Practicing Discernment
FROM A TRANSFORMATIONAL LISTENING 1 PARTICIPANT
We have never done this before!
Today, we are sharing with you an unedited personal blog written by a current participant in one of our Transformational Listening 1: Soul Care Companion cohorts.
These blog posts are usually not accessible to anyone outside of the cohort as often, deeply personal reflections are shared, echoing the trust & vulnerability built within each cohort. However, this year, we asked permission to share this particular participant’s blog on discernment with you, & they said yes!
We hope this pulls back the curtain a bit on what being in TL1 can look like as well as touches on a topic that I think we all struggle through so frequently, discernment!
For some context, this blog is in response to two questions: Where did you feel life flowing out of you as you read the book & where did you feel like flowing into you as you read the book? If you are familiar with the practice of the Prayer of Examen, you may recognize these questions!
We invite our participants to engage with the course reading in this way because we aren’t just learning for the sake of accruing knowledge, but rather, to listen to what is going on internally with our relationship with God. These blogs aren’t graded for length, grammatical integrity, or eloquence. You simply get 100% for showing up & being present to what is stirring in you.
And so we invite you to listen with us to what was stirring in this participant as they read & reflected, & perhaps notice what it stirs in you too…
As I read The Way of Discernment by Elizabeth Liebert, I experienced both life flowing in and life flowing out of me.
I felt life flowing into me when I read page 18 of The Way of Discernment:
"One more thing about God: it is impossible to fall outside God’s love, no matter what we do or don’t do." These words brought me so much clarity and encouragement. For years, I carried guilt, mistaking my own inner voice for God’s. I believed that my struggles, my choices—especially not attending church every Sunday—were distancing me from God’s love. But the truth is, that guilt wasn’t from God. It was from me. It was from my mom or my family, But never from God.
Liebert’s words unlocked something within me—an invitation to trust the movements of God in my life, to embrace uncertainty with courage, and to recognize that discernment isn’t about having all the answers, but about remaining open to God’s presence. It helps me breathe a little deeper, my soul expanding with possibility. For as the book states, “we can not flee from God’s spirit, Even in our mother’s womb God is present.” Some might be frightened by this but I feel comforted.
Full disclosure—I felt life flowing out of me when I realized I wasn’t fully engaging in all of the discernment practices. There were so many, and at some point, I found myself resisting the idea of trying yet another one. Perhaps, once again, this was that familiar “guilt” creeping in—the feeling that if I don’t do something for God the way I should or the way it’s intended, I’m somehow falling short.
Maybe this was a call to surrender when I wanted control. Or maybe it was a mirror reflecting my own resistance to change. The weight of the practices I wasn’t connecting with pressed on me, demanding attention, nudging me toward deeper honesty with myself and with God.
But here’s what I’ve come to realize: discernment isn’t about rigidly following a set of practices. It’s about seeing God in the midst of my daily life. And I am doing that. I can continue to do that in the way that best suits me, without guilt.
And yet, isn’t that the paradox of true spiritual growth? That in being emptied, we are made new? That in feeling undone, we are actually being reshaped?
Discernment, as Liebert reminds us, is not a linear process. It is a journey of noticing—of paying attention to where life surges within us and where it seeps away. Perhaps both are holy invitations, guiding us toward deeper alignment with God’s presence in our lives.
Where have you felt life flowing into you lately? And where has it felt like it’s flowing out?
Maybe those are the places where God is speaking the loudest.
Want to explore more of what TL1 has to offer? Follow the link below or reach out to us directly at contactpaxcenter@gmail.com with any questions!