Soul Soothers - The Secret to Dealing With Chronic Pain and Related Depression - Part 4

Soul Soothers

By Cheryle M. Touchton
The Pocket Full of Quarters Lady


The Sh’ma: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself. Luke 10:27 NIV

Does your soul need soothing? Chances are, if you are in chronic pain, it does. Chronic pain is a soul distraction. It screams so loudly that it is difficult to hear the Still Small Voice of God. I know from experience how hard it is to love God with your entire soul when you hurt so badly that pain consumes you. If you allow it, pain will literally steal your soul. Every thought, feeling, response, and action becomes about identifying the cause and treating the symptoms of pain. In short, you lose the essence of who you are as your soul bows to the demanding god of chronic pain. Below are signs that chronic pain is consuming your soul:

• People close to you are tired of hearing about your pain.
  
• You wonder if anyone cares that you are hurting.
  
• You are taking so much medicine that you have trouble focusing thoughts.
  
• Your body is growing lumpy bumpy from inactivity and/or an excess of food.
  
• Your sleep patterns are disrupted – from too much or too little sleep.
  
• You have waning interest in things of the spirit – personal time with God, Bible Study, or church.
  
• You feel hopeless that things will ever change.
  
• Every activity revolves around how you expect your physical condition to be.

Chronic pain lies by insisting it is the most important thing in your life. It is a demanding master that steals the pleasure from everything else. The only answer is to fire chronic pain as a god and replace it with Jesus - the Truth, the Way, and the Life. The Truth is that pain is not who you are. You are a child of God who happens to suffer from chronic pain. The Way is to stop surrendering to pain and replace it with surrendering to God. The Life is to refocus all energy consumed by pain to loving the God that created you for abundant life.

Soul Soother #1: Separate Yourself From Pain and Remember Who and Whose You Are

Do you know who and whose you are? You are not your pain. You are a child of God, loved by God. Your soul is the essence of who you are. You may be a person in pain but the pain is not who you are. Force yourself to think about yourself in relationship to the people around you and your joys, responsibilities, and dreams. As a young mother in her twenties, I had much to look forward to but all I could think about was my health. It felt like my life was over but that was a lie. Now, thirty years later, I live a full and productive life. I was able to go back to college and get an MBA, run a successful software company, and now am in full time ministry. I did all that while soaring at my roles as mother, wife, and now grandmother. How did that happen? It happened because God had plans for me that I could not see all those years ago. Let yourself dream again and take baby steps toward those dreams every day. Assume those dreams are God given and will be fulfilled. Let hope replace hopelessness. Remember who and whose you are.

Soul Soother #2: Be Honest About What Is Coming Between You and God

Before I could even think about hearing the voice of God and fulfilling His plans for me, I had to release all other gods. Because I was in pain, doctors freely offered prescription drugs. I didn’t feel like moving so I stayed in bed. I ate out of boredom and to avoid feeling my disappointment with life. In short, drugs, food, and inactivity had become false gods. I was a Christian who had no idea how many other gods she had put before the one true God.

Eat Right

The first thing I did was to start eating correctly. I stopped eating all unnecessary or unhealthy food, eliminated foods that triggered food cravings (like high fats, sugars, and processed flour,) and joined a support group to help me deal with food addiction.

Stop Drugs That Are Only Masking Symptoms

I explained to my doctor that while I wanted medicine to help my body heal, I no longer wanted mood altering addictive drugs. I was amazed at how much better I felt just from putting down pain killers. It turned out that my body was producing many symptoms just to keep me addicted to prescription drugs. When I stopped masking symptom, I was able to notice and respond to what foods and activities helped and hurt and over time, I improved. I also learned techniques that helped mentally block pain.

Start Moving Again

While we will talk more about moving our bodies in the next article, there was a spiritual component to deciding to start moving my body again. Since I didn’t feel like moving, I stayed in bed or on the couch way too much. I realized that inactivity had become a false god. The evil voice that whispered the condemning words, “Stay in bed,” wasn’t healthy and had to be fired. I went to physical therapy to learn safe techniques for improving pain. I got out of bed and began living life again. Over time, my desire to stay still left.

