My conversation with God

I've been thinking about God a lot lately... We are at a bit of a rough patch in our relationship, and that's okay. Sometimes relationships go through rough patches. But while thinking about God and about His role in my life, I was reminded of an amazing experience I had in January of this year. I felt God's presence in my life in a way that I'd never felt Him before; it was like He was physically... THERE. So present. And recalling this experience, I felt so much love and gratitude for Him. It is an important recollection for me to have, as it shows me that He is there no matter how I feel sometimes.

In late January, I was driving up to Vancouver, B.C., to visit my Persian buddies. I had just sent a weird email to a couple of friends about some things I was going through, and was not too happy about my decision to send it. On top of that, I was feeling bad about some other things, and was berating myself over all these real and perceived mistakes I had made. Vinnie was in the backseat and, being a typical dog and being sensitive to my feelings, could tell that I was really upset. He kept pacing back and forth, whining in my ear, trying to give me a kiss to comfort me, and he just couldn't seem to get settled. What was interesting was that his inability to settle down was what I had been feeling since I returned from my trip to Ethiopia. I kept stumbling, kept trying to get my footing, and just couldn't seem to do so.

Then suddenly, amidst all the negative self-talk, I said, "Stop. You are amazing." But here's the wonderful/surreal/fascinating part: I felt it was God speaking. It came from my mouth but the words were not from me. I had been so distraught up until that moment, and in a second, it was replaced by love, gentleness, and forgiveness. The words kept coming. "All you have to do is be loving and gentle and kind, to yourself and others. And stay with me." I was speaking but again, it felt like God talking, saying to me, "Stay with me, just stay with me." I felt something along the lines of, "What if it were just you and me (God)? No one else, just you and me? Would you be okay with that?" Before, on the drive, I was worried about friendships, family stuff, other people in my life. And during this calm moment, my brain kept wanting to go back to thinking about other people and how I was letting them down, but each time I would try to go back there, I heard, "Stay with me." Just a gentle reminder to think only of God right then. And then I realized that life could be great with just me and God, that He was the most important being, presence, in my life, and every other person was like a "bonus." People in my life were all gifts from God, like extra blessings beyond the blessing that God is. I suddenly felt so independent, so free, of everything. I was still conscious of the issues and challenges that had distressed me, but I felt okay with however things worked out. Every time I worried I would again hear, "Stay with me." I took it as my directive to mentally and spiritually stay close to God. This thought, this directive, continued for another 30 minutes. The words were so loving and gentle, clear, eloquent, not from me! Just a steady stream of everything I needed to hear.

Also during this time, I felt so warm. I'd been cold on the drive up, and even pretty cold since I'd returned from Ethiopia. It was a weird feeling, as I usually NEVER get cold. I just couldn't seem to warm up. But for those 30 minutes until I reached my destination, I felt so physically warm. And, another interesting thing happened: at one point I looked back and saw that Vinnie had settled down and was snoozing. My frantic voice had worried him, but once God started talking, he was fine.

I'd never had an experience like this before. It may have been a once in a lifetime experience, or maybe not. But whatever it was, I am so grateful. And now, when God and I are talking and I'm trying to learn more about Him, and to see where our relationship goes from here, recalling this experience helps me feel so close to Him.

Lift your head up - What Vinnie taught me while he was wearing The Cone of Shame

                Right now, Vinnie and I are in the middle of a dog-sitting assignment. He accompanies me on all my dog-sitting gigs; he has a wonderful time playing with the dogs, checking out all their toys, and exploring their yard.

                Sometime during this current gig, Vinnie came in from the backyard with some blood lining the perimeter of his right eye. After some examining (and a subsequent trip to the vet the next morning), I found out there were 3 different cuts along his eyelid. Not huge cuts, but something that I needed to deal with. We left the vet with some disinfectant and, you guessed it, The Cone of Shame so Vinnie wouldn’t scratch it as he was healing. (For the reference, see one of the greatest, cutest, cleverest movies ever created). 

                I realized that I needed to take some practical steps with his injury. I needed to clean it every day, and make sure he was wearing his cone as much as possible, and reduce the amount of time he roughhoused with the other dogs. (Not only for his protection, but have you ever tried to wrestle someone who is wearing a cone? Ouch.)

