I hope your week is off to a great start! It is hard to believe we are at the end of September. I guess the saying is true, “time flies when you are having fun!” There are so many things happening in life and ministry that I am excited to finally get to share some of it with you.
This season is a season of holy stretching. It reminds me of a quote by Pope Francis that says, “Jesus is the Lord of risk. Following Jesus demands a good dose of courage, a readiness to trade in the sofa for a pair of walking shoes and to set out on new and uncharted paths.” Well, Jesus has invited me to have a good dose of courage, to get off the sofa, to strap on my running shoes, and head into new and unchartered waters. I feel I am living the daily swings of consolation and desolation as I seek to live into the new waters of faith and of ministry. Moments of absolutely certainty, of hope, and of trust in my next right step and then crashing waves of doubt, of fear, and of confusion. God continues to work through the Holy Spirit helping me find my path.
Top of my list to share with you is that for the first time in many years I am not alone in my day-to-day ministry work! When God called me to full time retreat work, spiritual direction and writing, it meant letting go of being part of an organization. There have always been colleagues, friends, and organizations that I collaborate with, but at times the day-to-day work felt lonely. To be honest, when my book came up in March 2017 it changed a lot of things. I had no idea what it meant to have a book out in the world! As ministry grew and the needs and hungers of people became more apparent to me, I felt like I could no longer keep up with it by myself and still honor the calls to marriage and motherhood.
Well- not anymore!!! I want to introduce you to two amazing women who joined me this past year who both have a heart and passion for helping people grow in their relationship with God. Bonus is they both know and love Ignatian spirituality also. Read about them below.
The holy stretching doesn't stop there. Please keep reading below for exciting updates on all that the Holy Spirit is stirring:
Know that you are on my daily prayer list. I pray in gratitude each morning for you, for your gift of faith, and for your “yes” to what God is asking each one of you. I also pray that all your needs are tended to by God in the ways God knows you need.
Let’s continue to pray for each other as we embrace courage, get off the sofa, put on our running shoes, and head boldly in the direction of the unchartered path God is inviting us to take!
Peace,
Becky
Introducing...
Kathy Powell While her official title involves marketing and strategic projects, her role is epitomized as amplifier of the Good News! Kathy and I met when I lived in Georgia. We were introduced because of our involvement in Charis Ministries, a Jesuit Retreat Ministry, for those in their 20s and 30s. At the time she was Director of Marketing for Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center in Atlanta, which is where my Certificate of Spiritual Direction program through Spring Hill College was based. She and I would meet before almost every class I had when I drove in from Athens, GA. Our coffee chats were full of conversations about our families, but at some point we would always end up talking about faith, our own relationship with God and ministry. Even after I moved away from Georgia in 2012, Kathy and I stayed in touch. Sometime in 2017, I reached out to ask her if she would just start brainstorming with me once a quarter like we used to do. These quarterly chats turned into a part-time role that involves spreading the Good News via marketing and helping birth big projects into life! You can reach her here.
Charlotte Phillips I am very excited for Charlotte to join the team! Charlotte and I met over twenty years ago when we both attended a Catholic Leadership Institute. Our paths crossed again a few years back when she attended an Ignatian preached retreat I gave. As we caught up, I learned that she had attended Spring Hill College and her profession was ministry having taught in Catholic Schools and also worked at parishes. She shared her heart for ministry and for Ignatian spirituality and her desire to find something that could be done while raising her four children. As I continued to pray and discern if it was time to expand the team again, her name continued to come up in prayer. She has a gift for detail, for brainstorming, for helping others get to know God, and for guiding others in prayer. She is steeped in scripture and a vast knowledge of faith and loves retreat ministry! Local Louisiana people, you might see her at a retreat with me! You can reach her here.
Women of the Well
In addition to the news of Kathy and Charlotte, I am excited to announce the launch of a ministry that one of my dearest friends, Stephanie Clouature Davis, and I unexpectedly co-founded—Women of the Well. This ministry began in December 2017 after a group of women in our region met to discuss the needs we saw, to pray, and to discern together our response. The idea came to try out an Advent evening of reflection. We were shocked when almost 200 women walked in the door the first night! Since that first evening of reflection, almost 1,000 women have attended one of the evenings of reflection. The core team of women who began this ministry remains and continues to expand. There are now over twenty women who continue to meet, to pray, and to discern what God is asking of us to respond to the needs of our local region. We now have a website, a mission, a logo, a board, chairs/co-chairs! Holy wow! Just typing it surprises me still. We are excited to continue to offer our evenings of reflection and also add in this year two days of reflection, spiritual direction, service, and resources for prayer. Please keep us in your prayers! We are trying to stay very faithful to discernment and letting the Spirit lead us to our next right step. Here is our new website to learn more! You can also follow Women of the Well on Facebook and Instagram.
