I AM HealingStrong
Discover how to transform the most challenging chapter of your life with Jim Mann's inspiring podcast. As a stage 4 cancer survivor, Jim interviews famous musical artists like Tasha Layton, Ellie Holcomb, Katy Nichole, and Tim Timmons, as well as health influencers who beat incurable diseases like depression and addiction. Through humor and a renewed sense of purpose, guests courageously share their stories of overcoming the toughest times and learning to trust God. Tune in to Jim's powerful podcast to find hope and inspiration.
I AM HealingStrong
98: Thyroid Cancer and Healing Holistically for Husband & Wife | Eric and Debbie Emms
Eric and Debbie Emms, HealingStrong Group Leaders, share their incredible journey of faith, holistic healing, and dedication to a plant-based lifestyle. When Debbie's father was diagnosed with glioblastoma brain cancer, they observed the world of conventional treatments, while searching for alternatives. Debbie turned to Ty Bollinger's "The Truth About Cancer," setting the couple on a path to explore holistic healing.
Initially met with skepticism by Eric to change his nutrition happened to all change when he overheard a portion of the documentary "Game Changers" that Debbie was watching. This shift became a critical support system when Eric himself faced a health crisis with papillary thyroid carcinoma. Hear how their deepened faith in God and their commitment to dietary changes not only helped them navigate these difficult times, but also provided invaluable lessons in resilience and hope.
Finally, Eric and Debbie's journey didn't stop at their personal healing. Inspired to give back, they established a support group to assist others on similar paths through the organization HealingStrong.
Listen as they discuss the challenges and rewards of a healing community and the massive action taken to benefit from the power of diet and lifestyle changes. Their experience with HealingStrong, a nonprofit dedicated to connecting, supporting, and educating individuals facing cancer, brings hope to the listener.
HealingStrong's mission is to educate, equip and empower our group leaders and group participants through their journey with cancer or other chronic illnesses, and know there is HOPE. We bring this hope through educational materials, webinars, guest speakers, conferences, community small group support and more.
Please consider supporting our mission by becoming a part of our Membership Program, as a monthly donor.
When you do, you will receive additional resources such as: webinars, access to ALL our past and most recent conference videos, downloadables and more, as a bonus.
To learn more, head to the HealingStrong Membership Program link below:
We've always been believers, but I wouldn't say that prior to your dad getting sick, it wasn't as much of a part of our life as it is now and I think it was pretty profound. When Barry got sick, we the only way. It was like Debbie said earlier. It was gruesome and it was fear based and there was a lot of fear and we knew and I remember this conversation we needed God in our life and the only way we got through that period was by surrendering to Christ and by intentionally going through each day and looking, specifically looking for the beauty in each day, because there wasn't a lot and we had to find it. Like Debbie said, glory to God. I mean, he showed us beautiful things every single day in a world of such ugliness.
Speaker 2:You're listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast, a part of the Healing Strong organization, the number one network of holistic cancer support groups in the world. Each week we bring you stories of hope, real stories that will encourage you as you navigate your way on your own journey to health. Now here's your host stage four cancer thriver, jim Mann.
Speaker 3:Today's episode. I have a husband and wife duo and they have a unique story because it's coming from all different directions. All these diagnoses Talking with Eric and Debbie Ems Is that how you say your last name?
Speaker 1:Ems. Very well done. We didn't even have to spell it for you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's just more than one M, so I guess M plural right, there you go, Perfect. That works in my family because all my kids we have four kids and their initials are M and M all of them. So good. So we can be the Ems also.
Speaker 4:That's right. I love it Already connected.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and you guys are all the way on the other side of the country. I'm sitting here in South Carolina sweating like crazy and you're up in the beautiful Northwest. Have you always been there?
Speaker 4:Well, I was born and raised in California and I'm so grateful that I found my way up here, because Chili is amazing, but he is the Born and raised.
Speaker 1:Well, not born, but raised here, lived here my whole life. Okay, so how'd?
Speaker 3:y'all meet.
Speaker 4:Mutual friends Right, it's always those friends that always know how to connect you.
Speaker 1:Seems like another lifetime ago. Yeah, none of my friends helped me with mine.
