Unity Church
of Hilton Head Island
TESTIMONIALS
"Grief is a part of life from the time we lose our first favorite toy. It manifests in many different ways, and hangs around for different lengths of time. The only bad thing is when we attempt to deny or ignore the energy it comes through. It will not be denied, and like water behind a dam will just accumulate, and it takes more and more energy to hold the dam up. You've done great, and will continue to do so for many years to come. Justin: Speaker: Its a great chapter. Carolyn Hubers: The second thing came about when we were doing our discussion that we had in Sun City. So we had a piece that was in one of the chapters, I don't remember which one, yea. And that which you are seeking is seeking you. “Aha. I get it.” Because I had been looking and you don't have to sometimes look so hard. Sometimes things find you. I found that I love to dance, I never did much dancing. I found the sacred circle dance which has really fed my soul and opened me to the message of the universe. And the second thing is I was looking and I needed to find something and I realized that I didn't find humanity. Humanity found me. So I'm happy. I'm really filled with joy and gratitude that I can share the next part of my spiritual journey with you all.
Read below how Molly Tomiczek's relationship with God and Unity changed her life.
Rev. Justin Epstein:
And now I'd like to invite the director of our prayer ministry, Molly Tomiczek to come up. Molly, welcome.
Molly Tomiczek:
Sure. Good morning everyone. It's so wonderful to see so many beautiful faces. And there are three ways that God and Unity have changed and enhanced my life and the first way is starting a meditation practice. When I came to Unity, I really learned about meditation and the beauty of the practice and it introduced me to my soul, to my spirit, to my true essence, and through meditation - gosh, I'm so nervous, I don't know why. So, once you get to know that inner light within yourself, then through Unity, I also learned that the Christ in me beholds the Christ in you and learned that we are all one and that we all have this beautiful Christ essence within ourselves.
Rev. Justin Epstein:
That's great. Yeah.
Molly Tomiczek:
And through the sacred service of the Silent Prayer Ministry, and learning to become a prayer chaplain, I've learned to expand that energy, that light within myself, beyond just maybe myself or the one that I'm with, out into the universal consciousness.
Rev. Justin Epstein:
That's beautiful.
Molly Tomiczek:
And so, from here to way out there, the light shines and it's a beautiful thing and I'm very grateful.
Rev. Justin Epstein:
Thank you. And you know, Molly, she - they - we hold a prayer meeting once a month and if you have an interest in that, they, they hold the prayer requests in consciousness, that consciousness for 30 days, and they study prayer and how to pray and so on. If you ever want to come out, she, she helps to lead that and we appreciate the work that you do, Molly.
Molly Tomiczek:
Thank you, Justin. It's an honor.
Read below how letting go and letting God enabled Debi Mulanax to experience a perfect transition from Ohio to Sun City.
I wanted to share with you how strongly I know that the universe manifests everything when you say "yes, Lord yes!" I didn't know how I was going to begin this message. On Sunday mornings, I wake up to my television, and I woke up to a Star Trek episode in which the crew was on an "amusement planet." Whatever they thought of manifested immediately. I thought, "Wow, I live on the amusement planet." I want to share with you how I ended up in Bluffton. I love to share this story because it illustrates what happens when we let go and let God.
In 2003, my daughter moved down here to the Low Country from Cleveland, Ohio, which is where I'm from. One year earlier, my birth family all made their transition so there was just her and me left. She came down to the Low Country for a job and kept saying, "It would be perfect mom if you moved down here." I kept telling her, "When I retire, I'll come down." But like the good mom, I came down for her birthday every October.
