Christian Science in Burien, Washington

First Church of Christ, Scientist, Burien

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Healings Blog

Christian Scientists strive to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, just as all Christians do. We believe that healing is an important part of those teachings. Much of the Master’s life was devoted to showing his disciples how to do the works that he did and he sent those disciples into the world to do just that. As modern-day disciples of Christ Jesus, we also strive to demonstrate healing of physical, moral, relationship, and other daily challenges through a growing understanding of the scientific Christianity that he lived.

This section is for our members to share their healing experiences with you. We hope you will be encouraged, inspired and healed when reading their testimonies.

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Testimony of Shoulder Paralysis Healing

Testimony of Shoulder Paralysis Healing

On a Saturday morning recently, I began watering the front yard. I set the timer for 15 minutes and laid down on the sofa. When the timer rang, I attempted to get up, but there was no sensation in my shoulder. I couldn’t move it at all; it was completely paralyzed.

I panicked at first – how was I going to usher at church tomorrow if I couldn’t even drive? What had I done wrong? Then I realized I had done nothing wrong. This was not my fault. In Christian Science, we learn that we are spiritual. Matter is nothing. This is explained in the Scientific Statement of Being, on page 468 of Science and Health, written by Mary Baker Eddy. The statement ends with “Spirit is God, and man is His image and likeness. Therefore man is not material; he is spiritual.”

I slowly got up and turned off the timer and sprinkler. For inactivity claims, I remembered from Science and Health, page 427, “There is no death, inaction, diseased action nor reaction.” In my prayer I added, “there is only God’s harmonious action.”

I also remembered an article a practitioner (one who is in the public practice of healing through spiritually-based prayer as taught in Christian Science) had once given me about the unreliability of the material senses called, “Truth’s Clear Vision” from the Christian Science Sentinel dated February 20, 1954, by Louie Allen. I was familiar with healings of sight and hearing, but this article mentioned feeling, too.  It says, “The claim of feeling ill, feeling pain, feeling loss and hurt and soreness, is healed over and over again when the truth is accepted that feeling is a divine faculty: that divine Love feels conscious of the existence of every idea, and every idea is feeling Love’s presence.” Every idea means each of us. This feeling is spiritual.

Also, I remembered a line from a recent testimony in another Sentinel that stated the testifier didn’t want just some pain relief, but perfection. So did I. Immediately the paralysis vanished. I was free! I danced around the kitchen saying, “Thank you God” over and over.

Of course, I ushered that Sunday, and gave this testimony the following Wednesday at church. Thank you, God!

Sue

Seatac, WA

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My Neck Was Healed Through Prayer

In January 2022 my neck started bleeding. As a Christian Scientist who has experienced many healings through prayer, I began praying, but when my praying didn’t improve the evidence, I called a Christian Science practitioner and teacher for more prayerful help. I also contacted a Christian Science nurse to bandage the area which was difficult for me to see due to the location.

Each day the practitioner emailed helpful ideas from the weekly Bible lesson. I also continued to pray for myself. I was taking notes daily on what I was reading and began a journal of some of the key ideas using just a few words such as “fear not”, “let God lead”, “watch and pray”.

Twice I went to Sunrise Haven, a Christian Science nursing facility, to be bandaged. There was improvement in the evidence by the second time. I started using smaller bandages, even cutting some in half. One day I forgot to bandage at all and no one said anything. After that I was less self-conscious and soon there was no evidence at all and the healing was complete. In August I finally released the practitioner from her steadfast help through prayer that she gave me daily all those weeks.

“Watch, watch, watch, work and pray” is my new daily prayer. Watch that I don’t let into thought ideas that are not from God. Watch that only good fills my consciousness. Watch that every word that comes to thought is a word from God, good. Work to express God with every thought I am thinking. Pray to let God be All-in-all in my experience.

I am most grateful for Christian Science.

Merry Ann

Burien WA

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Driveway Dispute Settled

About 12 years ago a beloved neighbor died.  His nephew sold the property to a man who intended to build a large house.

