I AM the Witness
A Hand on My Shoulder
Dear Mother:
I have delayed writing my eyewitness (“I witness”) account of what the Ascended Masters and the Messengers have meant to me since I became a Keeper of the Flame because it is so difficult to select from the many wonderful and soul-enriching experiences.
In the first place, I, like many others, had reservations about the Teachings, which went so far beyond what I had learned from traditional Protestant Christianity. At my very first conference, I wondered about these strange and new (to me) beliefs–about the power of the spoken Word and the hosts of heaven being available to us. As I was pondering all this, I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard a voice, which my soul knew was the voice of Jesus, say: “Here is food for you, Kathleen.” I rejoiced that the only Master I knew at that time had confirmed the Truth I sought.
Through the years, I have consistently “tried the spirits, whether they be of God,” and I have always found the signs that led to my soul’s confirmation. Like many Protestants, I had been denied the comfort of the Mother of God. Yet the very scriptures on which I was raised revealed to me that God is both Mother and Father and that we are created in the image of God, male and female (Genesis 1:27).
Mother, both you and Mark have shown in your lives the purity and integrity, the devotion and commitment that you encourage us to practice in our lives. I remember Mark putting frozen fruit in a food processor on the patio at La Tourelle in Colorado Springs and asking each person at the conference which flavor he or she would like. I’ll never forget his beaming face as he served in this humble way only minutes after leading a worship service and delivering a message from an Ascended Master. This is only one example of the many times I have witnessed his humble devotion to service.
I witness to the many ways in which you have demonstrated the role of Mother. When the children were little, it was not unusual for you to have one of them on your lap in the chapel while Mark was giving a lecture. Between sessions, you and Mark often walked around with a child in your arms or clinging to your hand while you conversed with the conferees. You always treated all children with love and respect.
On one occasion a group of us were gathered to decree and you were about to light the candles when Erin (who was about four at the time) entered the room. You gathered her up in your arms and let her help you light the candles and blow out the match before she left with a staff member.
Your actions showed how understanding and loving you are. I thought then, “What a good mother!” You loved and accepted her, you allowed her to participate and help, and you required her to go to her duties. You provided an example that I have striven to follow.
I witness to the truth of the teachings that the Ascended Masters have given to us through the Messengers. On countless occasions, when I have been faced with a dilemma over what course of action to pursue, I have given decrees and asked guidance from the Masters. I have always been given indications of the path I should take and each time it has proven to be the right course.
I witness to your integrity in refusing to allow people to idolize you. I have taken to heart your constant reminders to follow the Masters by doing what they do and to become the Messenger and the Master where we are, following in their footsteps.
I witness to the joy that I experience through having a host of friends in heaven and on earth on whom I can count for support when faced with any of life’s challenges.
Thanks to the Messengers and Church Universal and Triumphant, I know that “I am never alone but always all-one with God.”
- Your chela on the path of personal Christhood,
When the Pupil Is Ready the Teacher Appears
Dearest Mother,
Approximately one year before contacting the Teachings of the Ascended Masters, my life began to change. I became more attuned to solitude. I had the desire less and less to see friends, go to dinner, movies, museums, etc. I began to spend more and more time in my room studying the beautiful art books I had collected.
Well, one day I looked up from my book to see–as I had never seen before–a magnificent, luminous being made up of tiny points of light. He was shining in rainbow hue. At that moment his head was bowed but he began to raise his head and then smiled at me.
I never in this life saw anyone so beautiful. It was his smile that touched my heart. His vibration felt like pure Love and Peace. I was in a timeless moment. His vibration conveyed that he was contacting me and that was why my life was changing.
Afterward I ran to the other room, shouting to my roommate, “It must have been God! It must have been God!” My roommate was totally speechless (and probably still is).
Six months later at my first conference and first New Year’s in the Teachings, I beheld the photo of beloved Lord Maitreya and recognized him as the one who came for me. Truly, I am grateful.
- Most sincerely,
I Witness to the Law of the Tithe
The church was United Brethren, the home church of the denomination. It was on the campus of their school, Otterbein College, the first coeducational college west of the Allegheny Mountains. The communicants were retired missionaries from Africa, China, Japan, India, as well as college professors and students from foreign mission fields, and local people of a town of three thousand and the surrounding farm community.
I do not know if my folks tithed; I know they were generous with time and money to the church. From the time I was a teenager, I helped with church dinners and listened to the women talk as they prepared food. They often spoke of the hardships and pleasures of missionary work–fascinating stories. They discussed the various aspects of Christ’s teaching that they were striving to embody in their families and as individuals, and the results attained from the efforts. One of the women was an ordained minister but she was never allowed to preach from the pulpit.
Because it was the home church, it conducted large conferences but there was no local lodging. The guests were bunked with professors and administrators of the college. College pay was dreadfully poor and it was a real hardship for some to provide food when they were required to house guests for any length of time. (When Otterbein College provided for an Air Force ROTC unit on campus, the Air Force captain made more money than the president of the college!)
My Girl Scout leader and her husband, the physics professor, tithed. That apparently was not the usual, as she was the only one I ever heard witness to it. I especially remember one time when this couple was required to house guests for a weekend. On that Friday morning, there appeared on the back step a bushel basket with two chickens, eggs, bacon, flour, bread, butter, vegetables–everything needed for the weekend. I knew this had meant much to her, for her eyes misted as she spoke of it. She could hardly speak and had to lower her head.
As a result of her witnessing, I made up my mind that tithing was one thing I would do when I married–and I did. Not one time have my husband and I missed. In our various crises, the financial problems have solved themselves–life insurance, car, vacation, college tuition, long separation due to TDY (temporary duty), as my husband was military. With college tuition increasing, I could see no way to have enough for the next quarter, but the interest from our savings increased proportionately and somehow our finances figured out to the penny!
In the military, everyone knows your exact income. I noticed that those who were well-organized and tithed seemed to be in better financial shape than most. But these were accused of having an outside income!
Twice I tried unsuccessfully to explain tithing to a group of church friends in the military. Truly, it is necessary to become a separate people, even with all of the barbs. Tithing has to be experienced and it has to be witnessed to.
- Grateful for my forty-four years of tithing,
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