Discovering God as Companion

Mariellen Gilpin, ed. Discovering God as Companion: Real Life Stories from What Canst Thou Say?  (Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse, 2007).  160 pages.

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About

Have you had an experience of the presence of God?
Has a voice, a vision, a dream changed your sense of who you are?
Has a sense of oneness with God changed your life?
Are you hungry for a God who provides real guidance?
This book is for you.

Have you wondered if God exists?
Have you wondered if God cares about you?
Do you wonder if God is still talking to humans?
Do you yearn to love God but feel you need to be introduced?
This book is for you.

Listen to Mariellen Gilpin describe Discovering God as Companion during a radio interview.  It was taped by Illinois Public Media for the "Keepin' the Faith" program on November 25, 2007.

Background

In celebration of our tenth anniversary, What Canst Thou Say? created this book of previously published stories and poems. What Canst Thou Say? is a quarterly newsletter that has gathered stories of Quakers sharing their first-hand mystical experience and contemplative practice. It is produced cooperatively by a group of volunteers, who, themselves, have felt the movement of the Spirit and wish to deepen their understanding by interacting with others. 

Authors

Sixty-five present-day authors, most of them Quakers, share their stories of spiritual openings and of God’s grace in their lives. These stories tell of finding Divine presence and guidance in situations as ordinary as brushing teeth, as awe inspiring as a desert sunset, or as frightening as critical illness or sexual abuse. Share the joy of discovery with these authors, all of them ordinary people who have had extraordinary experiences. To read these stories is to see a world of wondrous possibility. Here is a list of the authors:

Kate Ahmadi, Stephen L. Angell, James Baker, Diane Barounis, Ray Bentman, David Blair, Heidi Blocher, Carmen Bruce, Marlou Carlson, Carol Cober, Elspeth Colwell, Rachel Davis DuBois, Jennifer Elam, Sabrina Sigal Falls, Jennifer Faulkner, Alvin Joaquín Figueroa, Jennifer Frick, Mariellen Gilpin, Kathryn Gordon, Kat Griffith, Steven Gross, Deborah Haines, Hazel Jonjak, Lauren Leach, Linda Lee, Connie Lezenby, Alison Lohans, Judy Lumb, Dorothy Mack, Keith Maddock, Marcelle Martin, Marti Matthews, Patricia McBee, Elizabeth Meyer, Dimitri Mihalas, Jay Mittenthal, Terri Mittenthal, Peg Morton, Dorothy Neumann, Christine O’Brien, Amy Perry, Maurine Pyle, Allison Randall, Mike Resman, Jean Roberts, Dalton Roberts, Carol Roth, Scott Russell Sanders, Lynda Schaller, Brad Sheeks, William R. Stimson, Wayne Swanger, Bill Taber, Kathy Tapp, Ken Tapp, Linda Theresa, Carolyn Smith Treadway, Carolyn Wilbur Treadway, Rita Varley, Mary Waddington, Theodora E. Waring, Demaris Wehr, Judith Weir, Nancy Whitt

Friends' Comments

“What Canst Thou Say? consistently offers readers stimulating, intelligent and spiritually nourishing works. I have deep appreciation for all the writers, for their willingness to allow us to reflect and learn from their experiences.”   —Carol Roth, New Jersey

“What Canst Thou Say? makes me realize the same Spirit that has been turning my life upside down and inside out has been working all along with others.”    —Alicia Adams, New Mexico

“In a context in which an intimate interactive relationship with God is not always highly valued, understood, or actively nurtured, and whose importance as the root of social action is sometimes overlooked, this book witnesses to the action of God in the lives of Friends today, and their response to it. Mysticism at work.” —Frances Taber, Ohio

“The stories range all over the human condition and encompass such a broad variety of people’s experience of God that when one needs to read the words of another human being wrestling with an experience similar to one’s own—it is possible to find it among the many stories. All of us have so much of the world in our lives, dragging us away from faith, that this kind of book is what we need.” —Rita Varley, Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Library

Order a Copy

Paperback: Quakerbooks

Kindle Edition: Amazon