Baggage Off the Cliff with Jacqueline Harper and Maria Kaminstein

Meet the warm and encouraging Maria Kamenstein, a retired educator, church volunteer, and experienced Unbound leader who is currently writing her spiritual memoir.

Maria (pronounced /ma-rye-ah/) tells of her Quaker roots in rural Iowa, college days in the 1960’s, falling in love with her husband Dana, and moving to Philadelphia. When marital conflict left Maria downhearted, she went home to Iowa for a visit and found her younger brothers involved with the Jesus Movement. “They were all out for Jesus,” says Maria. She was drawn to their peace, joy, and centeredness.

Maria went home and began to read and pray. She asked God about her marriage and felt like the Lord brought to mind her wedding vows and said, “You made a promise. Stick to it.”

Maria replied, “Okay God, but you’ll have to make it work because we can’t.” Surrendering to God brought change within that altered the dynamics in her marriage, resulting in less conflict.

After years of prayer by many people, one day Maria’s husband Dana - who is Jewish - said to Maria, “I need to know about God.” He began attending church with her.

Dana, a psychologist, was interested in Unbound as a source of healing support to people. He began attending Unbound conferences and, in time, Maria joined him. “Then Neal and Janet started teaching people how to do Unbound sessions. We started doing Unbound prayer with people,“ says Maria.

Retired for five years now, Maria is an active leader in Unbound prayer both in-person and via Zoom. “It has been such a privilege to do God’s work in this way,” she says. She describes Unbound as being a very gentle, thoughtful, supportive way to help people with “throwing the baggage off the cliff!”

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Release: January 2025
Music by Christian Harper
Production by Jacqueline Harper