The first year I came down, I started looking at places down here to retire to. As soon as I pulled into the gate of Sun City, I felt "wow, this is it!" I walked through the model homes and found out I wasn't old enough to live in Sun City. But I took the Primrose model floor plan home with me because I fell in love with the house and said, "This is where I'm going to retire." I hung it on my refrigerator. Every October when I came down to visit her, I went back to Sun City, went through the Primrose and just knew this was it. In 2006, when I came down to do my Sun City trek, I found out they could sell a certain amount of houses to fifty year olds, that you didn't need to be 55. I thought, "If I build now, it will be done in April; I'll be fifty in August; this might work out." So I said, "Okay, let's go for it. It's a job. I can find a job down South. We're going to do it!" I told Sun City to go ahead and build. I went back home in October. I told my boss, "you have my six month notice; I'm moving to South Carolina." She said, "You're out of your mind! You don't have a job. You have a house to sell. What are you going to do? That's very irresponsible of you." I thought about it, looked back over my life of the past 50 years and I said, "You know; it has always worked out perfectly. Carol, it's job; I'll find a job. It's a house and it will sell."
In the meantime, one of my colleagues named Mike and I would talk on the spiritual level which is rare at work. He became my boss. Through the whole time period, he would say to me, "So, did you find a job yet?" I would say, "Yeah Mike. I just don't know where."(laughter). "Did you sell your house yet?" "Yeah Mike, I just don't know to whom yet. It will happen perfectly." This went on for six months. In January, I got a hold of a realtor and put the house up on the market. She said, "Deb, the market is on a down-turn. I don't know if you're going to be able to sell." I said, "Kitty, if you're going to have negative thoughts then leave now. It will sell at the perfect time." She said, "Okay."
So I proceeded with life, hiring someone to replace me, the whole nine yards. February 13, 2007 there was a massive blizzard in Cleveland, Ohio. So we got snowed in and had February 14th, Valentines Day off. I got a phone call asking if I'd like to take a phone interview from a place called JCB down in Pooler, Georgia. "Sure, why not." I talked to them on the phone for two hours on snow day, February 14th. One week later, they flew me down for a job interview. One week later I was offered and accepted the job. I went in to my current boss and said, "Mike, now I know who I'm working for. It's JCB." One week later, I had an offer on my house and I accepted it. I went to Mike and said, "I now know who is going to be living in that house. I will be moving in a month." One month later, I packed up and moved on down to Sun City.
I just wanted to share this story with you so I can hopefully give you a little bit of inspiration to say "let go and let God." He/She takes care of everything. All you have to do it just put out there what you want, and it's there. We live in an amusement world.
Don and Thelma Olexa discuss with Rev. Justin how their relationship with God and Unity changed their lives.
Rev Justin:
Tell us Don, how you found Unity?
Don:
Okay, I take it back to 1978. Thelma, and I are married, second marriage for both of us. In addition to solving some of the more logistical challenges in our life, we each brought five kids to the party, and just as a sidebar, they have now blessed us with 20 grandchildren, and we're on the next generation with 2.4 great grandkids. So...
Rev Justin:
Should we stop, and pray for you now, or ...
Don:
So, in addition to that, we educated them all. They all went to college. They all graduated. Five have master's degrees too, so we're blessed.
But we struggled trying to find a place where we could share our feelings about our Creator. I was a recovering Catholic. Thelma was of the Jewish attraction. So, we needed a place of commonality. So, the first place we found was Unitarianism. That served us, sort of, for four years. But the story about Unitarian's is they're all on the path. They're walking down this road. They come to a fork. The fork says, "This way to heaven.", and "This way to a discussion on heaven." They all go to the discussion on heaven. So, we did find that rather intellectual, and lacking perhaps of spirituality.
Rev Justin:
We'll edit that part
Don:
Then I came across an article in the New Thought magazine in the Chicago area written by a minister who happened also to play golf. Can you believe there are two of them out there? This guy's name is Jack Pool. He was co-minister with his wife of the Unity Church in Evanston. He explained that when he plays golf, he invites his higher Self to play with him. He's a scratch golfer. So, this cannot be bad.
So, I went out to play, and I invited my higher Self to come along. After about the first four holes I discovered my higher Self doesn't play any better than I do.
Rev Justin:
Very good.
Don:
So anyhow, we went to the Unity church to see what that was all about, and we were smitten. We walk in, and go to the service, and you hear this simple expression. "There's one presence, one power in the universe, and in my life, God, the good omnipotent." What a deal! I mean no bad guy out there. No Satan. No evil forces, just you, and a good omnipotent God to create the world you want. So, that's been guiding us ever since.