As the old house was demolished, a temporary orange fence was set up to keep their debris from spreading our way.  Unfortunately it severely limited the access to our shared driveway.

The man operating the large machinery tearing down the old house, boasted we would never get our truck down the narrower driveway again.  I found his attitude ugly and his swearing hard to deal with.  A few neighbors across the street even called our state’s Labor and Industries agency against him.  This stopped him from working for a while, because he had no license.

But talking to the contractor did no good.   We couldn’t convince him to restore the shared driveway.  So I contacted a Christian Science practitioner to ask her to pray with me about this situation.

She said that my identity was being challenged.  Mary Baker Eddy writes in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, on page 571, line 18: “Clad in the panoply of Love, human hatred cannot reach you.”  We were learning that the attitude being expressed here could not touch us.  Justice was the issue too.  We knew God was in charge.  He would show me what needed to be done.  “Justice and judgement are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.”  Psalms 89: 14.

We prayed to contradict every challenge that came up.  Our integrity was from God, not human will.  My husband continued moving his truck with caution up and down the driveway.  It was a tight squeeze.

The idea came to me to contact and consult our city’s offices for help.  They were able to provide aerial photos showing our property and our old neighbors had shared the same driveway for 15 years.

Unfortunately the next door contractor was stubborn and demanded on going to court to settle the driveway issue.  He had the money to go to court and we did not.  As I continued to pray with the practitioner, it seemed wise to hire a lawyer.  He told me eminent domain for the last ten years could be proved and asked me to assemble evidence for this case.

I had worked many years for the federal government and was used to preparing successful cases for audit reconsideration.  In our case I prepared old photos and the city’s aerial photos and other supporting documents.

It turned out that we didn’t go to court.  Instead the contractor finally suggested we arrive at an agreement ourselves.

We came up with an agreement to limit the new fence going down to the street.  It allowed us to once again use the shared driveway as we did before.  Also the city limited the spread of the new house by 13 feet our way.  It was a fair solution for all parties.

We thanked God for showing us the way.  As Mrs. Eddy says, “God’s law is in three words, ‘I am All:’ and this perfect law is ever present to rebuke any claim of another law.”  No and Yes, p. 30.

The family that bought this new house has proved to be great neighbors.  A nice ending to this story.

Sue

Seatac, WA

 

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Pain in groin healed

One Wednesday in September, 2018, as I returned home from morning errands, the left side of my groin started feeling uncomfortable. That afternoon, as the pain increased, I started praying about the situation. But in spite of my prayers, by about 3pm I began throwing up, and the pain had increased to the point that, although I had no idea what the condition was, I knew I needed help. I decided to phoned a Christian Science practitioner—a Christian Scientist who devotes their full time to helping others through prayer. The moment I explained the situation to her, she said: “You can’t be fooled, convinced of a lie. It’s not real‼!” This sense of the unreality of evil is Bible-based: “All things were made by him [God]; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:3); “God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31) So I knew that if God made all, and it was all good, evil had to be a lie, a false suggestion that I could reject. Mary Baker Eddy states in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures: “The notion that both evil and good are real is a delusion of material sense, which Science annihilates. Evil is nothing, no thing, mind, nor power. As manifested by mankind it stands for a lie, nothing claiming to be something…” (p330). As the practitioner prayed for me, I also prayed, holding to truths such as these.

I called her twice more that afternoon, as the pain continued to intensify. Finally, it became so severe that I called my girlfriend, and asked her if she could come over and drive me to a hospital to have the problem checked out. Now, please understand that this decision to go to a hospital was not easy for me, as I was accustomed to relying on Christian Science for my health needs, and had sought medical help only once since the 1970’s. But the pain was severe and debilitating enough that if Christian Science treatment wasn’t providing the needed relief, I was willing to try something else. So, I called the practitioner again, explaining my decision. She respected it, but said that if I wanted, she could continue giving me Christian Science treatment right up until the time any medical treatment would start. I told her yes—please continue praying.