Speaker 3:In fact, when I saw my wife for the first time my friends were fixing her up with some slick salesman guy. I thought, thanks for thinking about me. She fell for me, just chased me until I said okay, okay, I'll marry you.
Speaker 4:Uh-huh, I wonder if she would say that.
Speaker 3:Hey, don't worry about it, you didn't need any help, yeah. So anyway, you guys have a great story. I believe it kind of started with your dad, debbie.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it started with my dad, and shall I just jump right into it?
Speaker 3:Jump on it.
Speaker 4:Okay, well, you know, when my dad was diagnosed in 2019, this was a world that we were so unfamiliar with because we didn't have anyone in our circle that was healing with cancer, and so when my dad was diagnosed with a glioblastoma brain cancer, we really only knew one way to take, which was the prescribed way of surgery radiation and chemotherapy and, honestly, it was a time where it was absolutely horrifying to watch. It was such a brutal way of treating his cancer and it was in that time that I started to look for something different, because I couldn't be convinced that this was the only way. It just seemed too barbaric. And my best friend at this time she handed me a book called the Truth About Cancer by Ty Bollinger, and I read this book ferociously I could not get enough of it, and it really started the trajectory of there is another way to heal, and we're just starting the path. And from there it led me to Eat Really Heal by Nicolette Roche, which again is healing the body holistically, using food as nutrition, and that just again started us down another path of healing, and so I was already in.
Speaker 4:But when you have a circle of people that have only been taught one way, there was a lot of walls that we came across, and so my next step was to introduce this to my husband, who, you know, was open. Right Everything that we do in our life, we like to say that we walk with an open mind and an open heart, and so he gave it a shot. He read the same books that I read, and then he started to watch the same documentaries that I was watching, and I think one of them that was really powerful to him was Game Changers, and I feel like this is probably better for you to talk about, because it was a profound step for you.
Speaker 1:I guess it was. I mean, so at this time we'd been reading all this information and Debbie was just all in and she was trying to get her parents on board with this different way of lifestyle and I think at the time we didn't really know so much about whole food, plant-based, but she was convinced she was going to go be vegan. And at the time I remember like, well, that's great, I'll support you, but I'm out, and she was watching Game Changers. I'll never forget this. Actually, I was getting ready for bed, I was in the bathroom and she's laying in bed watching the Game Changers and I'm kind of listening to it. I'm not really watching it and I'll never forget that.
Speaker 1:They're talking about this study that they did with. Uh. Well, first there was this gentleman, he was in his 90s and he said I've been whole food plant-based, I'm a cancer survivor and the flag still rises, and so who's this guy? And then they're doing this study with these uh collegiate baseball players from stanford and they they were measuring their uh nocturnal erections, I guess, if I can say that, and so I'm listening to this, and one group ate the chicken burritos and the beef burritos and then they would measure it at night and then the other group ate the whole food plant-based burritos and they would measure them. And after I hear the outcome of this study, I remember I looked at her and I'm like, all right, I'm in and we've been some version of whole food plant-based ever since, and that was what 2019, I think 2019.
Speaker 4:That's right. That's right. So, whatever it was going to take, it definitely was enough for him to start the same path, and we've been walking it ever since. And again, everything happens for a reason, and in this time, in this period, that's when we accepted Jesus Christ and we've been following his path ever since. Our relationship with God has completely changed and we wouldn't have been able to get through some of the things that we've been facing without Him, and so we give Him all of the glory because, not so long after my dad's diagnosis in 2021, I'm going to let Eric jump in, because this next phase is Him.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, I, I mean, there's a lot of truth to that. We, we've always been believers, but I wouldn't say that prior to your dad getting sick, um, it wasn't as much of a part of our life as it is now and I think it was pretty profound. When barry got sick, we, the only way. It was, like debbie said earlier, it was gruesome and it was fear-based, and there was a lot of fear and we knew and I remember this conversation we needed god in our life and the only way we got through that period, um, was by surrendering to christ and by intentionally going through each day and looking, specifically looking for the beauty in each day, because there wasn't a lot and we had to find it. And, like Debbie said, glory to God. I mean, he showed us beautiful things every single day. In a world of such ugliness. Your relationship with your dad, those those last few months, were just. It was a beautiful thing, yes, and so I just wanted to ask I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:Thank you so then I guess fast forward a little bit. In january of 2021, totally randomly, we found a mass in my thyroid and Debbie's pretty intuitive, and she would tell me, sometimes I see this thing in your neck. And she would tell me that she could feel it. And I was always like, ah, you're just making stuff up, whatever. So I think it was during COVID.
