151: Discerning our Spiritual Path

"What do I want to be (or do) when I grow up?" Early on, our answers to such queries are the ones we pick up from our parents, wider family, friends, religious traditions, and important authority figures in our lives. If we are to have a truly fulfilling life, however, we must begin to find our way to what it is we are actually being "called to" by our life. Can we discern for ourselves what our particular life experiences seem to be pointing us towards--a quest that when engaged with our whole heart and mind will bless the world in the way only we can do?

In this episode, LDF host Dan Wotherspoon converses with Valerie Hamaker, the host of the Latter-day Struggles podcast about this sort of journey. It started out with a slightly different plan of talking about "faith journeys" through the lenses of various developmental models but ended up being more about Valerie's own discernment journey that led her to the work she is doing in the world with Latter-day Saints who are struggling to reorient their faith lives during a time when their journeys are taking them places they hadn't previously imagined they would go. 

Valerie and Dan mention how faith development models have helped them as they have traveled into uncharted territories, and hopefully this element of the conversation will encourage others to look into such models themselves. But the true beauty of what you will encounter here is how God/Spirit/Life has worked in Valerie's life to bring her to this place where she has found a place to stand and do the work it seems her life was leading her toward. It's a thrilling story of a searcher who has looked both outward and inward to discern her calling. Please listen in!