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A DOOR OPENS 

​Why open the door here in a mental sense and commit your time to read further?  What is in it for you Dear Reader?  Well, it is because not only is it an intriguing story of overcoming adversity but I am going to provide you with the knowledge that I gained to heal and avoid both surgery and life long medicine.  On other pages I will provide recipes and remedies; natural herbs and plants that I have used; as well as the links to various reputable businesses that can provide products. It will at least give you a starting point on your quest.  I will also provide you a day by day schedule of what I did for healing (what I took and when, my diet plan, and my spiritual plan).  

​The BAD part was how deteriorated my condition became and how bad off I was.  The GOOD part is this will provide you an opportunity to learn.  You have to be willing to learn.  I can not teach but I can provide the details.  You have to be a willing recipient.  The other GOOD news about being as bad off as I was in condition is that it provides me some authority and credibility.  If I only had a minor tummy ache you may not be reading now.  But as you will soon see from my pictures I was bad off to such an extent that this may provide you the hope you need and I can be used as a Testimony in a sense.  "Why would I want pictures like this?" my sister asked as I insisted she break out the iPhone and start a photo shoot. Because even in that state I knew I must provide what I gained to someone.  Are you that someone?  Are you going to creak the door open and peer in?  Are you going to walk through that door?  When one door closes God always opens another. While I do believe this to be true the passage spent in the hallway going between the two doors can literally suck, BUT it sucks for a reason and it is a good thing as you will see.

On our initial About Me page I discussed my difficulties of 2015.  They say bad things happen in 3’s and sure enough I had exactly 3!  Three big ones.  Mine started quickly enough with event #1 in February 2015.  It was Valentines Day that I found out about the end of a relationship.  Quite embarrassing to mention here mind you but I do so to give the background for my life stepping stones and growing in Faith.  On this day it was confirmed the lady in my life was secretly leading a double life.  To top it off we were scheduled to be going through pre-marriage counseling that week. Wow Right?  Needless to say this was a distressing event.  

I had to overcome event #1 because something like that can lead to Hell.  The two keys to Hell are condemnation and resentment.  These can be destroyed permanently by such treatment as love and prayer.  In essence I had to forgive from the heart.  Boy did I want to hold a grudge and dish out punishment but the joke would have been on me if I had.  I would have only been punishing myself.  However, true forgiveness comes from the heart and it wasn’t happening fast enough for me.  I had asked in prayer to let me forget this event quickly.  And so my prayer was answered in a different manner than expected.  I did forget about this for a time as Event #2 came to pass in April 2015.  Forgetting is not forgiving so I merely postponed what I needed to do.  I was a Spiritual procrastinator.  Sometimes it is fun to hold onto your grudge.  Like a new toy not worth sharing.  But in the end it will damage you.  So give it up and forgive. Easier said than done right.

EVENT #2 was a court case.  This too created a great deal of stress.  This was an incorrect charge designed in my opinion to achieve what is known as civil forfeiture.  Yes I had some of my property taken from me in addition to possibly facing adverse charges.  It took 7 months to resolve this issue and just as quickly as it happened just as quickly as it ended.  With me smiling at the court house not even knowing what fate awaited me that day.  Which was nothing as the case was dismissed and my property returned.  

So why such a long time to resolve?  Surely through prayer and God it could have been resolved in 1 day or even 1 nano second!  That is true but I would not have learned or grew or had such a glorious demonstration in each event.  Just as my court case was dismissed during that time I was able to forgive.  Without these adversities I may have continued on in life without further seeing the Truth.  Tough times are sometimes needed as a spur in our development.  I had help in this manner as I was blessed to have my good friend Ann Marie Graham in my life to provide me with spiritual guidance.  You will hear more about her later.  God did not leave me alone in these dire times, he provided me with a guide. 

AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION
I view these first two events as “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.  These were my training events.  My 3rd event was soon to come.  Without my work, training, and dedication to learning the Truth I surely would have stumbled and fell with my health issues and perhaps be speaking to you right now with a sob story wallowing in misery with parts of my internal organs missing.  No, I was blessed to have the wisdom to use my challenges as great adventures with which to overcome.  Like Louis and Clark or Magellan exploring new uncharted grounds.  And as Jesus said “The Kingdom of God is inside you”.  This cannot be a lie as God is Divine Truth. If the Kingdom of God is inside me surely I would be healed from event #3.  Was I?  Read on to find out.  But know this, Jesus and his disciples had the power to cure and heal so why can’t this be so for us. 

