About the Author
Jeanie Miley is a writer and columnist, a retreat leader and speaker on topics of spiritual growth and wholeness. She is the author of thirteen books, Practicing Resurrection: Radical Hope in Difficult Times is her new release for the Spring 2018, and has written a weekly newspaper column, “Growing Edges”, for thirty-nine years.
With a belief that the goal of any spiritual growth process being to heal, transform, liberate and empower individuals, Jeanie’s personal mission statement says that whether she is writing or teaching, her intention is “to connect people to God, to their own souls and to each other through writing and teaching.”
Since her college years, Jeanie has been fascinated by the integration of psychology and spirituality, forming a deep belief that religious practice or dogma means nothing unless it makes a difference in the everyday life of the individual and in personal relationships. One of the most frequently-heard comments about Jeanie’s teaching and writing is that it is “practical, meeting everyday-needs of persons of all ages.”
Jeanie has read and studied broadly in the areas of spiritual growth, and her teaching rests, as she says on a “four-legged stool” — Bible study, the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, contemplative prayer and Jungian psychology. Living her entire life as an involved member of a local church, which Jeanie lovingly describes as her “family of faith”, Jeanie is a committed follower of Christ, and a frequent teacher of the life and teachings of Jesus.
As a minister’s daughter, her earliest training was in the teachings of the Bible, and in 1971, she was introduced to the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, identifying immediately that the principles of the recovery program were consistent with the teachings of the Bible.
In 1979, she began a quest in the area of contemplative prayer and meditation, and has studied under Thomas Keating at the Benedictine Monastery, in Snowmass, Colorado, and Keith Hosey, the former director of the John XXIII Retreat Center in Hartford City, Indiana. She is a trained facilitator for Centering Prayer workshops. Jeanie has been a student of the teachings of Carl Jung, through her own analytic process of many years. She has studied under Dr. James Hollis, Pittman McGehee and other instructors at the C. G. Jung Educational Center in Houston, Texas, since 1998. Through the analytic process and her study, she has come to a deeper understanding of Jesus’ teachings about “the kingdom of God within.”
Graduating from Baylor University in 1967, Jeanie has continued to receive training in the areas of Marriage Enrichment, Couples Communication, The Thomas Concept Relationship Seminars and parenting seminars. Jeanie is a graduate of the Spiritual Direction Institute at the Cenacle Retreat House, in Houston, Texas, and has a full practice of directees.
Jeanie teaches a popular women’s Bible study at River Oaks Baptist Church, in Houston, Texas, and at other sites in the Houston area. She is a frequent retreat leader for groups across the country. In 2001, she taught the concepts in her popular book, THE SPIRITUAL ART OF CREATIVE SILENCE, for 450 women in a school for women leadership in Seoul, S. Korea. Her book, THE SPIRITUAL ART OF CREATIVE SILENCE, has been translated into Korean by Tyrannus Publishing Company. The English version of that book is in its twentieth year in print and continues to be a practical guide in contemplative prayer.
A sustaining member of the Junior League of Houston, Jeanie has served on numerous boards and committees, including the editorial board of Interfaith Ministries in Houston, the Spiritual Formation Task Force and the Coordinating Council of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Jeanie Miley has been married to Martus Miley since December, 1967, and they are the parents of three adult daughters and grandparents of eight.
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