<p>How do we become more receptive and responsive to the work of the Spirit within our lives? In her first novel, <a href='https://amzn.to/49VMAMP'><em>Sensible Shoes</em></a>, from the series of the same name, Sharon Garlough Brown takes her characters on a journey of practicing various spiritual disciplines. In this episode, I talk to author Sharon Garlough Brown about the spiritual disciplines of lament and confession within the Ignatian Examen. The spiritual practice is one of attentiveness that enables our receptivity by reviewing our day with God in two movements: consolation—where we noticed and responded to God today—and desolation—where we were unaware of, ignored, or rejected God during our day.</p>

The need we have for story to shape us and not simply gratify us has inspired me to help shape the perspective Christians have toward fiction through conversation linking fictional stories we read to our spiritual formation and transformation into Christlikeness. What if we thought about and read fiction differently? What if instead of using it simply as either a means of escape from reality or to gratify ourselves with a good story we let it change us from the inside out? Story can impact our spiritual journey if we let it. That’s what Fiction that Forms Us is all about. We see fiction as valuable, not just in its artistic form but also in its function in our world and lives. If we are open, fiction can be not only formational but also transformational. It can inspire, beckon, and lead us to transformation.

Sensible Shoes, Part 2 - The Spiritual Disciplines of Lament and Confession within the Ignatian Examen