My girlfriend picked me up about 5:30, and drove me to a local hospital. As we drove, the practitioner continued to pray, as did my girlfriend and I—holding to truths like the ones stated above. By the time we reached the hospital, the pain was just a little less. I asked if we could sit in the parking lot and continue praying, which we did. During that time I called the practitioner, letting her know of the slight improvement, and asked her to continue her prayerful work. I remember telling her with a lot of emotion that walking through those hospital doors would feel to me like going into a different world, which I did not want to do. She assured me there was nothing to fear and that she would stay with me in prayer. After about half an hour sitting in the parking lot, the pain was gone; and since it was a Wednesday evening, we drove straight to church for the regular Wednesday night testimony meeting. I called the practitioner again from the church parking lot, this time emotional over God’s goodness, and full of gratitude. I mentioned that it reminded me of Abraham sacrificing Isaac: he was willing to follow God’s orders until at the last instant he was told to stop, and sacrifice a goat instead. So it was with me—at the last minute, as we arrived at the hospital, the pain started to lessen, and I was spared of the ordeal of being analyzed and diagnosed from a purely material basis, when I knew that my real identity was purely spiritual.

During the church service, this Bible passage came to mind: For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, …” (Hebrews 4:12) This was just how this healing felt: quick and powerful, far more powerful than the lie of inharmony and pain. I was so grateful!

As we walked to the car after the service, some pain returned. I phoned the practitioner again, and she continued to work. That evening I lay on a sofa for about an hour, until the pain was gone, and went to bed. That was the last of it. I phoned the practitioner in the morning, again filled with gratitude for the healing, and for the recognition that any suggestion of evil is nothing but a lie that we can reject. I also learned that God’s Word is indeed quick and more powerful than a sword, and that my need was to focus entirely on Spirit. Eddy says, “Hold thought steadfastly to the enduring, the good, and the true, and you will bring these into your experience proportionably to their occupancy of your thoughts.” (Science and Health, p261). I am so grateful to God for His unlimited goodness and complete care.

Jim

Seattle WA

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Out of the Fog to Safety

Words fail to express my gratitude for the weekly Christian Science Bible lessons. When I read these lessons each month as a volunteer in two local jails, I love saying, “This is the same lesson-sermon that is read in every Christian Science church around the world.” To me it is so powerful that we are all hearing the very same words.We hear them in different ways of coursesince God speaks to us in a way we can individually understand. The habit of going to that Bible lesson each day for quiet time with God is powerful and has a healing effect.  It prepares me to meet whatever challenges come into my experience.

Some years ago, when our children were 12 and 13, my dad, husband, and the two children took two horses on the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington State planning to spend two nights covering the distance of 21 miles.

It was a beautiful warm Labor Day weekend when Mother and I saw them off on their adventure. However, the next morning the fog was so thick we could not see where the trail started into the woods. This was well before cell phones. There was no way to communicate.

Mother and I read the Bible lesson as we did every morning seekinginspiration to “see beyond this fog”—in other words, to see beyond fear and to know how to help in this situation. (I don’t recall the subject of the lesson for that week, but experience has shown that they are often very timely, addressing current needs and challenges.) Although the fog did not lift, a clear idea came to thought to fill up the camper with gas at the nearest station, which was some miles away. By noon they had not returned to the point where they entered the woods, as we thought they might since the fog was so heavy. Another idea came to go to where they had planned to come off the trail and wait there.

Part of our prayer included singing inspiring hymns from the Christian Science Hymnal. Hymn 304, with words by the Discover and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, reads in part, “Shepherd, show me how to go o’er the hillside steep, how to gather, how to sow,–how to feed Thy sheep; I will listen for Thy voice, lest my footsteps stray; I will follow and rejoice all the rugged way.” Hymn 139 states, “I walk with Love along the way, and O, it is a holy day; no more I suffer cruel fear, I feel God’s presence with me here; the joy that none can take away is mine; I walk with Love today.”

Just at dusk we heard the hooves of the horses and my dad and daughter came out of the mist. Because we were there a day early they could quickly get into the camper and warm up. I took one horse back toward the fog they had come out of to find my husband and son.

