Newhouse was born Mildred "Mimi" Arlene Sechler in Allentown, Pennsylvania on May 10, 1909. She claimed she had the gift of clairvoyance from age 6.^[1]

In 1924, Newhouse, along with her mother and sister moved to Los Angeles.^[1] Newhouse soon became a guest speaker at a number of churches and lecture halls.

Newhouse's work emphasized the need, as she described it, to consistently live the Christ-inspired life through a mystical union as one with the living Christ, and to directly experience God through living love, and by a steadfast active expression of God's presence from within.^{[citation needed]}

She began traveling regularly to Santa Barbara and San Francisco, and eventually throughout the United States and Canada as an invited speaker. On one of these lecture engagements, she met her future husband, Lawrence George Newhouse (July 18, 1910 - January 29, 1963), whom she married on October 31, 1933.^{[citation needed]}

In 1940, Newhouse and her husband founded Questhaven Retreat and the Christward Ministry.^[1] Her ministry was a hybrid theology drawing on Christian mysticism.^[1] Her followers describe her teachings as "not doctrine, but a practical guide to the direct, immediate experience of God."^[2]

THE ARMOR OF THE SPIRITUAL LIFE THE CHRISTWARD WAY DISCIPLINES OF THE HOLY QUEST THE DRAMA OF INCARNATION GATEWAYS INTO LIGHT HERE ARE YOUR ANSWERS (VOL. 1) HERE ARE YOUR ANSWERS (VOL. 2) HERE ARE YOUR ANSWERS (VOL. 3) THE JOURNEY UPWARD KINGDOM OF THE SHINING ONES THE MEANING AND VALUE OF THE SACRAMENTS A MEASURE OF DAYS NATIVES OF ETERNITY REDISCOVERING THE ANGELS SEVEN PATHS UPWARD SONGS OF DELIVERANCE THESE TOO SHALL BE LOVED TRAVEL WITH INNER PERCEPTIVENESS THE QUEST

• Questhaven website