Hi, I’m Deb!

I grew up a poor, red-headed white child in Mid Missouri. I learned a lot about bootstraps, having spent much time with my Great Aunts who had grown up in the Depression. I was drug to church every week, envious of the kids who got a weekend. It was a lot of “dos and don’ts” without much foundation. I spent most of my life looking for love and acceptance in A LOT of the wrong places. Then I met this guy, and it seemed fitting. Little did either of us know, it was going to be a very rocky thirty years filled with manipulation and emotional abuse that finally led to a divorce that lasted three years until something unexplainable happened to my husband. We were able to be reunited in wedded bliss. Along the way, I found more than religion. When I found Jesus, and WOW, everything has changed. I’m not alone, ever, and I have a purpose. That’s when He sent me to nursing school and then on to start Berean courses toward certification, licensure, and ordination. My first ten years of nursing were primarily geriatrics, followed by ten of behavioral health. Put it all together, and I have some experience in physical, emotional, and spiritual health!

Our community is one of sharing and asking questions. We may or may not find answers, but we will be better together than when we started. My approach will always be to get to the root cause and take responsibility for ourselves. I am grateful for my education, but I have little faith in our current system of “sick care” that is designed to make us sick and dependent. Our total well-being is a physical, emotional, and spiritual health continuum. If we are unbalanced in any area, we are unbalanced. It takes all three aspects.

The first testimony has to do with my brother, who, among other things, has gastroparesis (a paralyzed stomach), which prevents him from digesting his food. He has been to multiple doctors and gone through various meds that may or may not help for a little while. He also has a history of multiple heart attacks. One time, in the hospital with severe pains in his chest and shortness of breath, they couldn’t find the cause, just a blood clot in his lung. While doing my research, I learned castor oil is a deep, penetrating oil. It can help muscle pain, fibroids, and kidney stones. So, I reasoned that it could help break up a blood clot. I had him apply castor oil packs alternating front and back. I also made batches of immune elixir and homemade bone broth (one of the healthiest things on the planet).   After several weeks, he said his stomach had never felt better, and the sharp pains dissipated. Before this, I had offered several dietary and lifestyle recommendations, but at the time, he felt those changes were more of a detriment to his quality of life than the disorder. We all must make this choice but be willing to take responsibility for it.

For me, I have always fought my weight and have always been interested in health and nutrition. I used to exercise with Jack LaLanne (don’t worry if you don’t know who that is) and was really into Jazzercize in the 80s, but I feel it clicked for good in August 2014 when I just happened to get an email about a webinar on a 21-day sugar detox. Those terms didn’t mean anything to me at the time, but I did try the 21-day sugar detox. I think I paid $47 for the program. And then, as these things do nowadays, I kept receiving emails about additional webinars, and the thing is, they were saying many of the same things, one of those being how lousy gluten is for us. I decided to add that to my restrictions and a few months later was off all but one prescription medication.

Finally, some of my friends, whom I love dearly, don’t believe in “Christianity.”  I think they may be confusing it with religion. The word Christian means Christ-like. The Bible tells us all the way through to be more like Christ, like Jesus, like God. It does mean changing some mindsets, but we don’t have to change ourselves; we must desire to be right with God, and he will help us change whatever isn’t pleasing.

We also have to be willing to accept the concept that we won’t understand everything. That’s why it’s called faith. We have faith that we will wake up in the morning, our hearts will keep beating, and we will keep breathing. That doesn’t happen by itself. Many people don’t understand how it works, but they believe in it.