Speaker 1:It was during COVID, we're at my primary care doctor and he had just gotten an ultrasound machine and he was all proud of this new machine and he was like, oh, let's play around with it. And debbie said we'll put it on his neck. And so he did, and he found this mass and we talked about it and whatever. And I essentially just said, well, thanks for the information. And we left it alone for a year. We continued to monitor it, but we left it alone and finally, after a year, we had noticed in looking at it on the ultrasound that it had grown a little bit and both the doctor and Debbie were like, look man, if I was you, I'm getting this biopsied.
Speaker 1:And at the time we didn't really know another way. I don't think I would make that decision now. But then, uh, I did, I had a biopsied and and was diagnosed with uh papillary thyroid carcinoma which you know, even with the information we had was it was scary, but again, god works in mysterious ways and, um, I heard loud and clear from God that it wasn't for Barry who's Debbie's dad the information we learned these past two years. It wasn't for him, because we tried to get them to go that route as well and they didn't necessarily believe all of that stuff, and it was overwhelmingly made clear to me that it wasn't for him, it was for me, and so that's kind of where my journey down this path started.
Speaker 3:What year was that you were diagnosed?
Speaker 1:2021, january 2021. Not too long ago, no, not too long ago. And you know, know, one of the first things I noticed once I got the official diagnosis was kind of looking at the medical industry, I guess, if you will. It was very fear-based and it made me feel like I mean, mean, I had a representative from Oregon Health and Sciences University, a surge from the surgeon's office. They were on the phone with me within 24 hours. I mean I felt like, if you've ever had a sales job, I felt like a warm lead and they were all over me and they made me feel like I didn't really have any time. We've got to get this in. I can get you in later this week or early next week.
Speaker 1:And I felt a lot of pressure to. They wanted to surgically remove my thyroid and they wanted to put me on four months of radiation treatment. And I remember the deciding factor for me that I didn't want anything to do with it was when she told me that when we did the radiation for 48 hours afterwards I would have to be quarantined from my family because the levels of radiation were too toxic for them. And it just struck me, it became so clear and I was like wait a minute, we've just thrown logical, rational thinking out of the window. If it's too toxic for them, then how is it not too toxic to do directly to me? Like it just didn't make sense, and so I knew I was out. I didn't know what we were going to do, but I knew I wasn't going to do that, right.
Speaker 3:So what did you end up doing? Did you go with the truth about cancer?
Speaker 1:Our original plan was that we were going to do the Gerson therapy Okay.
Speaker 4:And if you're familiar with the Gerson therapy, it's a very strict commitment and that's really challenging. It's such a beautiful way to heal but you have to be completely committed to it and that was. It was much.
Speaker 3:It was a lot. A little bit of that.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:It was a lot. And we have six kids and at the time they were, you know, a little bit younger. They were all, I think. They were all still in the house, or most of them still in the house. And so we're you know, we live a busy lifestyle with small business owners and ultimately we decided that wasn't the right path. But at first that's what we thought we were going to do, and so then we figured, okay, well, we need a team, you know, an oncologist or somebody to support us through this Right, this right, and I had to. I talked to five oncologists and laid out what I wanted to do before I found the sixth one who would even work with me. The other five didn't want anything to do with with, uh, they basically they didn't say it was a death sentence, but they basically said they couldn't do it or wouldn't do it. And I did eventually find somebody who agreed to essentially monitor me and work with me and, um, so then we just kind of started to build, build a healing team, and so you're good now, or Well, in April of this year we went to and I spent, well, we went and spent three weeks at Hope for Cancer in Cancun, mexico, and so I went through there three weeks of treatment there and I was told that there are no active signs of cancer in my body and, given the thumbs up permission from them, so obviously it's still something that we need to monitor.
Speaker 1:I do still have a nodule uh, they're calling it on my thyroid, but it's shrunk considerably, um, and so we're doing some targeted therapies to try to, you know, reduce the size of that even more. But yeah, that's where I'm at right now. Yeah, that's much better, isn't it?
