When Faith Becomes Sight: Opening Your Eyes to God's Presence All Around You

by Beth A. Booram, David Booram

Where can I turn to see God? How can I more clearly recognize God's nearness and initiative in my life?
These are vital questions if you desire to know and experience the living God. As spiritual directors, Beth and David Booram have guided many people into deeper awareness of this living, present God at work within their lives.

When Faith Becomes Sight will help you grow in confidence that God is attentive to you and involved in your life as you learn to recognize God in and around you, reflect on your experience, and respond faithfully to God's presence and action in your life. Along the way you may venture across new streets and encounter unfamiliar terrain as you notice how God is speaking and what God is doing.

In those silent, shimmering moments, you will be invited to greet the One who has been seeking you your entire life―the Divine Presence who is all around you.

Genres: Spirituality, Prayer, Nonfiction

224 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 19, 2019

About the author

Beth A. Booram is the cofounder and director of Fall Creek Abbey, an urban retreat center in Indianapolis, where she and her husband David lead The School of Spiritual Direction and offer individual and group spiritual direction. She is the coauthor of Awaken Your Senses and the author of several books including Starting Something New, Picturing the Face of Jesus, and The Wide Open Spaces of God.

Beth is a deep feeler who loves to think, an extrovert with a penchant for solitude, and an artist who sees the hand of God in even the smallest encounters with creation. She speaks around the country on topics related to spiritual formation and Christian leadership and has been involved for more than thirty years in a variety of ministry roles on the college campus and within the local church.

Reviews

[Lori Neff · Rating 5 out of 5]

A gentle look at discernment. I love how the authors explain spiritual direction and ask insightful questions. This book offered great reminders to me about how we see God's activity in and around us.

[Adam Shields · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summary: Beth and David Booram present spiritual direction as a method of discipleship to an Evangelical audience. 

I am halfway through a program to become a spiritual director. It is a program rooted in Ignatian theory, as is the Boorams. As I have been in my program I have been intentionally seeking out Protestant or Evangelical books with similar content to the (Catholic) Ignatian perspectives to help me often understand subtle differences in language or approach that I am blind to. When Faith Becomes Sight, I think it is the best overview of Ignatian spiritual direction for an Evangelical audience that I have read.

The rough structure of When Faith Becomes Sight is to start first by recognizing the signs of God that are already around us. This approach begins with the assumption that God is seeking to communicate with you personally (not individually, but personally.) Signs of God are often subtle, and in a loud world with little silence, we need to develop skills to see and listen. Once we start being able to see the signs of God around us, then we need to develop skills of discernment, which requires that we examine our conscious and unconscious understanding of God. The final section of the book is more directly about the tools of spiritual direction and the lifelong process of discipleship.
When Faith Becomes Sight uses their work as spiritual directors (and their personal history) as examples of what discipleship looks like. I saw as I glanced through some reviews that some people objected to their retelling of scripture. Retelling or immersion in scripture is part of the Ignatian practice of absorbing scripture and then retelling it in ways that the scripture speaks to you. That does not mean that the retellings are the same as scripture, we are always limited in our perspective, and often in trying to make a point, we can distort a passage. That is not a reason to not deeply explore scripture, but instead, it is a reason to develop discernment about how we read scripture and theologically approach the world. And for those that are still skeptical, sermons explicate scripture, not merely read the scripture and sit down. Retelling scripture in your own words is very similar in purpose.
Part of the assumption of Ignatian spiritual direction is that a God will speak and we can understand. Not necessarily in vocal words, but maybe it will be vocal. The point is that Ignatius and many other streams of spiritual direction assume that the Holy Spirit can and will communicate his direction to us. And while we may not be perfect in understanding, with help, we can make a good attempt at discerning God from our own desires, our sin, and satanic interruption.

There is a stream of Christianity that is overtly resistant to this type of hearing from God and I honestly do not know what to do with this type of resistance. Throughout Christian history, the stories of saints and leaders have been a story of God's direction. My one complaint, and it is a complaint about much of the Evangelical world as well as some within spiritual direction world, is that we are never Chrsitians on our own. Spiritual Direction can, at times, be thought of as equipping the individual for spiritual growth. In my post on All That's Good: Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment by Hannah Anderson, I noted that the Catholic book, Weeds Among the Wheat (also about discernment) is more oriented toward learning discernment in community and having a “Co-discerner…of the call of the Holy Spirit speaking within them.” Similarly, The Examen Prayer by Timothy Gallagher talks about the importance of not just doing the examen as an individual, but having a spiritual director or another person to help work through the results and process of the examen so that you are in a community, not just an invidiual. And all of this assumes that we are in some way connected to a church body.

I am increasingly convinced that spiritual direction (or something similar) is an essential part of being a Christian and discipleship. Our conversion may be through mass evangelism, but we do not grow through mass discipleship, we grow through individualized discipleship. (Not through indivdiualism, but through a mode of discipleship that takes our individual needs and gifts and situation seriously.) So while I do not think every Christian has to have a spiritual director, I believe that everyone needs a community and probably a specific individual that helps them explore their spiritual lives for growth.