Soul Soother #3: Worship God

The most important thing I did to improve my situation was to develop a close personal relationship with God. I’d been a Christian since I was 8 but it wasn’t until 1979 that I began to spend disciplined time with God. A spiritual mentor instructed me to spend thirty minutes a day in meditation, prayer, and Bible Study. I had young children so I needed help reaching that goal. I explained to a dubious husband that we were both getting up earlier each morning and that he had “parent duty” for thirty minutes every morning. Now, thirty years later, I testify to the fact that my relationship with God has grown sweeter every day. I do hear that Small Still Voice and obeying that voice led me to being the productive person God intended me to be. As I write this, I am aware that my pain level today is a little high for me – a 4 out of 10. We recently moved and are in the middle of the Christmas season so I know stress and heavy lifting is contributing to increased pain levels. I will stretch, spend time with God, keep eating right, and in a few days, the pain will drop back down to a more manageable 1-2 out of 10. What I won’t do today is go back to bed. It won’t help and in fact, would make it worse. Two side benefits came out of my disciplined time with God:

Side Benefit 1: My Children Developed a Closer Relationship with Their Heavenly Father

My children grew up watching their mother spend daily time with God and saw the results of that. We also become more active in a church that had a major impact on their lives. Now, they have a close relationship with God. My daughter is in ministry and my son teaches a Bible Study. They both are active in church.

Side Benefit 2: My Children Developed a Closer Relationship With Their Earthly Father

In the 70’s, moms still took care of most childcare responsibilities. My children have a closer relationship with their dad because of that focused time with him every morning.

Action Steps

God has plans for you that include hope and a future. Listen to those plans carefully and do what He says. Those plans start with separating who you are from the pain you are in. Do what it takes to surrender false gods and spend time every day getting to know the one true God better. The previous articles on this blog deal with improving pain and related depression by loving God with your mind and heart. The next 2 articles will discuss pain and how you can reduce it by loving God with your strength and loving your neighbor as yourself. Until then, sooth your soul by:

• Spending disciplined time in meditation, prayer, and Bible study.
  
• Learning the difference between what helps healing and what simply masks symptoms and refocus all energy on what heals.
  
• Getting help for addictions.
  
• Making and reading daily a list of who you are in relationship with and your joys, responsibilities, and dreams.
  

================================================== Cheryle M. Touchton is the Director of Pocket Full of Change Ministries. For more information, to schedule a speaker for an event, or to make a donation, go to the website or call Gail Golden at 904 316-5462. Copyright: Pocket Full of Change Ministries

Heart Helps: The Secret to Dealing With Chronic Pain and Related Depression - Part 3

Heart Helps

By Cheryle M. Touchton
The Pocket Full of Quarters Lady


The Sh’ma: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself. Luke 10:27 NIV

“Listen to your heart,” a well-meaning person encouraged. When you hurt, there is no shortage of advice.


I tried listening to my heart and things got worse. I’d had a series of health problems that left me feeling broken. I was only 26 but felt 80. I hurt most of the time. My relationships were struggling. I envied my husband’s life and youthful body. That resentment drained my already floundering emotions, which added to my misery. The misery led to depression which sent me to bed. Staying in bed insured that my damaged body never got the exercise and blood flow it needed to heal. In short, I was stuck in a slimly pit of pain, self-pity, and inactivity. The problem with listening to my heart was that it lied. It whispered nasty things like:

• Eating chips will make you feel better.
  
• You need to stay in bed.
  
• Nobody loves you.
  
• There is no reason to try.
  
• You will never be happy.
  
• You will feel bad forever.
  
• That the pain means you cannot live your life.

These nasty indictments started a chain reaction that seemed impossible to break. Sound familiar? I’ve seen a similar pattern in countless people I’ve met in my missionary journeys across America. So what can you do? The answer is simple. You stomp your foot at your lying heart and decide that your heart’s only job is to love God completely. You combat negative emotions with the word of God.

Heart Help #1 Combat Negative Emotions With Scripture

You can replace every nefarious heart whisper with truth from the word of God. For example, thoughts about eating chips can morph into “My body is the temple of the Holy Ghost and doesn’t need junk food.” Your need to stay in bed can become “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Feeling unloved evaporates when you read what the Bible says about God’s love for you. When pain threatens to stop you from living, you remind yourself that Jesus’ did His greatest work as the world beat him and drove nails into His hands and feet. Read God’s word aloud to every wayward emotion.