We discovered one other thing along the way, and that is the power of the creative mind.
Rev Justin:
Thank you, Don. Thank you.
Now, Thelma's had some amazing experiences with truth on her journey. Why don't you tell us about that?
Thelma:
I have. We've been in Unity about 25 years, and in 1987 I was diagnosed with a life threatening illness, and we started to think about what Myrtle and Charles Fillmore had done. This did not start as a religion. It started as a healing circle in the Fillmore's living room. Their friends came around. They sat around in a circle, and both Charles and Myrtle were healed over a period of years from some impossible problems. So, I thought, "Well, if they did it. I could do it."
We went on an intensive study. We heard every speaker, and of course, being in Chicago was great because everybody came there. We read every book. We spent many, many, many days, weeks, and even one time a whole month at Unity Village taking courses. We've really, really learned how strong the power of your mind is.
So, four years later I was pronounced healed. We can create the life we want using the power of our mind.
But two months ago, my daughter passed away as a result of pancreatic cancer, and I thought, "Well, this is the biggest challenge I've ever had." I was going up and down like a yoyo when two days ago one of my sons wrote me a letter.
It's interesting, because when you are in Unity, and you begin to have these strong beliefs of who you are, and what you really are; it rubs off. So, most of our children, regardless of what type of church they go to they're somewhat spiritual, and some of them have actually surpassed us, and have gone way beyond us. This is the letter he wrote me:
"My Dearest Mother,
You really are my favorite mother, you know. I always tell Stacy (that's his one daughter. He has two sons.) that she is my favorite daughter."
I have to just ****. I should have taken a Kleenex.
You have, like me, a very powerful, and well-used emotional system. You are able to experience a great deal of emotional energy, both negative, and positive. It allows us to experience great beauty. But along with that gift we get to experience a full range of negativity, other peoples mostly.
YOU KNOW THE TRUTH. Your beloved daughter and my beloved sister is just fine. Better than us actually. We're still in the videogame. Think about her, and I know you'll receive the message clearly.
Well then, if I know she's fine why do I still feel like crap? Must be that I feel like I've lost something that I don't have anymore. (Note the "I" focus).
I believe we all have a 12-year-old looking out of our eyes. My idea of how to deal with this energy is to note it, smile at its demands, and allow it to pass through. If you fight it, it would prefer you end up giving way more energy to it, which makes you feel even worse.
Since we both know that Barb is better than okay, there's no reason for us to feel bad, or use up energy that we can use for finer things like singing. Rather than fighting the grief, we choose to channel our energies into other, better, life affirming things, and thoughts.
Keep singing.
Much love, Your favorite oldest son."
Rev. Justin:
Thank you, Don and Thelma. Thank you so much. Beautiful. Well done. Well done.
Read about John Samsen's Spiritual Quest
I decided to share with you a spiritual experience that I had. I don't talk about this very often. It's not easy and I don't know that everyone will understand what I'm trying to convey, but I'll try. When I was around five years old, my parents took me to the funeral of a great grandmother. I can remember looking down on the casket and seeing her lifeless face. Later on when we were at home, I was in the kitchen, and I asked my mother, "Do I have to die?" My mother said, "Everyone has to die sooner or later, but you don't have to think about that now because you have a long life ahead of you. By the time you die, your soul will go to heaven anyway." I thought about that and asked, "what good is it going to do me if my soul goes to heaven; I'm going to be dead." (laughter). You can see I was already identified with my ego self. At any rate, I think the realization of my mortality gave me the momentum to try to discover all that I could about life, myself and the world. So besides getting a conventional education and having a career, I also studied a lot of things. I studied world religions, philosophy, psychology, and most of the sciences most of my life. When I was forty years old, I studied parapsychology and humanistic psychology and was involved in the human potential movement at the time. I also meditated a lot. Then all of a sudden in the mid seventies my life kind of fell a part. I lost people I was very close to. My career ended abruptly. I had financial problems. I experienced depression, a lot of anxiety and stress. All of that culminated in what I call a dark night of the soul. I went through a tough experience which left me blessed because I awakened from my ego-illusion and discovered the beauty in the world; it was actually like the Garden of Eden. This experience has been with me ever since. I went back into the ego-mode when I needed to when interacting with other people. I had a deep knowing inside which I still have that everything actually is okay, perfect in fact when seen from the viewpoint of divinity, when we get beyond the world, the stage on which we are all actors. A short time after I went through my experience, a poem came to me. It flowed in just as if it was channeled although I'm not really sure about channeling. This poem illustrates what my experience has been.