                But along with the practical steps, I needed to take some spiritual steps. I needed to pray for the little guy. I needed to show him love and tenderness, as Jesus showed the people that he came into contact with. I needed to see Vinnie as God’s creation, as a beautiful creature who expressed God-like qualities such as affection, love, protectiveness towards me, curiosity, energy, zest for life, tenderness, crazy-puppy-like behavior (okay, that’s not really a God-like quality, but it’s still pretty endearing…). And I needed to realize that Vinnie isn’t my dog; he’s God’s dog. Even when I can’t protect him, I know that God can and will. I needed to remind myself of this, and see that everything is in God’s control.

                One of the messages that became so clear to me came from a simple line that I’ve repeatedly told Vinnie over the past week: “Lift your head up.” As he walks around with this cone, he is continually knocking the bottom of it against stairs, the floor, furniture, and whatever else happens to be lying around that Vinnie feels compelled to climb over. And each time he knocks the cone into something, the edge that is against his neck jabs into him, jolting him out of the intense focus that he seems to have on his desired destination. After a couple of collisions, the poor guy just stops where he is, sits down, and looks at me with a pathetic gaze. I can see the frustration in his face; he just wants to climb up the stairs and join the other 2 dogs on the deck! Is that too much to ask? At these times, I find myself saying, “Vinnie, lift your head up, bud. Lift the cone up.” That’s all it would take, just a slight inclination of his neck to bring the cone up far enough to clear any object he wants to overtake. If he’s having a particularly hard time, I will go over to him and gently lift the cone up myself, grabbing the top rim and tilting it up just enough, while pulling him slightly forward so he gets the idea that it is now safe to move ahead.

            After a couple days of helping him, I can see that Vinnie is making progress. He walks a little more carefully now, with a little more caution and calculation concerning his surroundings. He doesn’t want to get jolted backwards or stopped suddenly, just because he was a little overzealous or a little too eager to get to the food dish. When he moves slowly, he’s definitely not like the usual Crazy Vinnie who tears through the house. He just wants to be sure that his forward path is clear before making any sudden moves. But an amazing thing happens: when he lifts his head up, he knows that he can go quickly again. He can run down the hall, tail wagging, knowing that just by looking up, he will be safe and can move freely. When he tilts his neck upwards, he can practically fly, soar, crash into walls… just like what is typical for Crazy Vinnie. It’s amazing to see Vinnie figure this out, and act like “Vinnie.”

                I feel like I’ve had a similar experience lately. A few months ago, this past winter, I was having a hard time moving forward; emotionally, mentally, even maybe a little physically. I just felt that there were so many issues and so many problems, and each time I would try to overcome them or try to find a solution, I would hit a stumbling block. I got jolted backwards, I fell down, I couldn’t get up again… and if I tried and succeeded in getting up for half a minute, I would just fall down again, much harder than before. But even with all of these falls, each time I tried to stand up, I really just wanted to run. I wanted to reach as high as I could and stretch out my hand as far as it would go… Not just settle for feeling “all right,” but feel totally back on my feet again and totally stable, totally full of the life that I knew was inside me, feel the rainbows-and-balloons sensation of total joy. But I just couldn’t get there.

As I kept falling, again and again, I had so many people in my life who showed me so much love. Some people could see that I was falling, and others had no idea but were loving nonetheless, just because they love continually and unconditionally as part of their nature. And each expression of love that I experienced touched my heart. I didn’t know what was happening with me and I felt like I was in a scary place, but quite frequently there would be an instant, a moment, that was so full of love, and this was such a support to me. It was definitely the silver lining.

                After 6 weeks of this up-and-down rising-and-falling nonsense, I decided that I was going to take it slowly. I decided that I wasn’t going to hit the ground running. It only took Vinnie about 2 days what it took me 6 weeks to learn! (It’s okay… I don’t mind if Vinnie shows me up from time to time.) Like Vinnie, I was just going to take it easy, and make sure there wasn’t anything in my way before I started running. This was my philosophy behind it: When you’re struggling and not at your optimal performance level, why run straight at a hurdle that you’re not sure you can clear? If you’re feeling great, feeling ready, then go for it. But if you’ve fallen down a dozen times recently, start with smaller hurdles. Go slowly, practice, breathe… and then, when you know you’re ready, take on that big hurdle!

