Encountering Jesus in Prayer and the Word through Spiritual Direction.

Missions is a demanding call, and there is a specific weight of responsibility placed on women in the field. Married, single, kids or not, there is a strain on your attention to engage deeply with God. There are endless tasks and many opportunities to lean into doing for God.

But, what about being with God?

We know that you can do everything “right” and still feel lost in the midst of your mission. But what if there was an opportunity for you to reclaim the core of your calling–to be loved by and love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Matthew 22:37-39)–in a community of women who get it?

The Spiritual Exercises Group Experience may be just what you’re looking for.

  • Do you desire to fall more deeply in love with Jesus?

  • Are you eager for a deeper dive into God’s Word, not just knowing more about Jesus, but personally encountering Him in the Word?

  • Do you long for a richer and more consistent prayer life?

  • Do you long to go deeper with Jesus in community with others making the same spiritual journey?

If these questions resonate with you, consider joining the Spiritual Exercises Group Experience!

What are the Spiritual Exercises?

The Spiritual Exercises, developed nearly 500 years ago by Ignatius of Loyola, are a time-proven process of Scripture reading, prayer, and spiritual growth. They were initially designed as a 30-day retreat. The 19th Annotation is a daily retreat spread out over 9 months.

Guided by a seasoned spiritual director in both group and individual sessions, the Spiritual Exercises offer a concrete and structured way to lean into the Lord’s invitations for you while attending to your situation with discernment, hope, and momentum.

The Spiritual Exercises Group Experience begins in September 2025 and concludes in May 2026. We have limited spaces available, so register now by clicking the button below!

What you can expect:

  • An Intentional 9-Month Journey

    The Spiritual Exercises Group Experience takes place over a 9-month period of intentional connection, synced up with the historic rhythms of the Church. You can engage from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection!

  • Deepening Prayer Reflecting on the Life of Jesus

    In community with your cohort and with help from your spiritual director, the Spiritual Exercises will help you lean into 5-7 hours of prayer and meditation on Scripture each week!

  • Individual Spiritual Direction

    You will be guided through this experience by a trustworthy guide who can help you process your experiences with the Lord in a way that leads you towards greater intimacy and awareness of God with you.

  • Group Sessions to Process Together

    The spiritual life is a group project. In the Spiritual Exercises Group Experience, you will get to engage in an intentional community for 9 months, with facilitated conversations to help you grow closer to God and to others on the same kind of journey.

Meet Your Spiritual Director

Missy Dabbs is a certified spiritual director who has facilitated the Spiritual Exercises and loves to journey with people towards greater intimacy with and awareness of God’s love without the burdens of shame or guilt. Missy currently lives in Auburn, Alabama, with her husband, Matt, and two sons, Jonah and Elijah. Over the years, she has taught elementary school, worked as a relationship coach, been a professional counselor, and served as a minister’s wife. Missy and her husband, along with a few other families, helped plant a church in their own backyard during the pandemic in 2020 by reaching out to their neighborhood. Missy received her MA in Christian Spiritual Formation and Leadership from Friends University in 2020 and is certified as a spiritual director through Sustainable Faith. She loves journeying with others in their walk with God and seeing the movement of God in others’ lives.

Here’s what others are saying

  • “Scripture often invites us to remember but it can be hard to build this into everyday life. Getting to do the Ignatian exercises with Missy and a small group provided the perfect environment to do this very thing with like-minded people, all of us desiring to bring Jesus into our everyday lives.”

    Sharon

  • “I would highly recommend participating in the Spiritual Exercises lead by Missy Dabbs. It was a life changing experience and one that I was glad I was a part of. Missy patiently led and encouraged me to search the scriptures and actively pursue a deeper relationship with Jesus. It was a wonderful opportunity to grow more in love with Jesus.”

    Cheryl

  • “I had been praying for something that would guide me in how to connect with God in my quiet time, and I had felt led to spend more time in the Gospels. Then, Missy invited me to journey through the Ignatian Prayer Exercises, an 8-month commitment of 45 min – 1 hr a day! At first, I was reluctant, feeling like my schedule wouldn’t allow it, but then I decided there’s no time like the present! I felt like making the commitment would be what I needed to make it a priority. And I’m so glad I did! I loved the structure of my daily time with God (exactly what I was looking for), and I spent time every day for months in the gospels, as well as other scripture readings and other considerations to ponder. This helped me to develop consistent habits and a healthier way of being with God in a loving relationship of receiving and responding. Even 3 months later, I still consider so many of the principles that I learned in this process, and they inform me in my daily life with God. It was truly a life-changing experience that I want to invite others to experience. And I intend to walk through all the exercises again this next year. It may be something that I do every year for a long time. It’s just that beneficial!”

