave spiritual direction and contemplative practices into my leadership and mentoring roles.  In 2021, I retired from the para-church organization I had served with for 28 years and began dedicating myself fully to the ministry of spiritual direction.  

My calling is to come alongside others in ways that encourage them to pursue deep intimacy with God and that empower them to live fully into the unique design God has given to them. My particular focus is to companion those who have been historically marginalized, those serving in under-resourced or in inter-cultural contexts, and those with a burden for equity and justice. “