So I went slowly, and didn’t try any large hurdles… just the small ones that I was confident I could do. During this time, which was over several months, I discovered that there were still some things I needed to figure out. I wasn’t falling down like before, but I was still bumping into things. I didn’t feel like I was able to move freely, and I didn’t feel like “Katie Brotten.” I just felt like a toned-down, less energetic, less “Katie” version of myself. And then one day, I fell down again pretty hard. It was like before, when I had tried to move too quickly and wasn’t ready… Except this time I had been moving so slowly, and still fell down! I was immediately jolted out of the slow, ambling pace that I had been keeping for a number of months. I thought that by moving slowly, I would be safe, but that was not the case. I didn’t know what happened, or how to help myself out of it. I was scared.

It was time to make a change. Like Vinnie, I needed to lift my head up if I was going to clear the obstacles in my path. I just wouldn’t be able to move forward without doing so. It is one thing to move carefully and cautiously, but if your head is still down, you are going to bump into things no matter how slowly you move. And to really be able to take on life at the speed I wanted to, I was going to need to look up.

At this time, a good friend did something for me, which, while on a much larger scale, had some similarities to what I did for Vinnie. Similar to how I tilted the rim of his cone so that he could maneuver the path and move forward safely, this friend gave me a hand when I most desperately needed it. Like Vinnie, I was struggling with the most basic steps forward. I just wanted to stop there, in the middle of the hallway, and just be done. Not play with the other dogs, not go and get a toy, not go explore the backyard; just be done. In addition to meeting me where I was, where I had fallen, to give me a gentle lift to my feet, she also helped me see the different options that I could take and prompted me to move forward on my own path. And above all, she reminded me where the true source of everything good is; she helped me lift my thought to God. I was reminded that there is so much more when we just look up. We do not have to be stuck in one spot, to forever bump up against obstacles and become immobilized by the “cones” that we wear, whether we choose to wear them or they are placed upon us in one way or another. There is indeed a way to move forward, many ways, and if we try a path and it doesn’t work, we must move on to the next one. And the whole time, we can lift our gaze and our thoughts and our energy upward… This is essential in moving forward.

Vinnie gets his cone off in a couple of days, and he’ll be back to the wild and crazy kid I love; unobstructed and unfettered by anything that would dare to stand in his way. And I’m taking my cone off too; it doesn’t suit me. But, regardless of the tough times spent stumbling and falling, I have such an immense feeling of gratitude. It’s astounding to me how much gratitude I have felt during this time, the toughest time I have ever experienced in my life. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from these experiences, and to learn more about myself and about God. I am grateful for the love that was so overpowering and so present in those times, the love from God, from friends, from family. And I’m so grateful for every kind word, smile, expression of love, and for every person who reached down and lifted my cone up a bit, helped me to keep my eyes on God as I continue to move forward.

Fixing the Pecan Pie (not a story about pie)

A cool analogy popped into my mind last night. I was doing some self-reflection, and I suddenly thought of a funny story involving my friend's father. Several years ago, he made a pecan pie one night, to serve at a dinner party the next day. It came out of the oven and it looked delicious. However, at 2am that night he awoke suddenly as he realized he had forgotten to add the butter! He looked at his beautiful pie, thought about what to do, and then decided that he was not going to throw it away. Why give up on something that could be so good, so delicious, so perfect? So he grabbed the right amount of butter, melted it, and slowly poured the liquified butter over the top of the pie. His hope was that it would sink in and taste just as good as if he had included it originally. 

As I was doing some self-reflection, I was wondering if it was too late to to add a key ingredient to my life. Was it too late to significantly change what had already been formed in earlier years? I was stuck in a thought pattern that was not beneficial to me in any way... but just waiting on the outside was something completely different, something that could really change my life for the better. Something that was trying to sink into my thoughts and my outlook, much like the butter was sinking into the pie. Would it work? Was there hope?

I kept thinking about how we can get stuck in certain thought patterns and behaviors, even after we've outgrown them and they are of no use to us anymore. Maybe these thoughts and behaviors stem from things we were told as kids, maybe they are negative thoughts that we replay in our mind over and over, maybe they come to us through society or our culture. But if they are no longer useful to us, why don't we cast them off?

