Enough to Move

by Linda Niles Nix (formerly Linda Driver)

My belief in living in the right place at the right time now transcends the annoyance of doing so, which has always included moving of some sort. Whether it was when everything fit in the trunk or back area of a car or van, I learned to be good at performing the necessity of finding free or low cost containers or boxes and had enough strength left over to drive wherever the present was leading me into the future. At the point that moving became a family affair, it was more complicated. We had to be more sure that what we were doing meant improving our current situation and the chance to make decent choices in regard to the children. Supply was always an issue and in this situation not readily available.

My husband was then a licensed chiropractor. We had met in New Mexico and moved to California in order for him to work on a health ranch, hired by what was supposed to be the new owners. We ended up living in a tent trailer as the business deal went belly up a few months afterwards. Then we lived nearby and former friends came from New Mexico with the news of the Teachings. We lived in driving distance to the White Lodge and Richard set up practice in a small converted home where we met Elizabeth Clare Prophet who came to the office just after she had left Colorado to set up in Pasadena and a few years later established Camelot.

The staff at the White Lodge were our first encounter with the Teachings although Richard had been involved with the I AM since he was a young teen. We met through a naturopath in Santa Fe. Once Richard met Elizabeth Clare Prophet, he made the statement, “I think I could follow her.” I had reacted positively, but wasn’t sure what being a messenger really meant. Another move was soon at hand and we moved from a home in Oceanside with a lease option to buy to giving all our stored grain to the church and attending Summit University. Now we were housed in a small dorm room with a young child and joining staff right afterwards didn’t happen either. We had former debts and were told by Annice Booth to take care of them; then to reconsider. It wasn’t a harsh rebuke, but here we were moving again with less.

Friends of ours back in Oceanside thought we were making a rash decision to say the least. They weren’t against us following the Teachings as they had been attending and raising their own children in the Bahá’í Faith. Giving up what little we had in order to gain the potential of finally living with some stability was the issue. Richard and I just knew we had to do what we had to do; that the future would take care of itself and the Masters would help us.

We ended up in Ojai about an hour inland and south of Santa Barbara where there was the Mother House. Patricia Johnson was the head person and became our second child’s godmother. Richard began setting up his practice and again it appeared that stability might be in our grasp. We rented a decent home in a neighborhood where young families lived. Following the birth of our second child, I had a small childcare business that provided some income. Ojai too seemed a unique town where people were quite interested in living healthy. Our second child was born in a small hospital there and he was named by the messenger whom Richard traveled to see when possible. I put up a poster for an upcoming conference (that I found out years later was seen by someone passing through). We were not able to attend due to financial limits but we were connected to the center. Then the unexpected forced us into what some refer to as “between a rock and a hard place.”

Richard had been written up in the small local newspaper by an older woman whose adult daughter had gone to see Richard and had become interested in the Teachings. We generally only answered Sarah’s questions which were many; we were never pushy. She must have mentioned Richard’s practice and a few other ideas. Her mother never called or stopped by, or had any real information about anything from us directly. Yet Louise took her misunderstandings and misinformation to the paper. The writer never contacted Richard or checked out what garbage Louise had been spewing, no matter how inaccurate. Freedom of the Press in those days meant you could write anything and print it as the truth. A few of Richard’s patients tried to counter, but the damage from the article had been done. His growing practice tumbled. One of the worst parts was when a resident just walked up to him in the local grocery store and asked, “Why haven’t you left you (blank) bastard?!”

At the time our oldest son was three; our youngest was just an infant. Their care, plus the children I took care of, plus intensified decree requests from Camelot, plus normal living necessities filled almost all of my time. I was healthy, yet weary of all that was expected. I knew that a miracle or something close to it was needed so I went to Saint Germain. His huge presence was taped to our bedroom wall; we were too poor to have it framed. In my straight-forward style that I had not completely lost from growing up in New England, I walked right up to his picture and told him, “Listen Saint Germain, we are between a rock and a hard place. We don’t have the money to be able to stay here and we don’t have enough money to leave. You have to help us. Please!!!” Then I sighed and returned to whatever needed my attention. I knew at some level that in order for my request to be answered, I had to remain confident and at peace, no matter what appeared to be overwhelming circumstances. Every time my thoughts went to worrying or I began feeling anxious about how we were going to take care of these precious children or survive such circumstances, I stopped myself and let such feelings leave or cease. I included some supply calls from the green section of our decree book, but world situations took priority.

Richard remained calm and continued to go to his small office every day. On Wednesday evenings he stayed later and gave a healing service that he had been doing for a year. Occasionally a patient or two attended, but at this point he was giving the service alone. We were running out of funds to do anything, yet one evening after giving the service, Richard called me to tell me he was running a bit late, but his first words were, “You need to sit down.” So I did. Then he told me that a patient of his who owned a tennis shop and had written a support letter to the local paper dropped by just as he had finished the service. She laid a check on the counter and said, “You need to leave this town and here’s the money to do it.” Richard was beside himself and mumbled, “What is this? A loan? A gift? or What?” Jeanette responded, “It’s whatever you want it to be.” Richard had never asked or mentioned our dilemma to anyone. Jeanette was a lovely person and an easy person to treat, but she wasn’t anyone we would ask for something this personal. She tuned in and I do believe that Saint Germain had scoured the area and chose her. Later she and her mother became more seriously interested in the Teachings and attended Summit University at Camelot. No surprise there, yet that was some time later.

In case you’re wondering, the amount of the check was for $2,000. It wasn’t a huge amount, but it was enough for us to leave Ojai and to move to Thousand Oaks where another drama occurred about a year later. We had to live with some friends, all four of us; then moved eventually to Woodland Hills where Richard set up an office where he ended up seeing as many as forty or more people in a day. At one point Richard was headed to Pasadena to treat Mother (ECP). He told me if there was anything I wanted to ask her, he would. The question that came immediately to mind was, “Will we be moving again?” When he returned home that evening, he smiled and said, “I have your answer from Mother.” He had my full attention. Then he stated directly, “She said, “You’re home now.” I have never and will never forget her answer. It reached me far deeper than can be expressed.