EVENT #3 ARRIVES:
I am not saying that there is not compassion and knowledge in the medical community.  Sometimes they are very necessary.  It was even very necessary even in my case.  I required 8 days in the hospital and massive doses of steroids first started intravenously and then by oral doses as a first line of defense.

What I am saying is that on my 2nd day in the hospital I had a strong intuition (and sometimes  strong intuition is the Holy Spirit talking to you) that I must pursue an alternative route.  The first thought of an alternative route was Bone Broth and resting my system.  It requires a lot of energy for the body to digest and I needed this energy for healing.  In addition Bone Broth has many benefits for the digestive system and reducing inflammation which I will discuss more in detail on the Blog page and Recipes page  including my video on how to prepare it and the ingredients.  My final recipe ultimately was through trial by fire and completed with love.  But just as the steroids were a first line of defense so too is the Bone Broth.  We may laugh at our third world country cousins but they have known the Bone Broth benefits for many many years.  Now that said, it needs to be stated again there are many other steps needed besides Bone Broth and going this route is not for the faint at heart.  It is challenging both mentally and physically.  Here is the funny thing about the Bone Broth.  Although I had this intuition for taking an alternative route for healing, the Holy Spirit had already started providing me with the tools to do so.  Unbeknownst to me my sister had already started a batch of Bone Broth for my other sister to take to me in the hospital.  FEDEX has nothing on these two for delivering!  She started this the moment she heard I was admitted.  Mind you this is no small undertaking.  Bone Broth takes 48-72 hours to make on the slow cook.  

UNDERTAKING THE CHALLENGE
Why did I take on such a challenge when most people would choose the quick fix?  1st of all the Holy Spirit provided me guidance.  Who am I to listen to?  A man or the Holy Spirit. Duh. An obvious choice.  God’s promise to us is an Abundant Life.  Abundant life does not mean simply living a long life.  It is about a quality life which means full of joy, peace of mind, and harmony.  That is why the home page banner of this site says CHOOSE LIFE!!!!  And in order to choose this life you simply must choose God Dear Reader.  

Keep in mind I received this message for my course of action prior to  talking with the doctors about my treatment options.  After numerous tests and procedures, the doctors told me the only option was surgery as medicine could not fix my condition.  I turned GREY as a ghost and sweat was dripping down my forehead upon hearing this news. How can this be the abundant life I was promised?  Another opinion from another doctor was that a medicine in the biological classification may help me.  These are on the lines of Humira and Remicade.  I was told I would need to be on them for life.  This medicine is required monthly and the ordeal to administer it (shots or IV drips) not to mention the possible side effects (weak immune system, cancer!)  and cost (up to $15000 per treatment depending on the brand and insurance) made me think again even on this option:  How can this be an abundant life? 

Here are the pictures of me and my insides on the 2nd day in the hospital.  WARNING - AVERT YOUR EYES if a medical photo disturbs you (and these are the censored ones). When your insides look as this it is extremely painful.  Imagine a dagger being poked inside you over and over.  Yes this was a challenge.  

For comparison, a picture of what healthy insides should look like is shown below:

​​Usually a great change comes about as a result of a great challenge.  Change is the law of the universe.  Sometimes change is undertaken on its own and sometimes a person needs some prodding and change must come about the hard way.  Regardless, without change there would be no progress and I would have remained in a stagnant state.  It should be quite obvious that to do anything new and in a better way there must be a change.  Too many people look upon changes in their lives with dread but for those who can choose the spiritual path (see my home page photo with the Deuteronomy quote)  - For those who believe in God and the power of prayer - change can be an invitation to a great adventure.  It means a new door has opened.

When a problem or condition arises in your life that indicates a change, rely upon God and realize that it is not so much that a door has closed on a chapter of your life but rather a door has opened to new and more interesting things.  The catch is that sometimes the most fulfilling and rewarding changes require a person to put in the effort.  Remember this:  Faith without works is dead.  You must do you part!

PSALM 91:
Needless to say I had many worries come upon me after speaking with those doctors and worries/fear are the enemies of Faith.  However the Holy Spirit provided me the strength I needed through others in prayer to overcome these worries.  There were simply too many worries and negativity for me to deal with on my own in my weakened condition and I was in desperate need of my Intercessors which included select friends/sisters/parents.  Our mainstay was Psalm 91.  

Psalm 91:  “He who dwells in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the almighty.”  

