Sally Breedlove

Mar 18

10 min read ⭑

“What do I love to do? Mostly, I love real conversation between people and with God. Our hearts crave connection. That knowing has called me all my life.”

Sally Breedlove thrives best in close connection and conversation with Jesus and other people. Having been trained in spiritual direction through Selah, a certificate program by Leadership Transformation, she cofounded JourneyMates, a small-group ministry designed to help everyday believers find space and time to simply be with God. As the author of “Choosing Rest” and “The Shame Exchange,” Sally recently collaborated with three other writers to create “Eighth Day Prayers,” a three-book series offering Scriptures, reflections on God’s Word and guided prayers.

Keep reading to discover her favorite memories around the table (hint: it involves authentic Parisian crepes), the ways she connects with God through the outdoors and how she confronts the false self that demands unattainable perfection. You’ll also find encouragement from her stories of riding the tension between her human nature and the Holy Spirit’s power — plus the authors, people and apps she uses to explore more of God’s truth and goodness.

QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT

The meals we enjoy are about so much more than the food we eat. So how does a “go-to” meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind your web bio?

Perhaps my strongest memory of a meal out is in France a long time ago — 1989 to be exact. My husband, our fifth child (only 5 months old at the time) and I had been in India for three weeks while my husband taught at a seminary in Bangalore. I love curry, naan, perfect rice and all the fun condiments that go on top. I can eat, and did eat, curries three times a day.

But then we stopped in Paris on our way home. It was springtime. That says it all, doesn’t it? The landscape shimmered green, alive with color, and the temperature had dropped so it caressed our skin. Our hosts invited us to make our way to an ancient walled city right outside Paris. There was a creperie they wanted us to experience. In my unspoken opinion at the time (and even now), crepes are ... pancakes. Gloried, yes, but still — pancakes.

But this night was different. We entered an old barn with a dirt floor packed by centuries of footsteps till it looked like a polished stone floor. A huge Rottweiler dog napped by the blazing fire in the ancient and enormous stone fireplace, and a man stood by the hearth over a blazing wood-fired griddle, white-aproned, dark hair, making crepe after crepe. The choices were simple. Order two or three dinner crepes, then a dessert crepe (or two). Wine cream sauce, mushrooms and cheeses I had never heard of filled the crepes and overflowed onto the crockery plates. The conversation flowed, the wine was rich and the baby behaved.

Why does a memory linger so strongly? I love simple cuisines that are artful in their honest homemade way. I love rustic looks, real fires, real friends and conversation. I love when children are included at tables of joy. In it all was a rumor of the table in the coming kingdom of our Lord.

QUESTION #2: REVEAL

We’ve all got quirky proclivities and out-of-the-way interests. So what are yours? What so-called “nonspiritual” activity do you love engaging in that also helps you find essential spiritual renewal?

Growing up, I would find my mother pulling weeds or cutting whatever was green or in bloom and bringing it inside to put in a container. I didn’t understand it till I was grown and had a little yard of my own. And then I found myself not pulling weeds, but cutting and arranging things from my yard. I wonder now — was she working out her life by the weed pulling? (I go for long walks to sort out my soul.) Was she practicing living into joy by cutting the green and flowered world outside and bringing it indoors? And then for both of us: is simply being outside a “cure for what ails you,” as people from my Southern world would put it?

I read recently that simply having our feet or shoes against the earth is far more medicinal for our hearts and our serotonin than distance covered on an indoor track. I believe it. We are made to live beneath the big sky above, the stars and rising moon and the colors splayed in sunrises and sunsets. And we are made to be connected to growing things. Indeed, we are made from the dust; and our souls one day will return to God, even as our bodies return to dust. But in a world of endless plastics and stainless steel and concrete, we need reminders. So flower cutting and branch cutting from so many different bushes remind me that this life is infused with the goodness of God. And the time outside reminds me of my small place on this planet. I am a speck, and the universe around me is vast and varied. So the things I put in a vase of water remind me, even indoors, that the creator King is wise and good.