Later we heard the story of their last 24 hours. During their lunch that day the horses bolted back toward the way they had come in with all the gear tied to the saddles. My dad and the others ran through the forest and caught the horses before they had gone too far, so they did not lose their transportation, food, and equipment.

They were all mighty pleased we were at the pickup point 24 hours ahead of schedule. I loaded the horses in the trailer and drove the pickup truck home.

Thank you, God for telling us just what to do and when to do it so as to have a harmonious outcome with everyone safe and sound. Thank you, Christian Science Publishing Society for the weekly Bible lessons, which are foundational to my daily study to keep thoughts focused on God and his good creation. As stated in Jeremiah 21:11 (NKJV), “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Merry Ann

Normandy Park

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What is Truth?

What is Truth?

I would like to express gratitude for continual healings in the study and practice of Christian Science.

I think it is true we all have a desire for understanding the big questions in life:  “Who am I?”  “What am I doing here?” and “What is my purpose?”

There is a natural desire to know and love a supreme being, God, who remains at the helm of all existence as the One and Only.

I remember asking my grandmother, who was a student of Christian Science and a Sunday School teacher, “What is Truth?”

I know she must have said all of the answers we learn in the Christian Science Sunday School:

  • Truth is another name or synonym for God
  • Christ, Truth, casts out error or false beliefs as the Bible promises in John 8:32 “ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

A hallmark of instruction given by the Discoverer and Founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, is to know the truth when confronted by error of any sort.  This truth is that God, good, is All-in-all, so nothing apart from Him, has reality.  Science and Health with Key to the Scripturesby Mary Baker Eddy, page 473:9 “God is everywhere, and nothing apart from Him is present or has power.”

Whatever is true for God is true for me as I am made in His image and likeness as the Bible promises in Genesis 1:26 “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion…”

Another instance in my Sunday School experience brought to light the idea that my spiritual growth was step-wise as the Bible states in Romans 8:28 “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”  My life and purpose grows and gathers momentum progressively.

Among my first healing experiences was to get through the night after waking up not feeling well.  Instead of calling my mother for comfort, I recited the Lord’s Prayer found in the Bible  in Matthew 6:9-13, which provided the calm I needed to go back to sleep and to wake in the morning assured with a sense of victory.

Another time as a college student with the help of a Christian Science practitioner, one who devotes their life to helping others through prayer in Christian Science, helped me overcome a sense of fearful anxiety to rise up and be about “my Father’s business” claiming my dominion.

Later while raising a family, I was able to demonstrate God’s protective and saving power.

Each of these experiences, as I learned in Sunday School, were part of my spiritual growth:

  • The ability to govern my thoughts
  • To take action on my own behalf to prove my God-given dominion
  • To have faith and let God direct my life in raising and caring for a family.

I testify that Christian Science does work and that it does bring to light Truth or God.

 

By: DLH

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Trusting God Destroys Fear

It was one of those dreary fall days. The sky was a dark gray, and I knew we were in for a heavy rain storm. The wind was blowing so hard the branches on all of the trees in my yard were swaying and losing all their leaves. I was grateful I didn’t have to go out of the house.  As I sat at the window in my living room, gazing out at the leaves dancing in the wind before touching the ground, I thought about a time many years ago, when I was terrified being on the freeway in severe winds just like this one.

My husband and I were going on a trip to Florida passing through Colorado, stopping for a couple of days to visit my son in Denver. The weather was beautiful when we left Denver, but when we reached Kansas, the wind picked up, getting worse as we drove east. The gusts were extremely strong too, and at times I could feel the car shuttering. I became very fearful, and I asked my husband to slow down. Reluctantly, he did, but felt I was foolish to be afraid, and told me so. That wasn’t much help, and I knew I had to do some serious prayerful work in order to align myself with God, so I could get free of my fear.

My books (the Bible and Science and Health with Key to Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, and some Christian Science pamphlets) were in my suitcase in the back of the car where I couldn’t get to them, so I had to pray with what I knew from memory.  The first thing that came to mind was that God was in control, and if anything happened, He would give everyone involved the wisdom and intelligence to know what to do. That was a comforting thought.

