About Leslie
Founder of Seed Deep Abbey · Spiritual Director · Formation Guide
I believe that some of the most formative moments of our lives come disguised as loss, disruption, and unraveling.
Moments when what once held us no longer does.
When faith feels thin, unable to bear the weight of our lived experience.
When identity loosens…or dissolves.
When the questions deepen, but the answers remain elusive.
Seed Deep Abbey was born from living through those moments - and learning how to rise as a new creation in Christ.
A Clear Calling
For many years, my life appeared stable from the outside. I was married for over two decades, deeply committed to my faith, and faithfully serving in the Church.
Then everything I had built my identity around began to come apart.
As I moved through menopause, the loss of a 22-year marriage, and the profound renovation of my sense of self, I found myself in one of the most spiritually formative seasons of my life — and also one of the most unsupported.
What I needed in that season was not answers or advice.
I needed acceptance.
Compassion.
Grace.
Witnessing.
And faithful companionship.
Instead, I often encountered silence, confusion, or judgment from communities that did not know how to walk with a woman whose life was changing so deeply. The Church, as I experienced it then, had few supporting or caring containers for grief, identity loss, or transformation that did not neatly or quickly resolve.
That experience changed me - and clarified my calling.
Community is Key
Healing did not begin for me in isolation.
It began when I returned to a spiritually and relationally safe community in seminary — a place where my story was received without urgency, my questions were honored, and my pain was treated as meaningful rather than problematic.
In that space of attentive listening and faithful presence, I began to understand what had happened — not as failure, but as formation.
I learned that transformation does not happen because someone fixes us.
It happens because we are accompanied with care.
Seed Deep Abbey exists because too many women walk through the most formative seasons of their lives without spiritual shelter. I created the Abbey to offer what I needed then — and what so many women are intensely longing for now.
Seed Deep Spiritual Formation
My Work
…is grounded in Christian spiritual formation, contemplative practice, and the conviction that healing unfolds gradually, relationally, and with reverence for your story.
I do not believe in rushing.
I do not believe in bypassing.
I do not believe in performance.
I do believe that God meets us in the places where we feel undone.
I believe our bodies carry wisdom.
I believe questions are often more faithful than certainty.
I believe identity is received, not achieved.
And I believe we are healed in relationship.
These convictions shape every aspect of Seed Deep Abbey — from courses, to spiritual direction, to community life.
My Role
…is to:
listen carefully
ask meaningful, thought-provoking and heart-opening questions
help you notice where God may already be at work
offer language and practices that support discernment
tend the rhythm and safety of the space
At times, elements of coaching may emerge — especially around clarity, agency, and integration — but always within a larger posture of spiritual accompaniment.
I trust the leading and pace of the Spirit.
I trust your interior wisdom.
And I trust that becoming whole can only be grown into.
Personal Formation & Background
My work is informed and supported by…
Formal theological and spiritual formation training
Masters in Spiritual Formation (Portland Seminary at George Fox University (grad. Spring 2027)
Certification in Pastoral Care at Exchanged Life Ministries
Spiritual direction and mentoring at Renew Ministries at Northpoint Community Church
Lived personal experience of grief, identity loss and identity reformation
Divorce & loss of foundational relationships
Abuse recovery
Codependency recovery
Family relationship recovery
Financial and material prosperity recovery
Menopause (!)
Recovery of vocation and calling
Ongoing formation within trusted spiritual communities
Discerner in The Companions of the Holy Cross
Seminary cohort and spiritual direction
Personal spiritual direction and mentorship
Personal therapy
Why Seed Deep Abbey?
Seed Deep is a response…
A response to women who feel spiritually homeless.
A response to those whose lives no longer fit tidy narratives.
A response to the absence of safe, formational space for midlife transformation.
A response to the need for accompaniment rather than answers.
The Abbey is a place for healing, formation, and becoming — held within the steady presence of God and a community that knows how to listen. 🕊️
A Gentle Invitation
If you are walking through a season of transition…
If your faith feels tender or uncertain…
If you are lost, hurt, grieving or mad as hell…
If you are longing to be accompanied rather than managed…