New Book!
I literally cannot wait to share my new book with you! I feel like a kid at Christmas who knows a surprise and has to hold the surprise in until the appropriate time. Any day now I will have permission to release its title and launch date. I believe in the message of this book in a bone-deep kind of way. It is the Good News I feel we all need to hear over and over again right now. Writing this book has been a huge part of my past year, and while I am ready to have the details of writing behind me, I am really looking forward to birthing it out into the world. More to come on this very soon!
Online Discernment Retreat
Typing this next piece of news makes my heart beat a bit! Three years ago in prayer, an idea came about offering an online retreat with a focus on discernment. While the idea remained, the timing never seemed right. Well, God clearly opened doors to make this happen. That’s another story in of itself.
I feel I am in the right place now to answer this call. My hope is to bring St. Ignatius’ discernment wisdom to more people. It often feels like the best kept secret in our faith. Please keep me in your prayers. This is way out of my comfort zone. Yet, God keeps bringing unexpected support and resources to help make this happen. So, I am taking a deep breath and letting God guide me into new waters. I really hope you will join me when registration opens. Be on the lookout for the release of the Online Discernment Retreat this fall!
In preparation for this, our next blog series, Called and Listening, will be focused on discernment and how we can apply this in daily life. Starting next week, watch for a new post in your email each week.
Want to Share your Gifts & GET INVOLVED?!
As God keeps reminding me we are all not alone, I want to extend an invitation to you to be part of this ministry the Holy Spirit is unfolding. Here are a few ways to consider:
Are you a spiritual director? Our Online Busy Person’s Retreat continues to expand. If you are a spiritual director, would you be interested in accompanying people remotely via video or phone?
Do you have a desire to write? These past few months several series I ran on my website included other voices who have the gift to share a piece of Ignatian spirituality or prayer. Is there something you have hoped to write about and share with others?
Do you have a heart for our spiritual work of mercy, praying for the living and dead? Consider joining my prayer team! Each week, we pray for the intentions people post on social media. We also pray for all people who attend the retreats I facilitate.
Are you a woman in the South Louisiana area? Consider being part of Women of the Well by either attending an event or joining a committee to help offer the evenings of reflection.
Is there another gift you have that I didn’t mention, but you feel would align with the mission of inviting people deeper in their walk with Christ using the gifts of Ignatian Spirituality? Let me know!
Exploring Ignatius: Ignatian Spirituality for the Busy Person: Four week class starting October 17th at Imaculate Conception Catholic Church, Denham Spraings, LA. More info here. Register here.
Book Study: 6 week study of my book, Busy Lives and Restless Souls, with the Archdiocesean Spirituality Center, Archdicoese of New Orleans starting Tuesday, Oct. 22 at 10:00 – 11:30 am or 7:00 – 8:30 pm, St. Peter’s Lacour Center, Reserve. More info here.
Women of the Well Day of Reflection: October 23, 2019, Is It You, God?, St. Gabriel, LA. Register here.
Holy Rosary Women’s Night: November 11, 2019, Making Room in the Busyness, St. Amant, LA. More info here.
While her official title involves marketing and strategic projects, her role is epitomized as amplifier of the Good News! Kathy and I met when I lived in Georgia. We were introduced because of our involvement in 
I am very excited for Charlotte to join the team! Charlotte and I met over twenty years ago when we both attended a Catholic Leadership Institute. Our paths crossed again a few years back when she attended an Ignatian preached retreat I gave. As we caught up, I learned that she had attended Spring Hill College and her profession was ministry having taught in Catholic Schools and also worked at parishes. She shared her heart for ministry and for Ignatian spirituality and her desire to find something that could be done while raising her four children. As I continued to pray and discern if it was time to expand the team again, her name continued to come up in prayer. She has a gift for detail, for brainstorming, for helping others get to know God, and for guiding others in prayer. She is steeped in scripture and a vast knowledge of faith and loves retreat ministry! Local Louisiana people, you might see her at a retreat with me! You can reach her 
In addition to the news of Kathy and Charlotte, I am excited to announce the launch of a ministry that one of my dearest friends, 
