Hi, I’m Sarah!

And welcome to The Selah Letters, where you’ll find poems, practices and prayers.

In the Psalms, "selah" means to rest or breathe. These letters provide a moment for you to pause and reconnect with God in the midst of your everyday life.

My first love has always been to tend to the deeper places of the human heart. Over the years, this took the form of youth work, college ministry, urban community development, missions, teaching, pastoring, and most recently, spiritual direction. 

To sit across from someone and create a quiet, attentive atmosphere for listening to their own soul and to God is one of my greatest joys. So that is what I intend to offer here too— in written form.

With each post, I hope to provide you with a few keys to unlock the deeper places in your heart. This will usually include a poem I’ve written from a unique angle, a personal spiritual practice I’ll guide you through, and an honest prayer you can borrow if your own words falter.

I find that poetry uniquely unearths parts of us that can often remain under the surface or out of reach. Then, by pairing a poem with tangible, earthy, sometimes-not-so-”spiritual” spiritual practices, we connect with our actual lived experience. Lastly, you’ll receive simple, straightforward, and un-stuffy words to pray when you may not know what to say.  

I write from the lens of a spiritual director. You may try reading these letters in a contemplative or lectio divina posture— slowly, meditatively, and simply waiting for one phrase or prompt to capture your soul's attention and allow you to hear God in a fresh way. 

Feel free to explore the archives from the previous year of Selah Letters, or here’s a favorite on grit, and another on vulnerability.

With each of these letters, I hope I can be a soul companion, with you on the twisty, turny way of Jesus. May we together explore the deeper parts of our hearts.

And now for a little more about me and how I accidentally became a poet. Oops! ;)

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I never intended to write poetry. But global pandemics will do strange things to you.

Living alone in New York City in March of 2020, I picked up my journal and tried to make sense of the chaos in and around me. The prayer pouring out felt surprisingly poetic, even prophetic, as if God was writing to me instead of the other way around. I woke up to see that this poem I posted about the virus ironically went viral overnight.

This surprisingly launched me into a year of writing and sharing numerous other pieces capturing our collective experience of loss, lack, and longing—the very things I had personally experienced over the years prior. These 50ish poems were eventually compiled as a collection of Pandemic Prayers and Poetry. Two of the pieces received a first place award for poetry from the Evangelical Press Association in 2020 and 2021.

I’ve continued to write words for the soul around themes of waiting, longing, hope, rest, fragile faith and God’s faithfulness. My newest works include poetic guides for Advent and Holy Week.

Recently, I’ve enjoyed offering spiritual direction and cultivating sacred space to listen to God and to our own souls. My approach includes meditation on Scripture, times of silence, prompts for deep reflection and guided listening prayer.

I hold a Master of Divinity degree from Alliance Theological Seminary and have ministered in churches, college campuses, and internationally over the past many years.

By the mercies and miracles of God, I married my husband Paul at the age of 40 and we received a double portion of surprise twin boys a year later. We love calling Columbus, Ohio home.

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Welcome again to The Selah Letters. I’m so glad you’re here. I would love for you to say hi and tell me how you came my way!