Dave & Beth Booram are trained spiritual directors who now work to train other spiritual directors. Beth has written several books, including Starting Something New: Spiritual Direction for Your God-given Dream. Dave is a graduate of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and now continues his private practice in college and career counseling with Direction 4 Life Work. In 2011 they launched Fall Creek Abbey in Indianapolis as a place for individuals to step away from the responsibilities of life and reorient their heart to the loving heart of God.
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Resources
When Faith Becomes Sight by David & Beth Booram
Episode Audio:
Chapter 1 - When Faith Becomes Sight
The prophet Elijah ran away from Ahab and Jezebel and hid in the mountains to the south of Israel. And it was in that place he complained about his situation, unable to see what God was doing. It was there Elijah looked for God's presence in an earthquake and a fire, only to find it afterward in a still, small voice. We do much the same in our own lives. As we try to live a lifestyle of discipleship, we look for these great moments where the heavens open up and God's audible voice tells us what to do. But the reality is often much more subtle; it's the still small voice in the everyday moments of life. So then, how can we learn to recognize those moments? How can we learn to listen to the present moment and respond to what God is doing? In this chapter, Dave and Beth unpack the heart behind their new book, When Faith Becomes Sight, and help us learn to recognize, reflect, and respond to God's work in the everyday moments of life.
Chapter 2 - Learning to See God in the Everyday Moments
It’s often hard for us to live as if God is actively involved in our lives. But have you ever paused to ask yourself “why”? Why don’t you live as if God is an active participant in your daily life? I think it’s because we don’t think He’s really there. We don’t see Him. So we don’t pay much attention to Him. Sure, we give mental assertion to theological statements like “God is omnipresent.” We know in our minds that He is everywhere. But because we don’t see Him everywhere, we don’t live as if it’s true. In fact, we may even begin to unconsciously believe that God isn’t involved in our daily lives. But in this chapter, Dave and Beth help us to see the ways in which is God actively working in our everyday moments of life.
Chapter 3 - Is Your View of God Worth of Who Jesus Is?
How you view God affects the way your relationship with God develops. This is one of the components of step 1 in creating a lifestyle of discipleship, which is knowing your identity as a beloved child of God. If you are a beloved child, it means God loves you and that you hold value to him. But we often struggle to grasp this reality. We look at ourselves and see the brokenness and ugliness inside our own natures and assume no one, including God, would ever love us. And when we do that, we deny the reality God demonstrated to us in Jesus' life. In this chapter, Dave and Beth give us a bit of a spiritual direction session as we process our own views of God and how that has affected our lives as disciples of Christ.
Chapter 4 - What to Do When You Can't See God at Work
When it comes to our spiritual lives, most of what we talk about is the work we can see God doing. It feels good to see God pouring out His blessings in our lives. It’s fun to celebrate the victories and feel that God is actively involved in our day to day activities. Dave and Beth call this work "Day Work.” It’s God’s work in us that is easy to see. But what happens when the Night comes and it feels as if God has withdrawn His presence from our lives. Do we have the faith to believe that God is still working in us even when we do not feel Him? All of us, if we are serious about following Christ, will experience a dark night of the soul. But as Dave and Beth explain, this isn’t an experience from which we should run. Because this is just one more season of life that God wants to use to make us more like Him.
Chapter 5 - Seeing Yourself for Who You Are
Your identity is, in a way, in two parts. There's who you are and who you think you are. The most important thing you can do in creating a lifestyle of discipleship is to keep your eyes on Jesus. Because it's when we're looking at him that we begin to see ourselves for who we are. And the result of that is life-changing!