Think about people who have gone through trauma. War veterans. Domestic violence/child abuse survivors. They are often stuck with certain thought patterns, PTSD, survival techniques, things that probably saved their life when they needed those skills and techniques. But once the trauma has passed, once the war is over, once the spouse leaves the unsafe home, these skills and techniques are no longer needed. The tricky part is unlearning all that they have learned about the world and about life. What once saved their life in the war may now hinder the life they are trying to live when they return home. For domestic violence survivors, they succeeded by overcoming the challenges at home, but often they fall into similar experiences or continue to choose partners that also abuse them. Why? As humans we are often creatures of habit... Does this mean we are really stuck? Or is there hope that we can unlearn these habits, these patterns, that are so debilitating now that the storm has passed?

We want to cast off this old, outgrown thinking. The bible tells a story of a blind man who left the old behind as he ventured forth for the new. "And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus" (Mark 10:50). He left behind what he was used to, what he had been stuck with, when he met Jesus. And he walked away, seeing.

But while we want to throw off the old ways of thinking for the new, we don't want to throw away ourselves. Audrey Hepburn puts it nicely: "People... have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone."

As for the pie, it was delicious. It really turned out all right, and it was able to absorb the butter very nicely. It wasn't a "throw-away" pie; it was a beautiful masterpiece, just like us.

A Commitment to Heal

I recently became a member of The Mother Church, and I am so excited to have made this commitment. It has helped me feel more of a part of something that I have always cared so deeply about. In being a member, I feel more connected to the goals of the Church and the goals of Christian Scientists—to be healers for their individual communities and for the whole world.

In November, 2011, after becoming a member, I visited Boston for the first time, to see The Mother Church. It was something I had wanted to do for a long time, and being there was an amazing experience. During my time in Boston, I met so many people who all seemed to share the same love for Christian Science and healing that I have. Seeing their commitment re-enforced my original reason for becoming a member of The Mother Church, which was to become more directly involved in the Christian Science movement and to do whatever I could to support the progress of the movement and the Church.

I feel that being a member of The Mother Church comes with its responsibilities. We don’t become members to simply be passive attendees at church, or to just have a piece of paper that says we are a member; there is more to it than that. I think that as church members, one of our responsibilities is to “stand porter at the door of thought” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 392). We must guard our thought, so that it is protecting and caring for the Church, Christian Science, and the world.

So far membership in The Mother Church has been such a blessing. Becoming a member has made me feel stronger and more supported as I work to achieve my goal of becoming a better healer, and possibly a future full-time Christian Science practitioner. Membership was a way to show my commitment to Christian Science. It was also a commitment to myself—to continue with my prayers and with my study as a serious student of this Science.

Traveling and always having a sense of "home"

I love to travel. I love going to new places, eating new food, meeting new people, listening to new music, hearing new languages, taking new pictures. And sometimes when I travel, no matter how much fun I am having or how much I am enjoying all of the new things, I think about home. I tend to travel by myself for the most part, and sometimes I just want somebody or something familiar around me. I want to call a friend back home, or eat some familiar food, or listen to some familiar music. I bring my bible wherever I go (actually, on this last trip to Ethiopia, my bible was on my phone which made it extremely portable), and that always helps. God's love is always familiar and is always present, wherever we are in the world.

When I'm feeling homesick, I seek out people or experiences that have positive connotations for me. I think everyone probably does the same. If you drink coffee and are in a foreign country, aren't you relieved when you see a Starbucks? When I was with a group of teachers in China, some people did not like having dumplings for breakfast, and each morning they would make a beeline for the nearby McDonald's. However, when I first started traveling (I think my first overseas trip was to Spain/Andorra in 2003), I was surprised that I even thought about home. I had wanted to travel so badly, and then here I was, all by myself in Europe and having the time of my life. Why was I thinking of home as if I wanted to be there? But I was. And my first instinct was to go find a Persian restaurant.

One of my best friends is Persian, and her family sort of became my 2nd family. They essentially adopted me into their family, even though I was 20 years old at the time I met them. Spending so much time with them, naturally becoming a part of the family, was one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to me.

So when I traveled, it became a habit to get off the plane, get settled in to my hostel or hotel or friend's house, and then seek out the nearest Persian restaurant to kind of ease into my new surroundings. Some places were more diverse than others, and in some places it was pretty difficult or impossible to find anything different from the prominant culture. And that was okay too. After all, the new culture/people/food were the reasons I traveled in the first place.

