THE MIGAWARI PRAYER SAVED MY MOTHER
By Geoff Russell from The Perfect Liberty Centre, Brisbane
On Saturday January 24, 2004, my mother Lilian collapsed at home with sharp chest pains and within the hour fell into coma. The doctors at the hospital immediately gave her an M.R.I. to check on her brain activity and then advised me that she had suffered a severe stroke covering a good portion of her brain.
The doctor explained to me that she might not survive, and even if she did live I could expect her to be severely disabled. Lilian is 86 years old and this was her second stroke in two years. I was totally upset and didn't know what to do.
I called my minister, Bill Trotter. He listened to me and advised me to leave it totally in God's hands and he would perform a Migawari Prayer for Lilian.
She was transferred to a larger hospital where she regained consciousness about 5 hours after the prayer. She was given another M.R.I. and this time I was told that it was a small stroke because it only covered a part of her brain. Lilian was very uncomfortable and drowsy for two days but she could easily identify the people around her. The doctors there admitted that they were unable to figure out what was wrong with her.
We continued the Oyashikiri Prayer for her each day. Then, only a week after her sudden stroke Lilian was back at home with me. Three weeks later she had totally recovered with no side effects from the stroke. Then on Sunday February 29th she was happy to be back attending the Brisbane PL Church.
Lilian and I are amazed by the power of the Migawari Prayer. Of course long-time PL members may not be as they have seen this happen before but we are only new members — less than six months.
My mother and I have lived together for the past twelve years. It was over 50 years ago since we last attended church together and we had no desire to have a spiritual influence in our lives. We viewed people with a religious faith as being weak, having no confidence in themselves.
Every Friday we would visit Lilian's hairdresser, Pam, who had impressed us with her peaceful and patient manner. On one visit we met another of her clients, Yoko, who mentioned that she was a minister at Pam's church and she invited us to attend.
The pleasant, lovely nature of these two ladies and a brief chat about PL aroused our curiosity and we visited the following Sunday.
The PL faith immediately appealed to us. We could see how ridding ourselves of negative mental habits would benefit us. PL gave the positive message that "Life is art." We love the tolerance that PL teaches and its goal of world peace.
We appreciate how PL is not bound by centuries old writings and rituals but through the Founders, has changed its focus to meet the needs of our changing society.
Gradually we began to understand the spiritual aspects of PL. How Oshieoya-sama is our connection with the powerful Creator and how he can show us the way to develop so as to reach our full potential as God's children. We have learnt for ourselves the power of the Oyashikiri Prayer which continues to amaze us.
We cannot express how grateful we are to PL for the peace and happiness it has bought us.
We pray that we may follow the 21 Guidelines in our daily lives as the two ladies who first aroused our curiosity about PL do. The qualities that result from following the teachings are evident to others and make a powerful way to introduce others.
(Geoff Russell is his mother's dedicated care-giver. He and his mother joined PL in August 2003 and that December they requested their Omitama.)
