God Saves Sam!

/
God Saves Sam!

It had been a long day. I knew Sam was struggling with low oxygen saturation levels but he did not want to go to the doctors. I was on the phone with Kaiser multiple times and they insisted that he needed to be seen in person. When Sarah got off work, she listened to her dad’s lungs and told him, “We have to go to the emergency room. Your lungs never sound good. Now they sound terrible.” He reluctantly agreed.

Sammy met her there and I went to bed worried and exhausted. I soon heard that Sam was admitted with a white blood cell count twice as high and normal. Infection. Maybe.

Read More

A Season of Change and an Invitation

/
A Season of Change and an Invitation

Today I’ll be sharing about a shift in direction God is orchestrating at HCI. God has been talking to me about this shift for over a year. In July of 2022 he said, “Welcome to your new life!” I had no idea what he meant, but now it is becoming more apparent and we are bravely, confidently embarking on this new path that is opening before us. But first a little history.

Most of you probably already know that this year—2023—is our 20-year anniversary as a ministry.

Whoo hoo!

Read More

HCI History, Part 5: Incorporation

/
HCI History, Part 5: Incorporation

The years between 2007 and 2013 ushered in a thrilling season of growth for the Healing Center. One after another the Lord brought new healing modalities—the Life Model, the Immanuel Approach and HeartSync—to our attention. We were gulping it in, attending training events, trying to implement the new methods, and loving the journey of discovery the Lord was leading us on.

Read More

HCI History, Part 4: Shifts

/
HCI History, Part 4: Shifts

For our first five years, our primary focus was the relational classes developed by Equipping Ministries International: Listening for Heaven’s Sake, Speaking the Truth in Love, Renewing the Mind, and Confronting Conflict. And Theophostic Prayer Ministry. We offered the EMI classes, often several at a time, several times a year. We also began training lay people in Theophostic Prayer ministry in November of 2005. We took groups from Church of the Apostles to Theophostic training events. First in Hampton, Virginia, then a year later in Chesapeake. The following year to Orlando. We hosted live Theophostic training at Apostles. Then invited Ed Smith to return and supervise us as facilitators. We held video training for Theophostic Prayer Ministry (TPM). We soon had a team of 20 commissioned TPM facilitators offering weekly appointments in pairs. The TPM team also met together monthly for further training and development.

Read More

HCI History, Part 3: "You Can't Quit!"

/
HCI History, Part 3: "You Can't Quit!"

As I shoved the exit bar and the door swung wide, I said to myself, “I am never coming back here again!” My conversation with the church administrator had stirred up an overwhelming sense of not being seen or understood. I was triggered but was not ready to acknowledge it, even to myself. But no sooner were the words on my tongue than I began to wrestle with God.

 I argued with the Almighty as I drove home, crying without a sense of release. When I walked in the door, Sam was there. He heard my story, looked at me with compassion, then said, “You can’t quit. God has called you to this.”

Read More

HCI History, Part 2: "The First Two Years"

/
HCI History, Part 2: "The First Two Years"

Now that I was certain God was calling me to start a Healing Center, I pressed in to him seeking to understand. As I prayed, God began to show me what he had in mind. First, I knew that I should help Hayes Perdue (the young priest) teach Listening for Heaven’s Sake at our church, Church of the Apostles in Fairfax, Virginia. He had taken the class, along with other classes offered by Equipping Ministries International –Speaking the Truth in Love and Renewing the Mind—while he was in seminary in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, and I had taken the same ones in California. I bought the teaching curriculum for Listening. As a teacher, I was impressed with the teacher manual. All I had to do was add personal illustrations. Easy for a storyteller like me!

Read More

HCI History, Part 1: "I'm Calling You to Start a Healing Center."

/
HCI History, Part 1: "I'm Calling You to Start a Healing Center."

It all began when I married Sam. I was a single mother of a three-year-old and was in the dissertation-writing phase of my Ph.D. program at Stanford. To marry me, Sam had to leave his beloved Virginia and move across the country. We married in Los Angeles County in Glendora, the town just north of where I had grown up. After the wedding, Sam moved into my tiny townhouse on the Stanford campus with Nina and me. (That story is told in Crossroads Before Me.)

Read More

Urbana 2022, Part 2

/
Urbana 2022, Part 2

I awoke with the sun, feeling more rested than I had in months. Today was the day we would begin ministering to students. I called Christina, and we agreed to meet in the hotel lobby in an hour. I went down to the restaurant for breakfast. The hostess sat me at a small table. I ordered a platter of fruit, then noticed a woman about my age sitting at a small table about 12 feet away, facing me. Our eyes met.

I called out, “Are you also here for Urbana?”

Read More