Heart Help #2 Choose Happiness

Abraham Lincoln said that most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. I am still astounded at the power of that statement. When I was sick, hurting, and miserable, I had no idea I could choose happiness. When a mentor suggested it, I grew angry. He issued a two week positive thinking challenge. He instructed that I take two weeks and only allow positive thoughts in my head. He said that negative thoughts would sneak in but that I needed to immediately kick them out. It they lingered for more than five seconds, my two-week challenge was to start over. Since I had nothing to lose, I tried it. My first attempted didn’t last five minutes. I was astounded at how my unruly thoughts controlled my emotions and caused unhappiness. For example, I noticed the newspaper lying on the floor. My thoughts went like this. How many times had I asked Bob to put the newspaper away when he finished reading it. He didn’t even try to do what I wanted. If he loved me, he’d do what I asked. He must not love me. My feelings boiled their way to rage that caused me to lash out at my husband. When I tried to think positive, I discovered that anger at the scattered newspaper was a secondary emotion to grief about feeling unloved. That feeling was a lie. My husband loved me. Unfortunately, cleaning up newspapers was not one of his ways of showing it. When I focused on positive things about my husband, I started noticing all the other loving things he did. I felt better so I acted better. When I acted better, he grew more loving. Eventually, he even started putting the newspaper away. The same thing happened about pain. Thoughts of pain flooded my brain. Being female with a tendency to think in absolutes, my heart whispered words like, you hurt everywhere. Go to bed. You can’t do anything anyway. Those discouraging whispers were lies that doomed me to unhappiness. I didn’t really hurt everywhere – it just seemed like it. There was plenty of things I could still do. When I began focusing on possibilities, I began to accomplish more. My heart was encouraged by those accomplishments and I began to feel better about myself. It became easy to choose happiness. It took six months before I reached 2 weeks of positive thinking but my life improved every day during the process. Today, I know that if I am to love God with my entire heart, I must choose happiness no matter what else is going on.

Heart Help #3 Fire Self Pity

One of my favorite prayers is the Serenity Prayer. It begins with accepting the things I cannot change. Health problems had broken my heart and I was drowning in self pity. Accepting what I could not change meant firing self pity. I was shocked to discover that I almost enjoyed my feeling sorry for myself. After all, I’d earned it. An emergency hysterectomy at age twenty-five meant I’d never birth another child. I’d only had one baby and longed for more. No amount of time or positive thinking was going to change the fact that my body would not produce another child. I checked into adoption but my health problems made me a poor candidate. To get better emotionally, I had to accept the bitter fact that I was done making babies. Once I accepted it, my heart began to heal. Heart healing led to physical healing. When my body healed, adoption became a possibility. Today, I’m grateful for that hysterectomy because it lead to our adopting Kelley. Being around Kelley Touchton Pekarek is like having your own personal antidepressant machine. She brightens lives everywhere she goes. Self pity is a luxury that people living with chronic pain cannot allow. It may be the single biggest reason people stay stuck in their pain. Wallowing in negative emotions will keep you on the merry-go-round of pain that leads to depression that leads to more pain. The only way to stop it is to step off the merry-go-round completely.

Action Steps

Previous articles discuss improving your situation by loving God with your mind. The next 3 articles will discuss pain and how we can reduce it by loving God with our souls and strengths, and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Until then, help your heart:

• Chase away negative thoughts with the Word of God.
  
• Decide to be happy.
  
• Take the 2 week positive thinking challenge.
  
• Fire self-pity.
  

====================================================== Cheryle M. Touchton is the Director of Pocket Full of Change Ministries. For more information, to schedule a speaker for an event, or to make a donation, go to the website or call Gail Golden at 904 316-5462. Copyright: Pocket Full of Change Ministries

Mind Matters: The Secret to Dealing With Chronic Pain and Related Depression – Part 2

By Cheryle M. Touchton
The Pocket Full of Quarters Lady


The Sh’ma: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself. Luke 10:27 NIV

“You’re kidding,” I gasped. “You had surgery without anesthesia?”

A friend explained that he’d mentally blocked the pain and had even managed to control bleeding during major surgery. This brilliant man, an expert in many areas, had decided to run a personal experiment on his pain control studies. He claimed it worked and would do it again.