QUESTION #3: CONFESS

Every superhero has a weakness; every human too. We’re just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re all broken and in this thing together. So what’s your kryptonite, and how do you confront its power head-on?

Oh wow, to make a confession before a faceless crowd. I am glad my confessions to God are made to One who looks at me with compassion and understanding. As the book of Hebrews puts it, Jesus alone has felt the full force of temptation without ever giving in and knows the cost of obedience, so he looks at me with compassion and tenderness, and he wants to help.

He is not the baseball coach who comes out to the mound to ream out his pitcher for throwing balls not strikes, inning after inning. I am glad and relieved people can be forgiven — that is the gospel message. And I have been forgiven again and again.

So what is my confession? I take everything too seriously, I catastrophize, I try too hard, and I believe it is probably my fault and that I need to do better. I overfunction. My nickname for this false self is “Mrs. Fixit.” Mrs. Fixit makes a mess of things, but she is not fun like Richard Scarry’s character in his children’s books. Mrs. Fixit tells me I need to make every relationship, every board I sit on, every moment better. I am growing tired of her! Giving her a name and deciding I want to be done with her is helping me. At her core, Mrs. Fixit believes God can’t be trusted as the good and personal God he truly is. And deep in my core, I know that is false. He can be trusted, entirely.

QUESTION #4: FIRE UP

Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your current obsession? And why should it be ours?

What do I love to do? Mostly, I love real conversation between people and with God. Our hearts crave connection. That knowing has called me all my life.

I offer spiritual direction and help train spiritual directors through Selah, a certificate program offered by Leadership Transformations.

I worked with a dear friend to create a spiritual small-group companioning ministry called JourneyMates that offers space and time to be with God.

And I write. The latest of my writing efforts is “Eighth Day Prayers,” a three-volume series that guides folks through the rhythm of time that makes better sense of the reality we live in. The church has known that paying attention day by day over the course of a year is the best way to hear the answer to the biggest questions. Why are we here? Why are we and our world so broken? Can it be fixed? And if it were fixed, how would we live from then on?

An hour west of Calgary, Alberta, three clustered mountain peaks, the Three Sisters, define the eastern edge of the Rockies. Three mountain peaks are prominent in the Church Calendar: 1) waiting for and rejoicing in Jesus’ nativity, 2) preparing for and rejoicing in the crucified Christ’s Resurrection and 3) living in light of that eighth-day resurrection.

These “Eighth Day” books invite people into a short Scripture passage — a chance to let God speak to us. Then they give us a short reflection on seeing the connection between God’s Word and our own hearts, followed by words to pray to God, some ancient, some new. “Eighth Day Prayers” connects us with the living words that become more alive in our hearts.

One of the best things about “Eighth Day Prayers” was that four of us led the project. Friendship, conversation, turning back to God, putting words on paper. It doesn’t get better than that.

QUESTION #5: inspire

Cashiers, CEOs, contractors or customer service reps, we all need grace flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it's God when it happens?

We had a little sunfish sailing boat when I was a child. Knowing the Holy Spirit’s help reminds me of that. On the open water, I am free. I love the big sky above, the expanse of water and the possibilities, but I’m powerless to make sailing happen. Yet when the wind picks up, energy arrives. I can move, see new things, get to where I want to go, feel both power and freedom. But in truth, it is more than that. Even a tiny craft has to hold a tension between the wind, the rudder and the set of the sails. And the centerboard has to be deep in the water.

Life with God is like that. I go nowhere without the wind of his Spirit. I’ll be blown willy-nilly without a centerboard. My life needs to be rooted and grounded in the love of Christ. He is the only place to be centered. The rudder (tiller) guides me to the destination I desire. Arriving at the right place doesn’t happen without a firm hold on our hearts. And the lines that control the sail are the virtues and the faith that allow the right amount of wind to fill my sails. There will always be a creative tension between the power of the Spirit and my capacity to hold the life of God within me.