In the past couple of years, this has shifted a bit. I travel to a new place, get settled, and then, instead of seeking out a Persian place right away, I seek out a Christian Science church or organization or Reading Room (the Google search for "Persian restaurant" comes 2nd :). I have been attending a Christian Science church pretty regularly for 3 years now, and it is like a second home to me. I also really enjoy meeting people in other cities and countries who attend Christian Science churches. I feel like when I am in a new place and don't know anyone, don't know the landscape, don't know the food, I can walk into a CS church and feel like I sort of know what's going on. I feel a sense of familiarity with the lesson (the same CS lesson is read all around the world on any given Sunday), the music in the hymnals, and sometimes even the people there. The CS community is pretty big, but small enough that I recognize names and faces from articles that they have written in the periodicals. Or maybe I attended a lecture that they gave when they traveled to Seattle. Or maybe they are a friend of a friend of someone who goes to my church back home. Whatever the case may be, it feels like home when I walk into a Christian Science branch church, no matter what city or state or country I'm in at the time.

It is funny how our sense of home changes and shifts throughout our lives. I still always make sure to look for Persian restaurants, because Persians will always signify "home" to me. But my sense of home is broadening and widening as I learn more and live more. And with each new experience, I find that there are always things, both little and big, that give me yet another feeling of being at home. It may be a dog park on a busy thoroughfare in Barcelona; a gelato shop in Ethiopia; a Shakira song playing in every Peruvian store and cafe, the same song that played in Seattle months before leaving for Peru. These things all make me feel at home, and feel connected to the place I happen to be in at that moment.

At one point I feel that the world will not seem quite so big. We are all connected, all wonderful beings, all a part of this beautiful existence. We are always home.

Hitting the Financial Wall?

This is an experience I had recently, in the past couple of weeks. Sometimes I'm amazed at the number of blessings in my life, and how they come about. Always a surprise and always a gift.

A couple of weeks ago I thought I had hit my financial wall. My roommate moved out in early December and I had made the choice to, for the time being, not advertise for another roommate. I opted to live by myself and see how that played out financially. However, in the few months since December, things seemed to get tighter and tighter, money-wise. From the material standpoint, I faced a daunting challenge. I did the math again and again, and it just didn't seem as though I could continue living by myself and also pay the mortgage. Also, there were a number of projects and activities that I was (and am currently) working on, and these projects, while inspired by love and good intentions, did not seem to be helping the financial picture. To sum it up, I was starting to feel as if I was speeding head-on towards an impenetrable wall.

I spoke with a dear friend about this, and was gently reminded that God is always there with me. We talked about how it was guaranteed that the resources would be provided; we are God's children and He cares for us. Our future is secure, our present -- our NOW -- is secure, our health is secure, our well-being is secure. My friend's loving comments, inspired by Truth and God's word, were such a relief to me. For the next few days, I thought about the concept of always being provided for, of always being in the presence of God's Love and care and generosity.

Mary Baker Eddy has a statement in her book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures that talks about this divine provision: "Divine Love always has met and always will meet every human need" (Pg. 494). I thought about this, and prayed to see how this would be manifested in my life. And then things started to happen, 1 by 1, and the situation didn't seem nearly as challenging as before.

Some of these happenings seemed to be so random, but I knew that these things were all orchestrated by God. In the book of Romans it says, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good" (Romans 8:28). For example, I was driving up to Canada for the weekend and remembered that I had a bank account in Bellingham, which is between my current home and Canada. The account was from my days at Western Washington University, and the bank account still had some money in it. I checked my wallet and sure enough, the debit card was still there and was current. A few days before, I had received a random check in the mail (a Jiffy Lube rebate) that I had forgotten about. And even the smallest things were so appreciated and, frankly, made me realize that God was looking out for me and maybe even had a bit of a sense of humor about it. I laughed one afternoon while I was walking Vinnie, my dog. He stopped somewhere and was sniffing something; I looked down, and he had found a crisp $1 bill in the grass. So small, but it was just a reminder that things happen in ways we would never even think of. Furthermore, if I could train Vinnie to sniff out money, that would be something else...