The Lord’s Prayer came next. I went over it, stopping at each phrase and sentence, thinking about its meaning. That took a lot of time, and I felt quite good when I was through. Then a strong gust came along, and fear took over again. Once more I begged my husband to slow down. I knew he was annoyed with me, but he slowed down a bit anyway, and I went back to gazing out the window, staring hard trying to see if the wind had stopped. When I noticed it hadn’t, and all the sagebrush was still blowing all over, sometimes taking flight, as it does in strong winds, I knew I had lots more prayerful work to do.

I reminded myself again that God was in control, and told myself that nothing was going to happen. After all – wasn’t God more powerful than the wind?

The 23rd Psalm was very helpful at this time, and I was glad I had memorized it. Another thing that gave me some peace, was from an article I had once read. It stated that since the real man is made in God’s image and likeness, as stated in the first chapter of Genesis, he can never be subject to danger. Since God knows no fear man, his reflection, is unafraid.

Everything was beginning to get better. Then – another strong gust, and I was right back to where I started. I had visions of the wind blowing our car into the other lane, and causing an accident. How silly!!  This has never happened that I know of, but fear can make you conjure up all kinds of strange scenarios.

Again, I pleaded with my husband to slow down, but instead he told me to take out one of our tapes, and play some music. “That will calm you down,” he said.  Nothing but the wind stopping would calm me down, but I reached into the bag anyway, pulled out a tape, and put it on. Then I went back to staring out the window trying hard to see if there were any results from my prayers, but everything still looked just the same.

This time I tried having a chat with God. “What am I doing wrong?” I asked. “Why aren’t you stopping the wind, so I can get rid of this fear?” I didn’t hear any answer, so I went back to trying to see if there had been any changes, but everything was the same as it had been a few minutes before. “God,” I asked, “what do you want me to do to be rid of this fear?” My answer came quickly as my attention was immediately drawn to the music on the tape. I had unknowingly put on a tape with hymns, and I heard this beautiful male voice singing, “Trust in the Lord. His name be ever blessed with peace and happiness.“

So that was my answer!!! My problem was in not trusting God to help me. I was doing all that praying, but every time the wind was gusting, I became fearful. Where was my trust?  Why, I was even telling God how I wanted Him to solve this problem by thinking all I needed was for Him to stop the wind, or at least slow it down, and I wouldn’t be afraid anymore. But that’s not the way it works. Stopping the wind may have gotten rid of my fear for a while, but it really would have just postponed it until the next wind storm. Now I felt that God was telling me, through a beautiful hymn, that I should trust in Him. It worked!! The fear vanished completely, and a feeling of calm and joy took over. Further on in the hymn, it says, “He orders all our ways. To Him we send our praise”.  Oh, how many, many times have I expressed gratitude, and praised God for this wonderful healing!!!!

The wind was still blowing hard, and the gusts were every bit as strong, but I didn’t care; the fear was gone, and the remainder of the trip was spent in complete peace and harmony. My husband and I took many trips across the country through the years that followed, and drove through many wind storms, but they no longer bothered me.

The warmth of the sun on my arm brought me back to the present. The wind had stopped, the sun was shining, and the dark clouds had left, leaving behind a beautiful blue sky. The rain must have changed course, since everything in my yard was still dry. The trees were bare now, except for a few stubborn leaves hanging on refusing to let go. Leaves thickly covered my lawn. I’ll call the gardener in the morning to come and rake them up.

Eleanore

Renton, WA

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Broken Arm Healed Through Prayer

When I was nine years old, I was healed of a broken arm with Christian Science prayer treatment alone and no medical intervention of any sort.

We had a new mattress and bed frame which had just been delivered and were waiting to be set up.  Somehow, I tripped over them and fell, landing with my full weight on one arm.  The arm hung limply, so I supported it with my other arm and hand.  One would expect a young girl to be frightened at this point, but I felt no fear.  I knew that my mother would call a Christian Science Practitioner, an individual devoted to healing through prayer, and I would be healed.

