That thing called silence is not empty. It is full. Just being. And after holding silence, “the time to speak comes from the burning of our heart.”

Heartbeat Formation, LLC, celebrates a two-year milestone in the spiritual direction ministry business, walking alongside more than one dozen spiritual directees in individual and group sessions. "Meeting with Angela for spiritual direction has felt like ‘divine couples counseling.’”

Intentional Time with God through the art of collaging and junk journaling. Angela reflects on her season of conferencing, how God step in, and memorial stones of gratitude.

Angela shares moments of practicing stillness from her back porch with a chipmunk, to listening to ocean waves whispers and jazz in the park.

Psalm 23 keeps on giving. Here’s “Psalm 23 Redux” and “Psalm 23 for Busy People.”

Today’s Heart Matters live on Substack with Angela Hooks.

For Black History Month, I celebrate the work of the Atlanta-born Georgia Douglas Johnson, hostess of the literary salon, Halfway House, in Washington, DC., and New Orleans-born Alice Dunbar Nelson, a diarist who maintained diaries from 1921 or earlier to 1931.

Johnny Ray Simon shares his contemplative photography with Heart Matters, monthly email newsletter. Here are some of the best pics for 2024.

Angela shares matters of the heart and experiences that shape and sharpen the heart's formation. How the heart thinks; what the heart desires, yearns, and takes; who the heart loves and worships; and why the heart sways and hardens. She writes about techniques for navigating challenges to develop a work-rest play rhythm flow.

A Gift for You

I have compiled the ten “Heart Prayer” offerings from 2024 Heart Matters as recycled prayers for the new year. Recycled prayers can be repeated with a fuller heart, clearer sight, fresher energy, intention, and attention. In the book of Psalms, the psalter reuses Psalm 57:7-11 in Psalm 108:1-5 and Psalm 60:5-12 in Psalm 108:6-13: same prayer, different situation, circumstance, even a different generation.

I offer you “Heart Prayers” to speak aloud, hold in silence, or pass on to others when you or someone else needs to welcome a new thing, quiet a restless heart, enjoy peace in God’s presence, remember not to think so much, or pray for deep listening.