Sue Monk Kidd - When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Lifes Sacred Questions (Plus)

When the Heart Waits was written from a place deep inside me. It comes out of the well of my own journey and midlife experience. Its always difficult and risky to try to put soulmaking into words. I found that to be especially true with this book. It asked much of me. It called for a painful honesty and vulnerability that I found daunting. It asked me to go deep into myself, to open my story, to invite you into what I can only call a merciful coming together of reader and author.

Ive tried to grapple with the sacred questions of life, with the journey and mystery of the human soul as it grows spiritually, moving through passages most have forgotten exist. Youll find me talking a lot about waiting, for in many ways waiting is the missing link in the transformation process. Im not referring to waiting as were accustomed to it, but waiting as the passionate and contemplative crucible in which new life and spiritual wholeness can be birthed.

During the past few years, various people have talked with me about spiritual direction for their lives. Theyve told me that God was summoning them to get in touch with the flow of their interior lives, with the deep and beautiful work of soulmaking. This book is an attempt to help themand youwith this endeavor.

Ive tried to open up a path before youone grounded in the Bible, in centuries of Christian spiritual writing, and in contemporary spiritual direction and developmental psychology. Ive tried to offer down-to-earth truths from my own life, as well as profound truths from the great tradition of Christian spirituality. It has been my task to weave them together to make a tapestry of storytelling and teaching that might open your eyes to the transforming Christ-journey were all called to make.

My deepest hope is that youll read not only with your mind but also with your heart, for that is when God strikes music and life into any authors words.

When referring to God, Ive used language which highlights that God is neither male or female. Masculine pronouns appear only when Im quoting from another source.

This book has already been a merciful coming together of many people who helped me during the writing process. First of all, I owe a great debt to my friends and colleagues at Harper & Row, who have been helpful and supportive of my writing. Im especially grateful to Rebecca Laird, who edited this book and delicately wove for me an environment of creative freedom, direction, and encouragement. A special word of gratitude also goes to Jan Johnson, whose constant support has meant more to me than she knows.

Im indebted to the many friends who supported me during the writing of this book. To Roy M. Carlisle, who helped me birth the original concept and offered enthusiasm for developing the idea into a book; to the women of Grace Episcopal Church in Anderson, South Carolina, who invited me to address them concerning the themes and material in the book while it was still in progress and whose affirming response gave me new energy toward completing it; to those who waited with me through the journey I describe in the bookJohn, Betty, and Mary Page. They supplied listening hearts and a loving participation in my story.

I thank Betty Blackerby, who has become the sister I never had. Her presence and the sharing of her own experience have graced me and this project.

Im grateful to my children, Bob and Ann, for their patience as I wrote, as well as for the richness of their lives, which overflows into these pages. My deepest thank you goes to my husband, Sandy, for believing in me and in this book throughout. His love, help, and encouragement have been an immense gift.

Today is the Feast Day of St. Francis of Assisi. As I finish this book, I think of one particular line from his beautiful prayer: Where there is darkness, let me sow light. May it be so.

Sue Monk Kidd

Anderson, South Carolina