My mother was a professional musician and had to play a job that night.  She called the practitioner who went right to work.  We had only one car, so my dad drove my mother to work while I stayed home with my older sister.

I busied myself with studying pages from Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, which helped me understand the reality of God’s love for me and that I could never fall out of His tender care. I’m sure that on her way to work, my mother was also praying for me.

Within two hours I was completely healed.  All pain was gone and my arm was fully functional.  Because of the rapid healing and my refusing to be impressed by any unpleasant mental suggestion (that I had a broken arm), I cannot tell for sure which arm it was!

When it was time to pick up my mother from work, Daddy said, “Come on along so your mother can see that you are healed.”

We all climbed into the car and when we arrived, I could truthfully say, “Look, Mommy, I am all well.”  It was a very joyous ride home that night.

 

Janet

Seattle

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Listening to Angel Messages

 

This morning I was weeding at a community garden where “Stewards of the Cove”, a volunteer group for which I am the botanist, gather each month for a work party. I had planted a couple plants in one area, and then in passing another area saw morning glory that needed to be removed. Then I went to a third area and worked until the sun made it too hot, and drove home. When I got home I realized my cell phone had fallen out of my pocket. It seemed likea right idea to take my other vehicle and get gas and then look for the cell phone. Before I even arrived back at the weeded area, an “angel” message came to my thought–“Go pick up your phone.” Part of the definition of “Angels” in Science & Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy (page 581) states, “God’s thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect.” So, I started at the last area I had been in and didn’t see my phone so I pulled weeds. In less than three minutes I found my phone and picked it up. I am eternally grateful for angel messages!

Merry Ann

Normandy Park

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Trusting God’s Love Heals

A few years ago, I joined a recreational rowing organization, and discovered most of my teammates to be extremely friendly, sincere and supportive.

Since the sport of rowing requires close-contact team work, it’s imperative that all crew-members mentally and physically harmonize with one another. And I felt we did, with one exception.

One of our most seasoned rowers often appeared to be extremely critical, unfriendly, and mentally intimidating. And it seemed that most crew-members maintained minimal contact with this gentleman, including me. It was rumored that this man earned an advanced engineering degree from an extremely elite England university. And while many of my teammates were either working or retired professionals, it seemed there were only a select few intellectually capable, where this gentlemen would engage in conversation. And since I didn’t maintain the academic standard, I figured there was no way I would be considered good enough to have dialogue with this accomplished fellow-rower.

During this time while making these intimidating observations, I was struggling to truly love this guy as God made him, and not see him as sometimes being difficult, critical and unsocial.

Later that year, I realized that if things were going to change, I needed to change my thought about how I was seeing this man. Christian Science teaches us that Love (another name for God) heals, and when understood correctly, can heal all ill-will feelings. Mary Baker Eddy states in her textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, page 454, that “Love inspires, illumines, designates, and leads the way.” I also prayed with a statement she makes on page 467. She writes, (quoting the Bible) ‘ “ Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” It should be thoroughly understood that all men have one Mind, one God and Father, one Life, Truth, and Love. Mankind will become perfect in proportion as this fact becomes apparent, war will cease and the true brotherhood of man will be established.’

During the next several months, every time I thought of this gentleman, I loved him as God made him, and I just loved, loved, loved this man to the point where all unsettled feelings and negative observations towards his criticalness and unfriendliness had completely vanished. And to my surprise, within a few weeks this rower started saying good morning, and calling me by name. He also began engaging me in conversation with technical questions on how we could improve our rowing practices. As our rowing relationship continued, I could vividly feel the love of divine Love being reciprocated during each and every practice. While the outward manifestation of the changed relationship was wonderful, the spiritual growth attained has given me the confidence that God’s Love shows that all of His children express infinite intelligence. Therefore, we can be certain that we don’t have to match someone’s IQ, but rather, just letting go, and letting God bring out the true sense of who we are brings healing.

Jeff

Burien, WA