Gods Healing Grace: Reflections on a Journey with Mental and Spiritual Illness

Mine is a story of how one Quaker has dealt with mental illness. But some of my experiences have not fit with liberal, unprogrammed Quaker beliefs--I perceive that demons are a spiritual reality; exorcism is sometimes appropriate and helpful; prayer is not always a good thing. In what follows, I share how I and my meeting have dealt with the contradictions among our culture, our beliefs, and my reality. I take readers to frightening territory but show a path to wholeness--a path of compassion, of spiritual nonviolence, of living out my conviction that my perceived demons, too, desire to serve God. I tell my story in the spirit of worship-sharing: I do not insist Friends agree, but only listen with open hearts.