The Mind Matters
Refocus and Think On What Is Lovely

I was suffering from chronic pain from several sources and taking pain medications that made it hard to function as a young parent. My friend explained that pain management was about focus and concentration. He taught me to isolate painful areas and refocus my thoughts on other areas. He said to draw a mental wall between pain and the rest of me. I was to refocus all thoughts on the blessed pain-free parts of my body and ignore everything on the other side of the wall.

I thought of my preschool daughter. When Kelley would hurt herself, she’d begin hitting another part of her body. Perplexed, I’d asked why.

“Mommy,” she’d calmly explained while pounding on her arm. “When I hit my arm, my hurt knee feels better.” Kelley was refocusing.

The Bible says to love God with our entire mind. It instructs us to use that mind to think on things lovely. I wondered if I could combine my newly learned pain control methods, my young daughter’s refocusing techniques, and the Biblical principle of thinking only on what was lovely. I didn’t hit myself but I did begin drawing that wall and concentrating on the few parts of me that actually felt good. I discovered that the mind matters. If we refocus and think on what is lovely, we can lesson our pain

The Mind Matters – Bear Your Cross

I was famous for whining about pain. I’m sure people got tired of hearing about it. The Bible promises us the mind of Christ. I started thinking about what that meant about my pain. The most painful event recorded in human history is the crucifixion. How did Jesus handle that pain? He bore His cross. He accepted it. He used it to help others. He continued fulfilling His earthly call. The mind matters. I wanted the mind of Christ so I started seeking His mind about pain. The pain began to lose its ability to stop me from living. I stopped whining and began learning to bear my crosses.

The Mind Matters – Educate Your Mind

Another way to love God with our minds is to educate those minds. I began researching my vairied medical conditions that included injuries, fibromyalgia, and a sensitive stomach. I went to experts. If one couldn’t help, I went to another. I did what they said and began to get better.

I learned that my pain driven sedentary lifestyle was the worst thing I could do. I went to a physical therapist. I studied muscles and how to stretch troubled areas. I allowed God to give me the discipline and courage to stretch through pain and repair damaged muscles.

One night, at a pharmacy picking up pain medicine for fibromyalgia, I noticed a medical book chained to the counter. I flipped to the pages on fibromyalgia and read that nightshade vegetables increased pain. I was eating 1 to 2 white potatoes daily. I stopped potatoes immediately and my pain level dropped from 6 out of 10 to a 2. Now, I get up every morning, note my pain level on a scale of 1-10, and review the day before. I take note of what I ate and did and its impact on my pain and react accordingly. Now, 25 years later, I take no pain medicine. While I’m never completely pain free, my pain level stays at a manageable 1-2 out of 10. I can’t remember when I spent a day in bed due to pain. The mind matters. Educate it.

Action Steps

The first article was an introcution. The next 4 articles will discuss pain and how we can reduce it by loving God with our hearts, souls, and strengths, and loving our neighbors as ourselves. Until then, the mind matters. Love God with your mind by:

• Thinking on what is lovely: Draw a mental wall between the pain and you and refocus on pain free areas.
• Educating your mind: Learn the medical facts and apply them.
• Analyzing the previous day: Rate your pain level from 1-10. Review what you ate and did the day before, and adjust accordingly.
• Developing the mind of Christ: Use the crucifixion as your model for living with pain. Bear your cross and do the work of the moment.
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Cheryle M. Touchton is the Director of Pocket Full of Change Ministries. For more information, to schedule a speaker for an event, or to make a donation, go to the website or call Gail Golden at 904 316-5462.

Copyright: Pocket Full of Change Ministries

The Secret to Dealing With Chronic Pain and Related Depression - Part 1

By Cheryle M. Touchton
The Pocket Full of Quarters Lady


The Sh’ma: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself. Luke 10:27 NIV

“I know you are in pain but this depression has gone on long enough. I’ve never seen a time when you had so much to be happy about. Put on your big girl panties and deal with it. It is time to start enjoying your life again.”

Did I really just say that aloud? For weeks, I’d been kind, nurturing, encouraging, and patient. As soon as I said the words, I wanted to grab them back but if I’m nothing else in my relationships, I’m honest about how I feel. I love my friend and don’t want her unhappy.

