Amanda’s Story

An Answered Prayer Story by a New Member

I joined Center for Spiritual Living Fullerton in May 2017.  This was prompted by a trusted advisor who suggested I read Louise Hays’ book, You Can Heal Your Life.  I was captivated by the philosophy expressed and the message.  It resonated with me.  Near the end of the book, Louise mentions that if ‘you want to learn more about this type of philosophy’, check out the Church of Religious Science.  That stopped me short in my reading.  I set the book down and began to mentally discuss how I felt about that comment.  I realized I did not know anything about this religion.  Years of closed mindedness to this type of reference, such as Scientology, Christian Science, Divine Science, and/or Religious Science all seemed to be the same.  I was raised as a Southern Baptist.  Since then I came to realize that there are about 21 major religions in the world with over 4000 versions to include agnostics and atheists. There was a ten-year time span that I explored many facets of religion in order to better understand what I believed.  Then life and making a living eventually took my focus.

As most people, my life has been a series of ‘learning opportunities’ sprinkled with events and interesting circumstances.  During one of these situations, I found myself praying in earnest for $125,000.  It was a figure that I came up with based on certain criteria. That was in May 2011.  In May 2012, my childhood home in Joplin, Missouri was destroyed by tornados.  The city was declared a disaster area.  I still owned the property and was renting it out.  Fortunately, no one was hurt.  A month or so later, I filed the insurance claim and received $125,000 in return. As you might imagine, this was a miracle from my perspective.

I was not involved in Religious Science during this time.  There were many instances that I tried to recreate a similar scenario, wondering how it could have ‘just happened’.  After reading Louise Hays’ book, it became apparent there might be some value in checking out her suggestion.  Consequently, I searched on the internet and found Center for Spiritual Living Fullerton.  At the first Sunday, I bought several books and began reading voraciously.  More to my surprise to discover this line of thinking was over a hundred years old and many educated, intelligent, and intuitive men and women were in agreement.  Realization came quickly this was my spiritual home and community, with people that saw the world in a way that worked for me.  It humbles me to say thank you for being here, especially for Reverend Annette and her 40 years of experience (22 of them with this group).

“The ‘Application’ of Knowledge is Power”, – Amanda Blake Secola

…and so it is.