Throughout the United States, Baha’is are inviting spiritual seekers to enrich their life through such activities as prayer gatherings, weekly study of the Baha'i scriptures and classes for the spiritual education and training of children.

Twice a week, Marshall Royse cleans his modest apartment, puts on some inspirational music -- sometimes gospel, sometimes Enya, sometimes classical -- and waits for people to arrive for his weekly prayer gatherings.

Most don’t have far to go: They drift upstairs from the recovery hall known as the Little Yellow House in Seaside, Ore.


Marshall Royse Mr. Royse, 44, is more than familiar with the Little Yellow House. He’s been a recovering alcoholic half his life. He got sober at 22, six years before becoming a Baha'i. He credits the Faith, along with working his recovery program, for keeping him sober.

“The Baha'i writings and writings on recovery work side by side,” he says. “They’re both about taking care of yourself, personal spirituality and service to others.”

Mr. Royse draws from one to five participants, and sometimes as many as nine, at his prayer gatherings. Some are Baha’is, some aren’t. Two participants, both Catholic, have been coming since Mr. Royse began holding these events in 2003.

He says a man who had been coming to the gatherings for a year said, “The first time I came up to Marshall’s I stomped up stressed and floated down at peace afterwards.”

Mr. Royse uses prayers from the Baha'i Faith and other world religions including African traditional and Native American. One of his favorite prayers, written by Abdu’l-Baha, is also a popular favorite of other Baha’is:

O God! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Purify my heart. Illumine my powers. I lay all my affairs in Thy hand. Thou art my Guide and my Refuge. I will no longer be sorrowful and grieved; I will be a happy and joyful being. O God! I will no longer be full of anxiety, nor will I let trouble harass me. I will not dwell on the unpleasant things of life.

O God! Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself. I dedicate myself to Thee, O Lord.

The second-to-last line rings like a gong for Mr. Royse. He says he tried to commit suicide a number of times starting at age 13 after being abused physically, emotionally, psychologically and sexually by his father in the first 10 years of his life.

Mr. Royse spent six years in foster care, where he was tormented by his peers for being “different.” At 16, he turned to alcohol and drugs.

“After I got sober,” Mr. Royse says, “I realized everything I was taught as a child was wrong, such as sexism and racism. So I tried to reprogram my thinking in harmony with the principles of the Baha'i Faith, which I discovered in college.

“I was never as excited as I was when reading the Baha'i writings. All my questions were answered, even some I’d never asked.”

Being a Baha'i, Mr. Royse says, even helped him forgive his father. Unlike those who have been abused and go on to abuse others, Mr. Royse adores children and often baby-sits.

“I’ve always been drawn to taking care of children,” he says, “because I can give them the love that was never given to me.”

Mr. Royse holds out the promise of hope for those at the Little Yellow House and those who attend his prayer gatherings. He knows they’ve known rough times and, like him, have wondered, “Why is God letting bad things happen to me?”

What he has learned being a Baha'i, he says, is that “God had nothing to do with my troubled past. God gave us all free will. He’s also there guiding us. He was always there, even when I didn’t think he was there.”