The night before, I’d laid in the bathtub praying for my friend. As I prayed, I thought about the chronic pain I’d lived with for years. I haven’t always been as kind to my body as I am now and my aging body suffers as a result. I don’t often talk about my pain but it is there.

Accidents have weakened three places in my body and they become easily sore. I have what the doctors label as Fibromyalgia, which means I have unspecific pain throughout my body. Thirty years ago, I was grossly obese and the damage from that is also apparent. I have a sensitive stomach that screams if I eat the wrong thing. At one time, I spent my days in bed from pain, illness, and pain related depression. My pain level hovered between a 6-8 out of a 10 point scale. I felt old, used up, and useless. My aching body overshadowed everything good in my life. I lived on medicine that only treated the symptoms and added to my lethargy. I was a mess.

Now, twenty something years later, I’m almost completely medicine free, my pain level hovers between a 2-3, I hike trails all over the country, snow ski, and can’t remember the last time I spent a day in bed. What happened? The Sh’ma is what happened.

“What do I do?” my beloved friend cried. “I know you are right. I’ve told myself the same thing. I have everything to be grateful for but I can’t seem to get beyond the pain. I’ve felt good my entire life. I don’t know how to deal with this.”

“Thank God you’ve always felt good. I haven’t been pain free in years,” I said. “Until I started thinking about it, I hadn’t realized all of the things I do to help with my pain and related depression.”

As I started to share my pain secrets, my friend said, “I’m writing as fast as I can but I can’t keep it up. You need to write about this.”

“Good idea,” I said. “I think I will.” I began praying about and reviewing what I do to function through chronic pain and like everything else in my life, the treatment is mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual. When I focus all of my energy on loving God with my entire mind, heart, soul, and strength, the result is the healthiest body I’m capable of having. My body is a frail earthen vessel and while I’m on earth, it will be human but at least I can treat it like the Holy Temple it is. When I do that, it gives me the best performance it can give. I can live with that and fulfill God’s call in my life. When I love God completely, my body allows me to serve my neighbors.

Action Steps

This is part one of a six part series. In the next five articles, you'll learn about applying the Sh’ma to chronic pain and related depression. Each article will focus on one of the parts of the Sh’ma, and will have practical tips about using the Sh’ma to live with and improve chronic pain.

Until the next article, here are some easy things everyone can do:

• Mind – Focus on the parts of your body that don't hurt and thank God for that.
• Heart – Just for today, choose to be happy.
• Soul – Spend thirty minutes in meditation, prayer, and Bible Study.
• Strength – Spend five minutes a day gently stretching.
• Neighbor – Do a simple secret service for someone every day. If someone finds out about it, it won’t count.
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Cheryle M. Touchton is the Director of Pocket Full of Change Ministries. For more information or to schedule a speaker for an event, go to www.pocketfullofchange.org or call Gail Golden at 904 316-5462.

This ministry exists because people like you are called to help fund the work of the kingdom. To help keep the Cheryle M. Touchton and Belle the Missionary Dog on the missionary road, send your tax deductible contribution to Pocket Full of Change Ministries, POB 51205, Jacksonville Beach, Florida 32240 or go to the donate button on the home page of this website.

Copyright: Pocket Full of Change Ministries

Airport Adventures

Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. Phil 4:8-9 NIV

I Love Airports
Have you ever wondered why God told us to think on things that are praiseworthy, pure, and excellent? I think I’ve figured it out – so I can enjoy airports. I love airports. They have all sizes and shapes of people from different countries, religions, and cultures. Children will always play with my bubbles. People yell into cell phones, offering fodder for books and blackmail if I were so inclined. Airport trains are more fun than Disney trains. Stores have flying pigs, talking clocks, and chairs that offer free massages. I can have a full body massage, manicure or buy jewelry. Moving sidewalks are racetracks where I feel like I have wings. Everywhere are people that may need to hear about Jesus. Airports are virtual wonderlands filled with promise of adventure.

I Hate Airports
I used to hate airports. I saw them as necessary evils to wait in between flights. Since I hated waiting, I spent airport time sleepy, bored, and grumpy. I whined over delayed flights, airport food, and “overpriced tourist trap” stores. I plopped into seats praying I wasn’t next to a talkative person.