The Quest
The saddle-weary knight surveyed the battle-littered ground.
Through grief-stained eyes and aching heart, defeat was all he found.
Spring flowers, crushed by armored feet, lay broken in the mud
where bodies, wet by crying rain had given up their blood.
A twisting trail of broken dreams had led him to this crest
where high-flung hopes and noble aims were finally laid to rest.
Ideals of Love and chivalry lay stained about his feet
the goal of higher, godlike man had fallen in defeat
beneath the swords of greed and hate, betrayed by Ego's pride
and Eden's gate still bolted stood, the Kingdom locked inside.
His youth was running down his face, at race with rain and tears;
his spirit sagged beneath the weight of fifty heavy years.
He let his tired horse go free, relieved of armor's weight
and climbed the hill where he could see the castle, and its fate.
There lay his boyhood vision, a blackened, lifeless shell-
his golden dream of Camelot laid waste by flames from Hell.
At last he found the King he'd sought- cut down without a fight.
He'd died a frightened old man's death, unlike a valiant knight.
The clouds of disillusionment swept in about his brain,
he screamed in anguished anger against the mindless rain
and tore away the sacred cross embroidered on his vest,
then trampled it into the mud that smothered out his quest.
From deep inside, he vomited all anger, rage, and strife,
surrendered to the dark Unknown his name, his god, his life.
Then, as the sun broke through the mists and touched his sleeping face,
he wakened to a magic world of love, and peace, and grace.
He looked across the battlefield that still held death and hate,
but saw it now through wider eyes that opened Eden's gate!
And in his weeping, soaring, joy we'll leave him and his tale;
by giving up all he held dear, he finally found the Grail.
Copyright 2009 John Samsen
I just want to say that this poem has stayed with me for thirty years, and I only wish I could share this knowing that is deep inside me, this certainty, but I know others have to find it for themselves. As long as we hold onto any resentments, or prejudices or angers for ourselves especially or toward anyone, we're locked into this world of the ego.
Read how Mary Lou's relationship with Unity Church and God changed her life.
As many of you know Pat Bell and I are sisters. We grew up in a home with unity literature. Our parents did not go to Unity Services on a regular basis, while we were in the home. We had the Daily Word, Unity Magazine, and Wee Wisdom, a children's magazine.
As Justin mentioned, one of the gifts my Dad gave to Frank and I before we were married was The Dynamic Laws of Prosperity by Catherine Ponder, who was one of the early Unity Ministers. who as I recall, was also a single mother with financial problems when she started writing. She wrote in my book "To Mary Lou, may this book bring you the courage and faith and bring you and Frank a happy and prosperous life" signed Catherine Ponder.
My mother was also a spiritual teacher, and my dad wrote in the book, "Here are your mother's teachings written in excellent style by another great gal." Love and Bless You.-Dad July 23, 1964.
My husband Frank and I didn't live in communities that had Unity Churches for most of our married life. We moved from Topeka, Kansas, to Normal, Illinois, to Elmira New York. At different times we belonged to a variety of churches.
We always prided ourselves in being in congregations that said "Don't Check Your Brain at the Door." There was Congregation, Church of Christ and Methodist and they all said "Don't Check Your Brain at the Door" and we didn't. We analyzed and intellectualized. We looked a lot at scriptures, writings, and our faith as a way of attempting to understand what we were reading about, and to understand what we were really feeling.