QUESTION #6: FOCUS

Looking backward, considering the full sweep of your unique faith journey and all you encountered along the way, what top three resources stand out to you? What changed reality and your heart?

So many teachers shape our lives! Literature has spoken to me before I could read, even as my mother read to me. As I think about it, all the literature I am attracted to seeks to answer questions of what it means to be a person. So Jane Austen, George MacDonald, Henri Nouwen, John Donne, Marilyn Robinson, John Steinbeck, Susan Howatch and C.S. Lewis.

People teach me. The desert fathers of the ancient church. They had a handle on wisdom. Mother Teresa. I have been to the House of the Dying in Kolkata. It is a place of peace, and love fills every room. Evelyn Underhill, who wrote about life with God in the early 20th century — so ordinary, but she saw reality.

Friends inspire me. The ones who left academia and formed an organization called CRI (Children’s Relief International) to meet the needs of the most vulnerable. The academics who are friends and faithful to Jesus. The business people who know life is more than making a buck and that profits are to bless others. The everyday mothers and fathers who live by sacrifice because children are our greatest treasure and gift. My own friends, my husband and my children who love and forgive and put up with my own still-in-process soul.

We all have things we cling to to survive or even thrive in our fast-paced, techno-driven world. How have you been successful in harnessing technology to aid in your spiritual growth?

Perhaps the greatest gift to me from technology is how easy it is to look things up when I don’t know the answer. History when I don’t remember or never learned it, pictures of animals or places as I am talking to my younger grandkids, interesting concepts or people that have caught my attention. My favorite apps are: Google Maps (I am lost literally without it); my banking app (best time-saver ever!); and Bible Hub (all the information I could ask for as I take a deep dive into Scripture).

QUESTION #7: dream

God’s continually stirring new things in each of us. So give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?

I am 73, so the future has become an interesting thing. I want to grow more faithful, wise, loving, peace filled and joy giving for every day I have left. I want to be the kind of person who makes other people feel like they are seen, belong and are beloved. Those sorts of aspirations don’t sell books or build a platform, but time has taught me they are more endearing and life giving. I have learned that is more than enough.

And yes, I do have dreams about “Eighth Day Prayers.” It is a great and new sort of resource. I want to see it in the hands of more people so they learn to love the words and ways of God and know he wants to talk to them and with them.

I want to continue to train spiritual directors. It is simply a joy to watch a group of new interns meet and then grow. I want to meet with people in direction. Their stories matter to me and even more to God. And they are beautiful stories, each one.

I would like to write another book — so I listen for the ideas and the moments that speak to me about what I am to write.

Earlier in this interview, Sally said, “[God] is not the baseball coach who comes out to the mound to ream out his pitcher for throwing balls not strikes, inning after inning. I am glad and relieved people can be forgiven — that is the gospel message. And I have been forgiven again and again.”

Here at Rapt, we’ve found that believing this truth about God is paramount to a close, thriving relationship with him. It all starts with knowing he forgives us and loves us — and he never stops.

Is there any area in your life where you struggle to feel forgiven by God? Are there certain sins or flaws that you feel are irredeemable in yourself? Take some time this week to ask the Holy Spirit to shine a light on your heart and show you where he’s asking you to let him in.

Sally is the cofounder of JourneyMates. She also serves as the associate director of Selah-Anglican, a spiritual direction certificate training program. As a spiritual director, teacher and retreat leader, her heart delight is helping people learn to notice, trust and follow Jesus. Most recently she collaborated with three other writers to create Eighth Day Prayers. Sally is the author of Choosing Rest and one of the authors of The Shame Exchange. Sally and her husband, Steve, a bishop in the Anglican Church in North America, live their life in the glad context of five married children and 16 grandchildren.