Flower A. Newhouse

Flower A. Newhouse (May 10, 1909–July 8, 1994) was an American Christian mystic and spiritual teacher.

Early life

She was born Mildred "Mimmi" Arlene Sechler in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Her father died of heart failure when she was seven. Her mother, Jennie Romig Sechler, was a milliner and entrepreneur. She had one sibling, a sister Beatrice, who was blind from the age of five. "Flower" was the name she insisted on being called as soon as she could talk. Flower enjoyed close and affectionate relationships with her mother and sister for their entire lives.

From childhood, she claimed the gifts of an exceptionally well-trained clairvoyant ability and the mystic's natural love for the Lord Christ. Her supporters see these gifts in her written and oral works as well as her living example.

Newhouse claimed that she first realized she was clairvoyant when she was six, riding the Staten Island Ferry in New York Harbor with a friend her age. Seeing a group of water sprites, she pointed them out to her companion. The latter, thinking this was a game of make believe, responded with her own creative inventions. Flower, realizing she saw a world that didn't exist for others, was shocked into silence for many years.

When Flower entered high school, her teachers gave her a series of writing assignments. This provided for her the opportunity to begin sharing some of her wisdom gained over lifetimes. So impressed were these teachers that they invited Flower to their homes where she commenced her own career as a teacher.

Career

In 1924, Newhouse, along with her mother and sister, moved to Los Angeles where she soon became a guest speaker at a number of churches and lecture halls. Word soon spread of her unique gifts and her convincing sincerity as a speaker. Before long she was traveling regularly to Santa Barbara and San Francisco and much of Southern California. It was on one of these lecture engagements that she met her future husband, Lawrence Newhouse.

In 1940, Flower and Lawrence founded Questhaven Retreat^[1] and the Christward Ministry, which she bequeathed to the Lord Christ forever. Here, she wrote and lectured extensively on the Kingdom of Angels and the Wisdom Teachings that underlie "living the Life" and following the "Way". Flower died in 1994 and many Christians believe she returned to her eternal homeland, following a rich, challenging and accomplished life.

Writings

Newhouse's supporters hold that the life and writings of Flower A. Newhouse are those of a Christian mystic, and that her insights into the inner realms of life provide us with a path to wholeness that she called "Living the Life". These teachings are not doctrine, but a practical guide to the direct, immediate experience of God. Flower's mission was also to reawaken humanity to the reality of angels, a work she began with her first book in 1937, and added to in many published writings and taped lectures.

References

1. ^ Questhaven Retreat, Home of the Christward Ministry

External links

• Questhaven Website
• Songs from the House of Pilgrimage - Biography
• "Questhaven Retreat has been a spot for spiritual growth for almost 70 years" - San Diego Union-Tribune