When we moved to New York we could almost get involved in a Unity Church. It was over an hour away and we had 2 young boys at the time. When we moved to Silver Spring, Maryland it was our first opportunity to get involved in a Unity Church. We spent every Tuesday night going through the Dynamic Laws of Prosperity and every other book that Catherine Ponder wrote. We would read a few pages and go home and work on applying the principles. Later, we got involved with Science of the Mind.
Then we retired; and were looking for a community where we would have some family connections and also some spiritual connection. We ended up here, which has been a great experience for us. Working with Unity and working with Science of Mind we have learned to live some of those tag lines such as "What you think about is what you create" and others...All of those expressions do speak truth if you take the time to think about and to live the principles that we read and hear at this church.
There is something about living the things you have read about, talked about that make such a difference in your life. I challenge each of you to take that time to look at what is inside you and your heart."
Read how Rona French's relationship with Unity Church and God changed her life
Rona French:
I like to write things on my mirrors at home to keep me centered and in spirit and at an ego. With ego, I found that now I get a little fever if I'm going into ego. I get a little fever and it dissipates I catch myself and get centered.
Justin:
You mean you get a little warm?
Rona French:
I get a fever over my face and head. Yea, but anyways I love words and I love quotes and I love inspiring people. My favorite is you must be the change you wish to see in this world, Gandhi said that. I used to take that in a little bit of a co-dependent way. I needed to save the world or save my family or whatever. I can save no one but myself, with God's assistance. And so being centered, the Power of Now is a powerful book for me because it helped me be centered in the now and notice my little fever from getting off balance. I had six years, two adult children. My daughter is the teacher and my son is an iron worker. I was married for 21 years and that was great but now I am here on my own. I am a free spirit. I'm a bit of a gypsy. You know, I like change. I like to learn. I love meeting new people. I had to push through a lot of shyness. I realize that shyness is actually an ego thing for me. So I had to push through that. So if I'm a little aggressive and I come over and give you a hug or talk to you understand I am pushing through my own stuff, okay. Particularly, but that's okay you don't have to hug back. I love the course on miracles because I believe that God is only love and I see that in everyone's eyes. I love to dance and a friend once said to me, "You shouldn't go to those night clubs. You know, there are a lot of spirits in there and all that. I haven't met a spirit in there I don't like, so. It's how you see the person, right? And what I see is the joy. I love dancing. I did ballet and several forms of dance through out my life. The fun stuff when I was young was being in the basement with my brothers, my four brothers, dancing to the jukebox. We had challenges in our home. That was a joyful thing for me and I carried the dance with me and the song and I really love that,as Carolyn knows.
So I see joy when I go and do my little dances. Anyway, I'd like to conclude with this, this is from Emerson and this is pretty much how I strive to live my life, pretty much how, "To laugh often and much. To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children. To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends. To appreciate beauty. To find the best in others. To leave the world a bit better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded." So I'm still working on it.
Justin:
I love that quote. Thank you, Rona
Read how Don Weiss's relationship with Unity Church and God changed his life.
Welcome Don. Thank you for sharing with us today.
Don:
I remember consciously in college, making a decision that when I look back at my life, I wanted to be sorry for the things I had done and not for the things I had not done. And it's been pretty true. Only a couple of regrets I have. And after college I got married and then two children came and then I had a couple years in Japan. That changed my life. The simplicity and the closeness to nature, and in addition, the intergenerational things; the next generation gets to stand on the shoulders of the previous generation. I really believe that generatively, that's also been a theme of my life. And so I'm marching along on my career path and a year in Germany and now two more kids so now I have four.
After 17 years of marriage I got slammed in the face with a divorce. And it was that which changed my direction. The pain of not seeing my kids on a daily basis which caused me to seek counseling and in one of those sessions, the counselor asked who's at home. I hadn't a clue what he was talking about. But he knew that we were spiritual beings. I didn't know that. And so I sought that out. First it was A Course In Miracles which happened to be at a Unity church and the wise leader - each meeting for four years she would say you're a loving child of God. Hmm... that's fine. I know Diane is but that's a nice saying for me. But at the end of four years, I could say that and feel comfortable but I hadn't internalized that and then there was five stays of Benedictine Monasteries from two weeks to two months, and if you know the motto of the Benedictines, its treat each person as if he or she is Christ. And that sounded okay. You treat them kindly, you be good to them. I had no idea that meant see the divinity in each of us.