I Love Airports
Then I began actively practicing Philippians 4:8-9. Imagine my surprise at how many praiseworthy things there were about airports. Because of the Word of God, airplanes became vehicles that transported me from fun airport to fun airport. I landed with a smile and stepped outside the plane anticipating my next adventure.

I Hate Airports
Since I spent so much of my life in airports, this new attitude worked well until recently when I moved to State College, Pennsylvania. I had an “attitude relapse.” State College had a small airport so connections were inconvenient. Not only did I visit extra airports, I had longer wait periods. Traveling from State College to Albuquerque, New Mexico took 10 miserable hours. I found myself once again whining to anyone who would listen. When I read my own Facebook whining, God convicted me about my attitude. I recognized the error of my ways. I remembered my love of airports. If I really loved airports, State College was offering me more fun than ever.

I Love Airports
Once I’d had the attitude adjustment, my spirit of airport adventure returned. I stepped off planes and bolted to the moving sidewalk, passing everyone as I raced along. I stopped soldiers and thanked them for their service. I helped people find gates, comforted struggling people, and began sharing Jesus. I visited shops and cuddled soft stuffed animals. I eavesdropped on a poor young woman having a cell phone fight with her mom and planned the story I’d write. No wonder God tells me to only think about what is lovely. He doesn’t want me to miss adventures like airports.

Making Lemons From Lemonade

No - I didn't say it backwards. Years of "positive thinking" training taught me to make lemonade from of lemons. Then I had an aha moment. I had it backwards. God is in charge. His ways are best. God always gives me lemonade and I misinterpret it and think I have lemons. When I remember to love God with my entire mind, heart, soul, and strength, I stop whining about lemons and recognize the lemonade. When I recognize the lemonade and take a giant gulp from my glass of life, I am refreshed.

Everything Is Lemonade

Take yesterday for example. I serve on an International non-profit board that meets several times a year in Albuquerque, New Mexico. When I was elected, I lived in Phoenix - a one hour flight away. Now I live in State College, Pa. What used to be a 1 hour flight takes 9 hours and an extra overnight stay. Whine whine whine.

Then I remembered I was in ministry and it was my job to travel the country telling people about Jesus. Usually, ministry supporters fund missionary trips. Yesterday was a chance to pass through 3 airports, travel in six vehicles and eat in public places - all funded by an outside organization. My lemonade was that God had funded an entire day of missions with hundreds of potential people to serve. It was lemonade all the time but I thought it was lemons.

When I recognized the lemonade, suddenly I grew grateful for the longer trip. Once grateful, I noticed the lovely clouds, the amazing snow over the Denver mountains, and the children frolicking in the airports. Everywhere I went became an adventure. Bumps on the plane were opportunites for intense prayer and offering comfort to worried passengers. I smiled at people, comforted a women recently divorced, briskly walked everywhere (so it counted as my daily exercise,) thanked military people for their service, and tried to be Jesus to the world.

Lemonade is better then lemons any day of the week. No wonder it was so much work trying to make lemonade. I aready had it. Why, when uncomfortable with circumstances, do I assume they are bad? Where does my faith go? Didn't God say that if I love Him and are called according to His purposes, everything is going to work out for my good? Why do I try so hard to turn life back into lemons?

I Know A Secret

I know a secret. I know a secret. What would you do if you discovered an ancient secret to everything. What if you discovered that the generations that had applied this secret weapon had soared as if on eagle's wings and the ones that didn't crashed in flames to the ground? You might do like me and shout it from the mountain tops. I speak, write books, blog, Facebook, and Twitter about this Secret. My name is Cheryle Touchton and I believe Jesus when He told us the most important commandment.

The Secret? The Sh'ma

Love the Lord God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength

and with all your mind and love your neighbor as your self.

Jesus said to do this and you will live. Living is just what I have learned to do. I love my exciting life. My dog Belle and I travel the country in a tiny camper van named Hallelujah. Belle and I share the secret of the Sh'ma with people on the streets of America. Loving God completely starts with meeting Jesus so I often get to share the good news of my beloved Savior. We get lost, break down, and get stuck in snow storms but we keep going because the message is so exciting.



Welcome to my blog. I'll share my life journeys and I pray you will share yours. Together, we'll learn more about The Secret to Everything.