While Becky Eldredge sat and had one of her last conversations with her grandfather, he asked her for one thing:
“Becksa, promise me you’ll tell people that they are not alone. Promise me you will not stop what you are doing and will keep sharing the Good News with others.”
Eldredge fulfilled her promise. In her second book, The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God, she shares the gift given to each of us: the inner chapel, and how visiting it allows us to discover the promises of God.
The Inner Chapel: Embracing the Promises of God guides readers in entering their inner chapel, a sacred space within us where God resides, through prayer and Ignatian spirituality practices. While offering practices on how to enter the inner chapel, each chapter provides an opportunity to reflect on a certain promise of God.
Reflecting on events in her own life, Eldredge writes about the many promises of God present in our everyday lives. These include:
We Are Never Alone: God is always with us, even in our times of loneliness and despair. In these times we must embrace God’s gift of the inner chapel and be comforted knowing he is always present. We Are Loved—Unconditionally: Eldredge reminds us that we are loved by God and we have to increase our capacity to receive God’s love for us. By opening to God’s love, we are able to love others in ways we never thought possible, which internally pulls us to share the good news of this promise with others. We Have a Companion in Suffering: Recalling her grandfather’s battle with brain cancer, Eldredge discovers our companion in suffering—God. In the same way God companioned Jesus in his suffering, God companions us in ours. We are never alone because Jesus who suffered walks with us. Each of Us Has a Unique Call: We all are invited by God to understand and use the unique gifts he gave us. Through discernment, we are guided in saying yes to Jesus and allowing his gifts to guide our true calling.
In this episode, Valeria Teles interviews Becky Eldredge.
Becky is an Ignatian-trained spiritual director, retreat facilitator, and author. She invites people deeper in their walk with Christ through facilitating retreats and days of reflection, writing, online retreat experiences, and spiritual direction. Passionate about Ignatian spirituality and teaching people how to pray, Becky leans on her twenty years of ministry experience to help people make room for God in the busyness and invite then into deeper relationship with God. Becky lives in Baton Rouge, LA, where she meets with men and women of all ages for monthly spiritual direction and leads people through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. She directs in-person days of reflections and retreats, as well as online retreats to make the Ignatian retreat experience accessible to all, and is co-founder of the women's ministry, Women of the Well. In addition, she offers weekly reflections on her own website, www.beckyeldredge.com, as well as reflections on Loyola Press' Ignatian Spirituality blog, dotMagis. She shares life with her husband and three children.
To learn more about Becky Eldredge please visit her website: www.beckyeldredge.com
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** Bio intro and outro one by Heidi Lynn Peters.
