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AS A YOUNG WIFE
and mother-to-be, I left the University of
California at Santa Barbara and, together with my
husband Richard and all our belongings in a pickup
truck, we headed for Denver, Colorado, where Richard
had grown up. We rented a small apartment in
Northglen, Richard took a job at a grocery store,
and we settled in to prepare for family life. In
January 1971 the first of our three children was
born, and with not much money, we frequented the
public libraries for entertainment.
I had spent my
high-school days enthralled by astrology,
witchcraft, mediums, psychic phenomena, prophecy,
and paganism. In college I believed that everything
was relative and that there was no God. Then during
my pregnancy my mother-in-law lent me Except for
Thee and Me by Jessamyn West, and I was so
intrigued by this story about Quaker life and their
socially active yet peace-abiding ways that I began
attending a Quaker “silent service.” About this time
I also started to wonder about Jesus, and bought
Jesus, Son of Man, by Kahlil Gibran.
One day late in 1971
I was in the library browsing the titles in the
Occult/Religion/Philosophy section when I noticed a
very large book that I had never seen before. I
opened it to page 167, which lists the number of
superuniverses, constellations and local universes
in the cosmos, and somewhat indignantly thought to
myself, “By what authority do they number the
universes? Oh well, I’ll just take it home for a
good laugh.”
A few days later, I
began to read about Adam and Eve in the Garden of
Eden. I always knew there must be more to the story
than the snake and the apple, and even though the
book seemed kind of strange, here was an account
that made sense. The more I read, the more I was
intrigued, and somewhat grudgingly I became
convinced that it was all true . . . that this book
really was the revelation that it purported to be.
This all happened within a matter of days, and I
began to skip around in the book as my interest led
me. By this technique, it took me quite a while to
piece together what a Thought Adjuster was, but I
was thrilled and amazed to find that the beloved
Jesus of my childhood was the actual creator and
ruler of our local universe. I used my birthday
money to order my own precious copy of the third
edition in early 1972. At that time, $15 was a lot
to pay for a book.
I tried to interest
my husband and in-laws in the book but had no
success whatsoever. We moved to Southern California,
and after studying alone for two or three years, I
finally wrote a dramatic letter to the Urantia
Foundation in Chicago: “My family scorns me, my
friends ridicule me. Is there anyone else in the
world who reads this book besides me?” I got a very
understanding and informative letter back from
Christy, telling me all about the Foundation and the
Urantia Brotherhood, and referring me to Julia
Fenderson, who was the West Coast Field
Representative. Through Julia I became active in the
Urantia Society in Los Angeles and attended
wonderful study groups.
The Urantia Book is a
profound gift, but I have learned that a gift can
only be given where it can be truly received; not
everyone is ready or willing to receive a revelation
of God’s love in this form. I also enjoy A Course
in Miracles and The Dances of Universal Peace,
which I’ve been able to share with others, some of
whom are also open to the Urantia Book.
I feel that the book
has provided a firm foundation for growth in all
areas of my life, and I will always be grateful for
the light that it has shed upon my path.
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