The first stanza in Psalm 91, is really about God’s promises to us and one of those promises is deliverance from pestilence.  The difficulty is that this is not a prayer just to be said and POOF you are delivered.  No dear reader, you must do your part.  And that part is to dwell in the secret place of the most high.  Basically this is getting to know God.

It is similar to a common Bible text “With God all Things are Possible”.  The text really means that all things are possible to you when God is working with you.  In other words, when you are working with God all things are possible.  God always works with you when you ask him to and when you have faith that he is doing so.  Then your prayer cannot fail.  It is God who is changing things and not you.

A topic on Faith is a completely new lesson that requires it’s own due respect and course syllabus.  For me, I was able to have my most excellent friend, Ann Marie, from Jamaica and Minister and the Founder of Up From the Dust To A Life Of Purpose provide me life's lesson on this.   I am sure she can help you in the same way that she helped me.  Visit her at:  www.upfromthedust.org.   She is a life coach and is well recommended to anyone who requires Faith based guidance in this world. 

For some Faith comes quickly but for others it requires effort and time.  I was the latter.  My previous two challenges in 2015 provided me with the training grounds for my health issue.  Gaining Faith is similar to training for the Olympics.  It is an everyday task.  And so is getting to know God.  And getting to know God is through his Word.  The more you do this the more you will begin to enjoy it.  It will soon become a Joy but it requires commitment and activation from you.  As Ann Marie would say: "It is similar to receiving a credit card in the mail.  Everyone can receive one but it is worthless unless one activates the card."  Activate your card today!  Putting in this effort to know and love the Lord can sometimes be referenced as an ounce of prevention.  When trouble comes and come it will, it may be too late for you to focus on this importance and you will be facing the emergency alone.

The other positive aspect to note about those kind folks doing the Psalm 91 prayer with me was that there was a sense of love.  Love is by far the most important thing of all.  “God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him”  John 4:16  This is the mental portion that is key to healing. Fear, condemnation, and resentment amongst others must be replaced by love as these other feelings ultimately manifest themselves somewhere in the body. 

DIPPING IN YOUR TOE:
The reason why this site promotes in the Blog more than solely health related concerns with overcoming my particular challenge is that many things can affect your health.  It really is a total body connection.  If you are stressed then as sure as the day becomes the night, this stress will manifest itself in the body.  That is why I also focus on Financial and World Events.  These are topics that stress many people out to their own detriment.  Look how quickly Joe Paterno succumbed to cancer soon after the scandal with Penn State broke out.  Or think of the fear of the end of the Mayan Calendar that people had or Y2K fears with computers.  Some people were terrified of the end of the world but it did not come to pass.  It was in their conscious but real to them nonetheless as a fear.  It was also stress and affected many negatively.  All for fear of an event that never occurred.  Most of the things people worry about never come to pass.  Is all this fear necessary?  It would be hard not to but God is a God of Abundance and if you keep on the Path the worldly wants will not effect you.  Is your reputation, status, wealth more important than God?; then eventually you will stumble.  But if God is first you will prosper.  The greatest thing a man can have is peace of mind, joy, and harmony.  None of which worldly ways can give.  They are all fleeting moments in times at best.  

Some people at least have some concept of this knowledge.  Why is it then so little progress is made at times in a person’s life when a difficulty comes about?  I would say that having your demonstration or prayer answered is like all other things in life.  It has its price.  As it is noted in the PSALM 91 section above - one must dwell in the secret place of the most high.  Sometimes if a person is honest with themselves in their hearts they will realize that too often that is a price they are not prepared to pay.  They are in love with their present selves.  We are not prepared to slay the present self that the new changed self may come about.  To come into the Truth in life you must come into it with your whole body.  We tend to come into Truth merely dipping our toes in the water.

If you are not prepared to pay this price that is all nice and good but you must not expect to receive more than you pay for so to speak.  A little toe in Truth is better than nothing but it can only produce a little toe of a result.  To have the demonstration of results you desire you have to jump all the way in.  Of course this is no mere spring cleaning of the soul.  It is nothing less than a wholesale tearing down and rebuilding of the entire house.  Is it any wonder that all but the very strongest spirits shirk it?  And yet, is it any wonder that without it, one never really does get anywhere.  In fact once you realize what you are gaining, you will realize that it wasn’t really a price you were paying.  

Please continue to the other sections of this site for the Blog where I will discuss various topics from health to peace of mind with life and financial peace of mind.  In addition, I will be providing Recipes (Bone Broth with associated step by step video instructions); different Remedies that were used to heal me; and Spiritual Growth aids that I used.  They were provided to me through others who love helping me or provided to me through guidance and my research.