Hello! My name is Michelle Howard, and I'm a new subscriber from Portland, Oregon, USA. It has been raining all day here, and I've been listening to Dougie MacLean on the stereo and recovering from (a) a six-hour round-trip drive to Tacoma, Washington, and (b) nicotine withdrawal. I quit smoking for Lent, and it is making me pretty sick. Prayers would be appreciated. Things about me in no particular order: * I've been involved in healing ministry for about a year. * I love science fiction. * I'm 35 years old, married for 2 years to a man I met on a computer newsgroup. Harry is a rigger and crane operator at the shipyard in Portland on Swan Island; I'm a secretary. * Baptized Roman Catholic, raised United Methodist, received as an Episcopalian/Anglican in 1989. * A native of Los Angeles, I miss palm trees, the Pacific Ocean, movies, restaurants, freeways, and bougainvillea most (besides my friends). I love the mountains, rivers, rain, and lilacs in Portland -- we didn't get much of that in L.A. Last year, within three weeks of Easter, my friend's 24-year-old son committed suicide, another friend's lover did the same, and my husband's 20-something-year-old coworker did the same. I had just recovered from a six-month clinical depression, and all I could think was, "That could have so easily been me. Why did I get better and live, and why did my friends succumb to despair and take their own lives?" One of them even made a point of going to his mother and telling her he'd accepted Christ just a few hours before he killed himself. It was a confusing and painful time for me, and I decided that I wanted to do something with my life that would help people to find comfort, healing, and peace in their lives. It has been an interesting journey. Most of the people with healing ministries in the U.S. are from a Roman Catholic tradition. I understand that in the U.K., most are from an Anglican tradition. Is this so? I have started a Web site that gathers together as many links to places with healing ministries as I can find. The site also has a bibliography, but most of the books are published in the USA. I could use some help in adding new Web sites and adding other books to the bibliography. The Web links are at http://justus.anglican.org/resources/healing/healinks.html and the bibliography is at http://justus.anglican.org/resources/healing/healbib.html The information on healing is ecumenical -- I think this is a basic ministry of the church -- but the Anglicans were the people who offered me server space. Looking forward to hearing other people's stories, Michelle Howard ** Portland, Oregon ** misdh@...