{Thank you so much for the prayers, messages, words of hope and comfort as I shared the tragic loss of a friend of my children. Continued prayers are welcome}.

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Last week I mentioned celebrating my first year of business, feeling as though it was successful.

I received a question around why people pay for spiritual care, and thoughts about what success might mean to me. These questions came with curiosity and kindness. It also seemed a helpful topic to share here.

My short answer as to why someone might choose to seek and pay for spiritual care:

I believe it’s because they want to. More on this later.

Looking back, I named last year as successful primarily because I stepped out in faith and did what I felt invited by God to do!

Long before the rapid move to online platforms for teaching and leading, it seemed the right thing for me. I feel grateful for the call, SO amazed at God, and grateful for the response of others.

Success often equals $$$, right?

But this feels different for me.

Yes, there were startup costs for many, many details; there are ongoing training and schooling costs. The balance of income and expenses is present, tipping back and forth, or sometimes only one direction, as normal for a startup.

So when I use the word success to celebrate this ministry-business (yes, I believe it’s both) – my definition wholeheartedly includes this:

God and I partnered together. We both showed up and accomplished the thing!

Yes @theJennyPace, I agree!

I sat a bit longer with the question of paying for spiritual care.

First, I strongly affirm connection to a local group of Christ-followers. Our churches can and should be places of accountability, support, connection — where we receive and offer these with care.

As an additional layer, close friends might serve as spiritual mentors, a small group as space to share.

But some seasons might require something different.

When to pursue and perhaps pay for spiritual care?

I offer this question: how much attention does your situation or journey need?

I don’t mean in a self-absorbed, forget-about-the-world-and-church way.

I’m talking about times where you really desire support in paying attention to parts of your story. Where having someone 100% focused on doing this work with you feels important — needful.

Your local community or church staff may be helpful. Begin there!

That said, many I’ve worked with are those who:

• had no access to support. I partnered a short time with an agency who sought one-on-one spiritual care for mission workers. These individuals were basically on their own establishing churches and ministries.
• want someone outside their area. I connect often with ministry leaders needing to process in separate spaces from those they serve.
• are new to an area and do not yet have a local church. Especially during this pandemic, I worked with some who transitioned and felt stuck in connecting: churches were closed.

Dozens of reasons exist as to why someone might pay for intentional spiritual care.

I still feel the #1 reason lies in that they want to — and this is reason enough.

If your community has paid staff or trained volunteers regularly available to support your journey, count your blessings. Some churches have licensed counselors, Stephen Ministers, spiritual directors, available pastoral staff, a mentoring program or more.

Receive this as a gift, understanding not everyone lives with this privilege.

And… if you need a nudge to better support yourself, may this post be part of the push!