[Heather Mauriello · Rating 5 out of 5]

I requested that my library purchase this book for circulation. They did! And I was the first to check it out. Three months later and I finally finished it and will take it back where hopefully other library patrons will find it. And I will be purchasing my own copy. This is definitely a book to take your time with and savor. It was rich to read at a time when our family was taken out of ministry and into the unknown. The reflection questions at the end of each chapter deserve even more time than I gave them. I would love to read through this book again with another person or two and exchange thoughts and questions.

[Meagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not expect much from this book through the entire first section. But the second section really struck a chord. And one of the final chapters on “night work” seemed to be a hopeful way to look at seasons where God seems absent-the dark night of the soul. I loved their concept of God being at work without our knowledge-when it is obscured from our view.

[C. Christopher Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's all too easy for us to lose track of God's presence with us in our daily lives, and especially when we are blinded by trauma, grief, or other challenges of life. Beth and David Booram are wise and hospitable guides who use stories from their many years of spiritual direction to show us how to recognize God's presence with us. By calling our attention to the Giver of all life, When Faith Becomes Sight is a life-giving book,one that will undoubtedly transform the lives of all who read it.

[Michele Morin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here in rural Maine, spiritual directors are scarcer than April beach days. We soldier on, fueled by grace and surprised when a friend comes alongside us to offer insight or counsel. To my delight, When Faith Becomes Sight offered the bookish equivalent of sitting with someone who could point out God’s presence and involvement in my life. Beth and David Booram frame the Christian experience as a looking life: as we look for God, we receive signs that he has been looking for us all along, that God is available, unpredictable, and committed to relationship.


Faith becomes sight as we realize that we are looking through both conscious and unconscious lenses. Our life on this planet is a process of correcting distorted projections of God and then confronting our assumptions and expectations. Looking within, we find that even in our swirling emotions and convoluted motives, God is at work.

The Boorams are particularly gifted in presenting scriptural characters in all their humanity. Too, as practicing spiritual directors, they shared client interactions to demonstrate actual A Ha! moments that have landed in the room. Because God is living and present, when seekers discover that they have been found, nothing is ever the same again.

Many thanks to IVP for providing a copy of this book to facilitate my review, which is, of course, offered freely and with honesty.

[Lori · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book, focusing on spiritual direction, did not resonate with me. I disliked the retelling of Biblical stories throughout the book. Sometimes I felt I was reading a commercial for their spiritual direction counseling service, and I wondered whether they changed the names of their clients or sought permission to use their first names. While the book may work better for other people, I just wanted it to end. The final pages finally began to discuss some classic examples of spirituality such as St. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, but even then the treatment is superficial. I'd prefer to read the classic authors on the subject.

[Merry Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. I feel like I received spiritual direction and guidance straight from the Boorams. I experienced in this book a well-written and helpful guide that served to not only help me make sense of my journey thus far but to take it further this way and that. There is such gentleness, compassion and thoughtfulness in how this book is put together. I feel I read the right book at the right time for I am feeling more deeply the freedom and permission to love God in both cognitive and deliberate & intuitive and emotional ways. I feel more trusting of both myself and God and the mystery of it all!

[Rob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beth and David Booram's book is at both a toolbox for spiritual direction and a guide box for those seeking to understand and recognize how God might be taking them into deeper places of their heart and souls. Practical, informational, thought-provoking, useable, and very readable. This is a must-have for your spiritual formation or spiritual growth bookshelf.

[Sharla Fritz · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I first saw When Faith Becomes Sight, I knew I wanted to read it. Throughout 2019, I have been focusing on noticing God more in my everyday life and this book gave me more tools to do that. The authors tell readers to look for "shimmering attractions," "recurring themes and symbols," and "slender threads" in our lives and to contemplate what God is saying to us through these moments. The book also gives tools to know God better through Scripture reading, Lectio Divina, and contemplative prayer. It points out that God may even speak in the disappointments we face and the resistance we feel. I recommend this book to anyone who desires a more intimate relationship with God.

[Lynne Degroot mclaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this for my spiritual direction class and found it to be helpful in looking for ways that God is present that we may not normally see. I felt the authors offered good questions to think about and to use in spiritual direction. It was well written too.

[Drew Dixon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoughtful and practical guide to reflecting on our experiences of God. Particularly for those who are receiving, practicing, or interested in spiritual direction.

[T Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seeing, hearing and knowing

A good resource to help you see and hear God. Helps to open you up to experience God in deepening ways.

[Rod White · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Boorams wrote an accessible, passionate book to help people learn how to lead and experience spiritual direction.

[JT Caldwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites on the subjects of spiritual formation and spiritual direction.

[Jana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is excellent! Goes on my top list and will definitely be coming back to this one. Both for personal use and for work as a spiritual director.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

SF group, summer/fall 2023

[VJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read !

Good resource on the night time of the soul and being aware and responsive to the presence of God. Recommended resource on spiritual direction.

[Cara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished savoring this rich book and know that I'll return to it again and again.