Stories of Spiritual Healing: Becoming Well

By Kwang-hee Park. SacraSage Press, 2021. 222 pages. $17.99/paperback; $9.99/eBook.

Stories of Spiritual Healing: Becoming Well is a collection of 41 vignettes about different types of spiritual healing. The author, Kwang-hee Park, is a chaplain, counselor, adjunct professor, and Oriental medicine care provider who shares some of her own experiences as well as incidents people have shared with her (changing the names of the storytellers). Each vignette is preceded by a Bible verse and followed by queries to direct discussion or personal contemplation, ending with a short prayer.

Park and her husband are members of Orange Grove Meeting in Pasadena, Calif., and are also both certified spiritual directors through Stillpoint Center for Christian Spirituality. In the book, she defines healing as “the process of recovering from wounds” and “experiencing the energy of life again.” She notes that healing leads to compassion.

The tales cover a wide range of topics, from loss of direction in life to dealing with the challenges of infertility, overwork, and aging. Each story presents a different perspective on spiritual healing, while highlighting the importance of prayer in the healing process. The stories are plain, uncluttered, and at first may seem simplistic but, in fact, act as valuable springboards to generate thought and contemplation.

In the story “Caroline Discerns How to Prioritize Her Work,” Park employs a mystery narrative to explore the moment in life when one needs to adjust priorities and rediscover one’s life path. In a more everyday story, “How Can I Find Something That is Very Dear to Me Again?” Steven loses a bag with valuable notes for a class he is taking. His seeking of these illustrates the power of prayer and perseverance as he recovers his lost notes through divine guidance. Moving to the end of life, “The Common Plot” offers a poignant moment when a non-Quaker is deeply moved by a Quaker burial service, witnessing the laying to rest of a feminist and activist friend’s ashes in a common plot. This story invites readers to move beyond ego as they ponder their own death and burial.

The power of these stories comes from the queries at the end, as well as the persistent conviction that a spiritual life and practice can heal brokenness. This book would be best used for a group study or as an impetus for journaling: the point is to reach beyond the vignettes to search for spiritual guidance in one’s own life. Overall, Stories of Spiritual Healing: Becoming Well is a thought-provoking collection that highlights the importance of going beyond the secular in the quest for healing.

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Diane Reynolds, formerly a member of Patapsco Meeting in Ellicott City, Md., is now a member of Stillwater Meeting in Barnesville, Ohio. She is a graduate of Earlham School of Religion and currently teaches teenage girls who have suffered trauma.