Sharon Garlough Brown - Sensible Shoes Study Guide

The most common thing I hear from readers of Sensible Shoes is I saw bits of myself in each character but especially in [fill in the blank]. Im also frequently asked, What next steps can I take in my journey with God? I want to take a sacred journey like the characters!

This study guide is designed with these reader responses in mind. You are invited to travel in a directed way for three months, just like the characters do at the New Hope Center. This guide provides twelve weeks of daily Scripture reading, prayer, and reflection questions (five days a week). Given that its often easier to see truth in others lives before we see it in ourselves, youll have questions to answer about how the characters are responding to (or resisting) the presence and love of God. Then youll be invited to consider your own life with God. I hope the characters will become windows and mirrors into seeing yourself more clearly. I also hope youll take seriously the invitation to travel with others. We arent meant to walk alone. With that in mind, there are group discussion questions offered at the end of each week.

You can decide whether to read Sensible Shoes first in its entirety and then return to do a slow study with the guide, or to read it a section at a time, matching your pace to the daily questions. Commit to keeping a travelogue of your journey. Even if you arent in the habit of using a journal, youll benefit from keeping a record of what youre noticing as you move forward. Not every question will resonate with you. Thats okay. You dont need to answer every question every day. But do watch for any impulse to avoid a question because it agitates you or makes you feel uncomfortable. Thats probably the very question you need to spend some time pondering! If you dont have time to answer the questions you want to reflect on, simply mark them and return later.

Some questions and themes are repeated as you journey with the guide, and you may be tempted to say, I already answered that. Listen with fresh ears. Is anything new emerging? Shifting? Coming into sharper focus? Use the questions as launching points for your journaling. If something in the chapter speaks to you and isnt addressed in a question, spend some time journaling and praying about it. One of the primary themes of the book is learning to pay attention to the things that stir us, both the positive and the negative. As the retreat leader, Katherine, says, Stay with what stirs you.

One more suggestion: as you prepare each day, offer a prayer to bring yourself intentionally into the presence of God. Then read (or review) the pages marked from Sensible Shoes. Before pondering the questions, read the daily Scripture text (marked in bold in the exercises) so that your reflection is framed by the Word.

We each have stories that have shaped us. Some of them are painful to remember. But I believe with all my heart that God invites us to remember the stories and to see them as part of the larger picture of what hes weaving for us. Somehowthough we dont often see the why of itthe darker threads are part of the beauty.

The psalmist says, Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story (Psalm 107:2).

May you have the courage to tell yours.

Sharon Garlough Brown

May the Lord direct your hearts into Gods love and Christs perseverance.