And fast forward to June of last year, I'm in my condo in Florida and I literally feel like I'm dying. I get on the internet, the telephone and I rent a place in Sun City. And one of the first things I do when I get here is I go to the yellow pages and I come through to find out what is the closest Unity church. So the first Sunday here I come to Unity of Hilton Head. It's nice. I'll come back but Justin being the pastor that he is, the next Tuesday he knocked on my door. I wasn't there but he left a note and there was the book Discover the Power Within, Eric Butterworth. That became my mediation guide for the next three months. That was my really saving grace because I knew no one here. I spent a lot of time alone but as I mediated and the Unity principals became alive and Christ's teaching became alive through the words of Eric Butterworth, that which we say each Sunday, there is one power and one presence in the universe and in my life, God the good omnipotent. That became my mantra. That became important; that I wanted to be the center of life.
And then I joined a small group and we're now using Eric Butterworth's book Discover the Power Within. And from that group, I can thank one of the members for saying Jesus is my brother. I can reach out now, put my arm around Jesus and see him as a brother. And another member said we're never separated from God. Yeah, we're never separated from God. It's not like Jesus but I'm never separated. And that was part of it. I never felt alone.
Anyway, the great discovery, the divinity is within each of us. And another member of our group suggested let go, let God, and that's my challenge at this point. I know there is a difference between the creator. I always call God the creator; I was created. Well, now it's co-creation. But...
Justin:
So you and God creating together. So you've gotten to know that God loves you.
Don:
I have. The resources of the universe and I'm an expression of God; those are your words.
Justin:
That's beautiful.
Don:
And Justin is also a prophet for me by challenging and inspiring us each Sunday and he walks the walk and he models the talk. So and in the words of Lilly Tomlin, you know, Edith who sat on that high rocking chair and said "it's the truth."
Justin:
Thank you Don. Please give him a hand.
Don:
It's the truth.
A Conversation with LIZ PETERS January 10, 2010
Justin Epstein:
We have a friendly group, don’t we? Helps us warm up this place, doesn’t it. Well, I just want to welcome Liz Peters up here. She has been coming to Unity for quite a while now and her son, Randall, who designed these beautiful flowers and candle holder, and he has been coming for a while, too. So, we just wanted to ask Liz to share with us an experience of how her relationship with God and Unity has made a difference in her life. So Elizabeth thanks for coming up here and being willing to share with us.
Liz Peters:
Thanks for asking me.
Justin Epstein:
All right, why don’t you tell us a little bit of how God has been at work in your life?
Liz Peters:
From the beginning.
Justin Epstein:
Two minute version.
Liz Peters:
You stop me when I should. Seventy-five and a half years ago, my mother was not able to have me. Three years into labor so it had to be a caesarean, so that long ago, a caesarean was quite a thing. So, I was in the nursery for one month. God started me right there. I learned to love everyone and to meet no stranger, and my life has continued that way. Growing up then in my young age, we never went to church, but there was always a Bible around. Then, when I was 9 years old, I was walking down a dirt road toward a railroad and I had Pete, my dog, with me, and as I went down, Pete was already in the woods, not with me, and I said, “God, if you are there and you love me, have Pete come out of the woods and let me know and be with me”. Pete came right out of the woods, jumped up on my leg, and went back into the woods, and I thought, “whoa”, so that was then.
Then, when I was 12 years old, I went with a neighbor to a country church and went to the front and asked Jesus to come into my heart and to give me the Holy Spirit also. So, in my young life growing up then as a young woman, I taught Bible School and Sunday School, I don’t know if they still have that, but I tried all kind of churches, Holiness uh huh, the women had to wear long sleeves, no wedding ring. Nazarene uh huh, Catholic I visited uh huh, the Methodist and Nazarene, whatever. So, that was 27 years ago.
