Flower

"A time arrives in the life of every true seeker when it is not enough to simply believe in God. The greatest need is to know God... Every Christian should strive to radiate Light so that the diamond heart of nations and the world may be formed. All spiritual fires have the tendency to ignite potential hearts with the Christ Flame. We want to say often, "I dwell in the light of Christ. May His Light be steady and bright within me... The Lord Christ is responsible for the spiritual evolution of all people, even those who do not revere Him. Within His keeping are the keys for the development of this humanity...

We who study here want to stand wholly for Christ and His way of life. We are nondenominational so that everyone may come here, and worship with us, and receive communion with us. Among the requirements that are made of those who come here are reverence, loving Christ, and knowing the greatness that He is. We are striving to become Christian mystics. Above learning, we emphasize living... Our Lord Jesus evolved just as each of us has. He was human, very human in the beginning of His evolution, but He more strangely than anyone else, more quickly had the power of excellence, that supreme ability to surrender Himself and to give himself to that which is higher than anyone else that has evolved through the earth... We are here in life for but one reason-to learn to climb through ascensions of consciousness into the true Selfhood which is within us-the Selfhood which belongs to the eternal, the Selfhood which is our real nativity, our home in God's spirit... Christ's entire ministry can be summarized in just two words, live love. "

~  Flower A. Newhouse (1909 –1994) was an American Christian mystic and spiritual teacher. Her father, Richard C. Sechler, had a heart attack when she was six, and shortly thereafter divorced her mother, taking brother Clayton Leo with him. Her mother, Jennie Matilda Romig, told the girls that their father had died of a heart attack. Her sister, Beatrice Jennie Sechler, was born with eye infections and had her eyes removed surgically at the age of five and went to live in a school for the blind.

Her life was dedicated to furthering Christ's mission "to release the divine into our conscious knowing. He awakens the impulse in persons to rise above their lower nature and be aware of their higher nature that dwells within.” Word soon spread of her unique gifts of clairvoyance, her natural ability to inspire others, her love, service and devotion to Christ, and her convincing sincerity and authority as a speaker.

It was on one of these lecture engagements that she met her future husband, Lawrence George Newhouse. Flower and Lawrence would eventually travel to over 126 cities in North America, many of them multiple times, teaching and answering questions from spiritual students seeking a greater understanding of life’s purpose and the mysticism of Christ.

In 1940, Flower and Lawrence founded Questhaven Retreat and the Christward Ministry (initially 440 acres in the rolling chaparral-covered hills of northern San Diego County—now 655 acres), which continues to be an active ministry and nature retreat consecrated to the living Christ. According to her students, Questhaven was and continues to be a refuge for the Spirit, a place of indescribable peace, and a spiritual training center of Christian Mysticism to teach the Ways of Christian Discipleship and the Wisdom Teachings that underlie "Living the Life" and following the "Christward Way". She described her teachings not as doctrine, but a practical guide to the direct, immediate experience of God.” ~ Wikipedia