License Unity Teacher Sandra Anderson     

"Life is all about the journey "

January 11, 2020 was a day that stopped me in my tracks. In the mail came in a large envelope addressed to me. Inside was the letter of congratulations. I passed SDS board testing.  I was approved by the UWM Board for Licensed Unity Teacher status. The enclosed certificate read Licensed Unity Teacher Pastoral Care and my full name. It took a couple of days for it to fully sink in.

How did I get to this moment and achievement as a LUT is good a question?

But first, I want to recognize Reverend Sandra McKinney and after her retirement Revered Alden Studebaker for being my sponsors, support cast, and really needed sounding boards as I went through the program. Thank you's to my husband for his patience, quick reframe, ideas and edits. My Missouri family who created a bedroom for me to use, while attending the SEE and LUT classes and new driving directions around traffic or the latest construction to Unity Village. And those special friends who hung in there with me, they talked to me on my drive down or on the way back when I needed to vent (they know who they are).

 

Life journeys don't follow your plan without tweaking from Divine. My journey came with innate knowings and feelings, studying new thoughts & ideas, speed bumps - pauses to sit with your new ideas, detours for new experiences or interruptions by new teachers, slowdowns-for raising children, loss of loved ones and finding my Healer Path. This was not all random for me as I saw some vision of this process for some time.

 

I grew up with a lot of different denomination Christian churches. Thus, my religious journey was without as many boundaries as many have. My grandmother used The Daily Word, for instance while she attended Presbyterian churches. A middle aged East Indian roommate in college also added a wider view of the world, food, health and spirituality for me.

When we moved to Minnesota, the Lutheran church was our religious home as we raised our two daughters with Sunday school and religion. We agreed on most curriculum but also found there to be too much about religious boundaries. I started attending Unity in between and in addition to our Lutheran home in the mid-nineties when the new Unity church was built right around the corner from where we lived. I have always been active in whatever church we attended from teaching Sunday school, Vacation Bible school and confirmation. From classrooms, to family camps and kitchens. I often felt a sting when questioned about my beliefs on religion or Spirituality during these years. Time for a place that accepted new thoughts, honored others and their path to truths. Divine Mind, Great Spirit put more new friends, teachers and path in front of me.

 

I began energy healing in 1993 and have multiple certifications now. My daughter and I both graduated from Stout with our B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies. Our graduation day was on my birthday in 2007 and we walked one after the other across the stage. Life gives us what we attract, what we need and not always in the order we plan on. It reminded me about one of Life's Undeniable Truths...It is not about the destination it's about the journey. We were now multiple years solely at Unity. My first SEE [spiritual education & enrichment] classes began in 2009. My first teacher was "The Rev" Sandra McKinney.

 

I finished my SEE certificate in 2015 with over 250 hours of 25 classes, many of which were taken at Unity Village in Kansas City. I didn't feel that I was done and decided to continue on. I have always worked with groups and found the Licensed Unity Teacher program fit me of the different Unity paths from that point. These classes were all at Unity Village until this last year with remote learning as in practically all education now. The LUT program is more than just signing up. There was a MMPR psychology test, you must be recommended by your minister, a personal letter of intent, background check and an in-person psychology interview. This is all before you are accepted. Having done all that, the LUT classes were taken from 2016 to the "Oh my Goodness" completion officially and in a written certificate received this January 2021. Now a bit about the journey.

 

Once into the LUT program, you choose what path of emphasis to use your training and talents. Once again, not a simple step; the choices were Administrative, Adult Education, Youth and Family, Music and Pastoral Care. I chose Adult Ed as it teamed up with my four-year degree and past experience. As I got deeper into the program and events at Unity of Eau Claire were changing, I switched to Pastoral Care, that change also changed requirements for my practicum. This was with virtually all of my sponsors, LUT support group and Divine detours to help with my decision. That change, also changed my time line for taking the SDS Licensing test and in person evaluation by instructors and LUT representatives. With the event of Covid, I was in the first group to take the SDS test through an online testing platform and to do my in-person meditation and class instruction virtually. It should be better for the next group; the bugs were worked out by my group.

 

As all LUT candidates and those of us [I can count myself in this category now, so neat] who have been certified will tell you, the program is filled with challenges, frustration, delays, lost homework etc. probably not unlike other similar programs. The LUT program is long and the program continues to change. Throw in a change in the Unity Village Administrative structure in the middle of it resulted to muddy things even more. Those of us in the program built a support group/ friendship with each other to help with questions or to talk one off the wall when needed. I continue to do this with others now. The time line and years to completion interestingly is similar for most going through the whole program. Many years, many changes in personal interest, spiritual awareness and Unity requirements. A challenge, yes. Worth it, yes. What is to come, change, of course!