I was already feeling pretty good at this point; not because the material situation had changed that much, but because I was feeling God's presence and realizing that I didn't have to worry. These events were like little gifts, and they gave me hope that things were going to be all right. In the next few days, I received 2 inquiries about dogsitting, something that I do on the side for friends and coworkers. A few other things happened over a course of 2 weeks that were just more reminders of God's constant care and love.

As I thought about the above quote from Mary Baker Eddy, and thought about the recent blessings I was allowing myself to be aware of, I also was reminded of a similar experience a few months before when I was preparing to go on my trip to London and Ethiopia. The financial situation seemed a bit grim then too, but in wonderful and unexpected ways, everything was completely provided for. I hadn't needed to worry. In that situation, I was starting the preliminary steps to establish my non-profit, and was buying plane tickets to Ethiopia and back. At the same time, I still needed to put time and money into the non-profit to get as much work done on it as I could before I reached Ethiopia; once I got there, I wasn't sure how much time I would have for paperwork and for getting things in order, so I wanted the organization to be up and running by then.

But... things kept happening before I left for Ethiopia and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to go. And with each thing that happened, there was suddenly a solution. My car broke down a couple of times right before I was going to buy the plane tickets, but a mechanic friend fixed it for me both times. One evening, I wasn't sure how I was going to afford to buy gas for my car to get to work the next morning. I was packing for my trip and cleaning my room at the same time, and as I was cleaning, I found a gas gift card that I hadn't used yet. Also while cleaning my room, I found a bunch of foreign currency (bills from Malaysia, Thailand, China) that I hadn't yet exchanged at the bank. Also in the weeks before I left for my trip, I experienced so much love and support from my friends and family; it was so heart-warming. I don't even remember talking about the tight situation that I thought I was in, but it didn't matter that I hadn't talked about it; God knew, and that was all that mattered. People reached out and helped me with everything that I needed. It was remarkable.

There are so many things that we don't know, so many situations we are faced with that may seem difficult or extreme or impossible... And in my experience, it seems that the solutions come in ways that I never would have expected. God provides so much good in our lives, so many gifts and blessings, and I find that when I take a deep breath and trust in Him, I enjoy seeing how all of these things unfold. It is always a surprise, always a blessing, and I'm so grateful.

My 1st Physical Healing

I am relatively new to Christian Science, having attended my local branch church in Bothell, WA, just in the past couple of years. I was not raised in the church, but rather learned about it from a coworker of mine, who is now a dear friend. Before this time, I had heard of Christian Science but hadn’t really known what it was. But as I learned more about the church and about its founder, Mary Baker Eddy, I became more interested and started attending Wednesday evening testimony meetings and Sunday services.

About a year ago, I had my first physical healing as a student of Christian Science: a healing of severe menstrual cramps. This is something that I had suffered from for over 15 years, and that I had just accepted as part of my reality. On this particular day in October 2010, it seemed worse than ever. I was at work and I didn’t seem to be able to do much more than just slump over my desk. Every once and a while I would try to sit up and answer some emails, but it was not a very productive morning at all. I tried to move around a little; I tried to drink some water, but no matter what I did, the pain did not abate.

After about 3 hours of this, the thought came to me to talk with my friend. I walked over, sat down, and shared with her what I was struggling with. This friend took one look at me, gave me a loving smile, and told me that I did not need to believe in this lie of discomfort and pain. She talked about the story from Genesis of Adam and Eve, and how the claim that there was a curse on women from Eve's sin was not true. She said that I did not have to accept this into my reality, and that I was God’s beautiful daughter, wholly spiritual. She reminded me that we were made in the image and likeness of God, and we could trust “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). She told me that we were blessed, not cursed, and we didn’t have to put up with anything less than good.

We talked for only about 5 minutes, but when I stood up I noticed that the pain was significantly less. A minute later, it was completely gone. Furthermore, I don't experience this pain anymore, and it has been such a freedom for me.

This first healing means a lot to me as it was a turning point in my study of Christian Science. It was an example in my own life that I could base other healings on, and it has also helped me in talking with other people about Christian Science and its healing effect. Shortly after this healing, I became more involved in church, and am now a member of my branch church and of the Mother Church. I am so overjoyed to have experienced such a wonderful expression of God’s healing love.