Then, I came here and I had been involved in no church, but I always had the Daily Word I think ever since it started being published. Once, I went out on a property and a dog came running up to me to grab me, snarling, and everything, and my angels which God gives you guardian angels, said stand still. I didn’t even want to breathe. I stood still. That dog continued to run circles around me, snarling, and everything, probably five or more minutes I stood there, but God had given me the angels. Pretty soon, the dog just went off and that’s another thing. Another thing about God, I will be in the back and I will see around the corner of a house and a chameleon will come around and look right at me. It is God saying hello. There will be a hummingbird just be right in front of me, just, it is God. I say, “Hello God”. I’ll go walk past a tree in back and a squirrel will come around and look right at me and I’ll say, “Hi God”. God is always talking to me in all kinds of ways. Now, this is something when I can go to the next dimension, when I can cross over. I wrote this and put it in a file for my children to read in about 1985. “He is good enough to us to live within and we feel his presence always when he is our priority. No matter what we are doing, we feel his presence. If not, we need to talk with him in mind and heart when we are quiet, sitting, walking, and we will become more aware of our daily living course. Two kings live here on earth, good and evil. They will always battle over us, but don’t be anxious or fear. Belong to him in all things and needs will come through him”.
Now, my son started coming here a long time ago, and I thought, “Well, 27 years, I’ll give it a try, I’ll go see what it’s like” and I learned that you can be free to think the way you want, think about the scriptures the way you want to, think about God, Jesus, your angels the way you want to because God has sent you a messenger, Justin.
Justin Epstein:
Thank you, Elizabeth. Please give her a hand. Thank you. You can tell from her sharing how much she loves animals and she is a great modern St. Francis with the animals so thank you, Elizabeth.
VALERIE PALMER
My spiritual journey began at the age of twelve when I was baptized, immersed in a Baptist church in Salem, Massachusetts. I’ve had questions ever since that occurred. (laughter). I have zigged and zagged all over the place. I have taken courses in religions of the world. I have read endless books. There was a poem called “The Hound of Heaven,” and I can’t remember a lot about it except that phrase; I feel as if the “hound of heaven” has been after me most of my life. I have never given up looking into this spiritual journey in my time here on earth. I became a Unitarian in Philadelphia 25 or 30 years ago. It was wonderful but there was a lot of brainwork. And when I came here to Hilton Head, the “missing link” was Unity. The “hound of heaven” nudged me to this wonderful place. My first visit at Unity, they sang “Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this place.” Tears. Why, I don’t know. Then, “Here I am Lord.” More tears. Well, I kind of figured it out in a small way. The longest journey that any of us would ever be on is the 19 inches between the head and the heart. Unity is that “missing link” as Gwen so nicely put it. It’s that journey of how we feel; the intellect can’t do it. I am on this wonderful journey. Thanks to Unity, I am very blessed.
A Conversation with CAROLYN HUBERS
Carolyn Hubers:
When I heard Linda Archinaco and then I heard Valerie's piece about their lives I thought, “Wow, I'm not going to have too much to say because my life before now has been pretty traditional.” I was raised in a Prebyterian church and when Sunday came it was not Sunday unless you went to church. **** I was always looking around for something because I knew something was out there and I knew that sometime I would discover it. So I only want to share some “aha” moments that I had. So one “aha” and you know aha is I get it, I finally get it. Is I've been reading Eckhart Tolli's book, A New Earth. And in the section about inner purpose, I had the “aha” moment. He uses your breathing -
You use your breathing as a metaphor for your life. And when you are breathing in you are accumulating. So you accumulate part of your life, a lot of things, a lot of good things and sometimes not necessary things. And sometimes stuff. But when you are breathing out you are releasing. So its like let go, and let God. And that was profound for me because I realized that I could be open to this, open to the joy and people and wonderful blessings of knowing God. So now I try to spend more time breathing in, not that stuff, but breathing in more of the spirit and God.