Sharon’s Story:
Where to begin?  I hit a wall in 2001.  I was leaving a ‘hair-on-fire’ job that left little space for myself, let alone God.  I couldn’t hear my own thoughts, let alone God.  After some very long naps and some extended time of solitude, I decided that I needed to make a plan for the next season of my life.  I knew that my schedule would fill with things, but maybe not the things that would be most important, or life-giving, if I was not careful.

I came across a resource called, “The Personal Compass: A Workbook for Visioning and Goal Setting,” from the Grove Consultants.  I was familiar with the graphic nature of the pages, since I often used these types of formats when facilitating large groups.  I was excited to jump in!  I found the story of my life pouring out on the pages, and God nudging me along, helping me to notice what was most important.  The workbook was a life planning tool, but it left God out of the picture.  However, I was being intentional about inviting God into the process, and He was transforming me.

I knew Sibyl Towner, Director of Spiritual Mentoring at Willow Creek Community Church, would find the format of the book interesting, so I introduced her to materials and I shared some of my story with her.

  
Sibyl’s Story:
When Sharon brought “The Personal Compass”  to me, I thought that this could be a great tool, but it would need to have a Christian perspective added.  I personally worked my way through the book, and in the fall of 2003, Sharon and I invited about six others to join us in the process.  We added spiritual questions to go along with the maps. 

The combination of the maps, the spiritual questions, life story, God’s story and sharing with one another was an amazing experience.  The maps brought to the group's attention things that they hadn’t seen before, and their eyes were opened spiritually.  They were given space to think and time to share, and it gave them courage to take some hard next steps.

Their courage to take steps gave Sharon and me courage to continue to pursue writing a new version of The Personal Compass with a Christian perspective.  Grove Consultants, the creators of “The Personal Compass,” gave us permission to do just that!  We started updating the content and asked Dawn Haecker if she could do the text layout. Jennifer Landau came on board to do the artwork for the visual maps.

In 2005, I got an email from Rebecca Madden asking to meet with me.  After one meeting, I told Sharon, “I think I’ve found a person who could help us move this project forward.” 

Rebecca’s Story:
It was 2003, and I heard Dan Allender speak at a conference at Willow Creek. He said, “Your whole story matters to God.”  All of my story matters to God – the good, bad and ugly?  I had never heard anything like that before, and something inside my soul shifted that day.  I began to write down and process my story and wrestle with it for months.

By 2005, I had been living in the Chicago area for about two years, and I was overwhelmed with my new life and new relationships and all of their needs and my family’s needs.  My husband said, “You are investing in all these people’s lives.  Now, you need someone to invest in you.”  So he suggested that I meet with Sibyl Towner, Director of Spiritual Mentoring at Willow Creek.  I emailed her, and we met a week or so later. 

I spent an hour just telling her about my life, my situation, and how overwhelmed I felt.  After the conversation, she said that she would be glad to meet with me monthly.  Shortly after that, I received an email from her asking if I would be willing to meet with Sharon Swing and her about a project they were working on.  A project?!?!?!?!  Did she not listen to me?  I said that I was overwhelmed with life, and she thinks that I have time for a project?

I agreed to meet with them anyway. When I heard them describe the ideas about developing materials that would help people to work through and process their story, I knew immediately that I wanted to be a part of this. I wanted to help others realize that “their whole story matters to God,” so I said YES!

Our Story

Sharon Swing, Rebecca Madden & Sibyl Towner - Fall 2006
Leadership Network in Dallas, TX

Sibyl began to use My Life Story maps  in her spiritual mentoring classes, and and then in the Fall 2005, we began to rollout all of the maps and materials to a class at Willow Creek.
So over the past five years, we’ve been working to produce the “Listen to My Life” workbook, workshops, retreats, and this web site.  We’ve had the pleasure of having a front-row seat to amazing stories of God’s faithful and loving movement through people’s lives.

The three of us have had the pleasure of hearing and being present in one another’s stories for a while now.  Sibyl brings years of experience in doing her life story & inner journey work personally and guiding others through it. She also has a great foundation in the scriptures through her training in the Bethel Bible series.  So Sibyl is our spiritual guide for our Listen to My Life work.  

Sharon has an organizational and strategic bent.  She is great with the collaboration of ideas, and she asks excellent questions, and she brings her writing and artistic abilities too.  So Sharon is our executive and creative guide for our work.

Rebecca sees the big picture of what needs to be done and then has the capacity to break it down into more manageable chunks.  She is good at collaborating with others to get the job done, so Rebecca is the organization guide that helps it all happen.

 We’re pleased that God has put us in this little community and that He has added many others along the path to make this project a reality.  Thanks for joining us for the journey.  It is an honor and pleasure to have our path’s cross.

Many Blessings!
Sharon Swing, Sibyl Towner and Rebecca Madden