    Tina

Program Details

When does it start?

The Spiritual Exercises Group Experience begins in September 2025 and concludes in May 2026. Details about individual and group sessions will be sent out once the cohort has been finalized.

What will this experience include?

  • 18 total sessions to will draw you deeper into God’s love

  • 9 monthly group sessions facilitated by Missy

  • 9 monthly individual direction sessions with Missy

  • 9 months of daily prayer and scripture guides that will give you a structure to follow and freedom to hear God in your own way

  • Video teachings by a former Jesuit priest who has led thousands through the Exercises

  • A community of people to pray with

  • Additional check-ins as needed with the spiritual director facilitating the Spiritual Exercises

What’s the Cost?

$1800 $1000

  • $100 $50 per session for 8 Sessions of Individual Spiritual Direction

  • $100 $50 per session for 8 Facilitated Group Experiences

  • A $200 non-refundable set-up fee due no later than August 31, 2025.

If you have questions about payment or registration, please contact us at 417.625.1400 or email admin@traininternational.org. you can email Missy directly at missy.dabbs@traininternational.org.

FAQs

  • This is a program designed to support women in missions ministry. This includes people who are preparing for the field, those who are on the field now, those who are transitioning between fields or are on extended furlough, and even those who are transition to their passport country after concluding field service. The thing that really matters is that you are hungry to grow in intimacy with God, grow in awareness of God’s presence in your life, and you want to grow in prayer!

  • Spiritual Direction is a space to rest, to discern, and to lean into God's presence.

    Spiritual Direction is an ongoing process that explores what your experience of God is like, how you are hearing God’s voice in your life (or not), and what apprenticeship to Jesus looks like where you are right now. Spiritual Direction is about growing in awareness of and intimacy with God to live well and rightly in God’s Kingdom right where you are.

  • A spiritual director helps you look for the presence of God in your life so that you can grow in intimacy with God, discern what God is inviting you into, and integrate following Jesus into your real world. Spiritual directors are generally trained for two or more years in various skills including active listening, asking powerful questions, discernment, spiritual disciplines, and prayer. Spiritual direction is as much a calling and a gifting as a skillset, so part of the training they receive is to test and validate their calling.

  • Spiritual direction, mentoring, coaching, and counseling are all important ministries for the people of God, and each has a distinct place in the life of faith.

    Each of these ministries uses skills likes listening well and asking great questions to help create clarity, but they are looking in different directions.

    • Counseling generally focused on looking backwards at the past in order to create opportunities for healing.

    • Coaching and Mentoring generally focuses on looking forward to what’s next in order to generate momentum.

    • Spiritual direction generally focuses on looking around in the present for God’s movement in order to increase awareness and intimacy with God.

  • That’s a good point of discernment because sometimes spiritual direction is NOT what we need! Spiritual direction covers ground in a lot of areas of our lives, but the primary focus of spiritual direction is on your experience of God and your relationship with God. Here is a non-exhaustive list of indicators you can consider:

    • If you feel stuck in your relationship with God, spiritual direction might be a good fit for you.

    • If you are discerning next steps in a big transition, spiritual direction might be a good fit for you.

    • If you want to grow in spiritual discipline or in prayer, spiritual direction might be a good fit for you.

    • If you want to explore how your life or your story impacts your relationship with God, spiritual direction might be a good fit for you.

  • Even with the discounted rate for this program and payments spread out over a nine-month period, the investment can feel daunting. We have some donors who have said “yes!” to investing in you and your ministry, so there are some scholarship funds available on a first-come, first served basis. For more information, please email admin@traininternational.org.

  • We are an independent and unaffiliated training organization.

    We have the privilege of serving a great variety of agencies, churches, and denominations.


  • That’s a good question! Spiritual directors are generally bi-vocational and take time away from other forms of work in order to provide this much needed ministry. As such, we want to honor their training, their contribution, and their time by offering fair compensation. Other than directly paying the director, a portion of each direction fee helps underwrite the provision of pre-field training, debriefing retreats, and other ministries we offer to global workers.