Speaker 4:And for those that aren't familiar with Hope for Cancer, their approach is integrative. But everything that Eric had received there was 100% holistic, percent, um, holistic. So we started a path of holistic healing and here we are with a remission result. So it's, it's a beautiful way to heal.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, that's a great place. I'm pretty familiar with that.
Speaker 1:I've had, in fact, dr jimenez on the podcast before a couple times so good, well, and we were blessed uh, he's not there all the time, right, uh, but we were blessed when we were there. That, uh, him and his wife were there the week that, one of the weeks that we were there. So, um, one of my final meetings was with him and, um, that's pretty great experience, yeah just a great, great doctor he's such a nice guy, has such a tender spirit about him.
Speaker 4:Yes, oh, yes. I mean really, when you walk in to the Hope for Cancer Clinic, that's the feeling you get. It is such a beautiful, loving, healing place that they created there.
Speaker 3:Spiritual place, spiritual place. It's like a, it's a retreat, basically.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, you go to heal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a lovely place too, isn't it? I haven't been there, but oh, it's beautiful.
Speaker 4:Your view is as it are.
Speaker 1:If you have to be in the hospital, Cancun beachside is not a bad place to do it.
Speaker 3:That's true. Now, debbie, you had a diagnosis also, right? I Well.
Speaker 4:Debbie, you had a diagnosis also, right, I do, and I'm still going through it. So we're at this place now where, again, routine exam about two months ago showed a couple, a few masses on my thyroid and I was told that I should have a biopsy. And again, everything happens for a reason and everything that I've been learning with my dad and with Eric, we knew that that's not the path that we're going to take. I know that it's there. I know that I have some blood markers that are elevated, which is, you know, cancer is always there. What I've got going on, it falls under the umbrella of thyroid disease and I could work with that because I believe that you can heal the body holistically and we just have to build the immune system back up to reactivate the thyroid to kill whatever is going on with those nodules.
Speaker 4:So I'm at a place right now where I'm building my team and starting that path and what that might look like for me. But I know that everything that I've been learning for the past five years has led me to where I am right now and I know that this is a healing path. And it also happens that I'm going to be starting the Healing Strong meetings in this area as well, and so I get to share with others that what I'm doing for my healing as well. And so it's just. Everything is God's timing, and I'm walking this path with an open mind and an open heart and know that everything that's coming to me is meant to be, and I'm just going to walk forward with it.
Speaker 3:Right, right Now did I understand. You also were diabetic.
Speaker 4:I was. I had, well, I had a condition that required me to take insulin and I had that for decades. And I had I've been on that the big pharma hamster wheel since I was in my young 20s, because I didn't know any other way. And the more that I was learning when my dad was diagnosed was that I didn't need to have those medications. I needed to fix how I was eating, how I was living my life, my faith in God and that relationship with him. And so in that time, when my dad was diagnosed, I chose to get off all of medication. I went 100% whole food, plant-based. I fired my doctors, I found the ones that aligned with my way of thinking of healing holistically, and I'm no longer and I haven't been for five years on any type of insulin. My A1C, which is the diabetic cursor, went from a 6.1 to a 5.2. And so I did that, just walking the path holistically.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's funny because my cousin this year I'll probably tell the story a lot now because it just happened but his A1C was 12 point something. I mean it was way up there and he is scared to death of needles, so that was his motivation.
Speaker 4:Yes, exactly. When you're faced with something big, right, then your why changes?
Speaker 3:Yes, and he went. We told him about going plant-based and he dove in headfirst 100% Six months later he's down to 5.4, I think it was 100%. Six months later, it's down to 5.4, I think it was.
Speaker 4:That's so beautiful and that's something that I'm excited to share with my new group here in the Pacific Northwest about whole food, plant-based and juicing, and it really is just. I'm really excited just to be able to impart what I know and share so others can adopt this in their own life.
Speaker 3:Right Now. Your dad never did go with holistic.
Speaker 4:He didn't yeah.
Speaker 3:My parents wouldn't either if that ever happened, because that's just the mindset especially that generation and in fact my generation growing up. The doctors, whatever they say, you just figure they have lab coats. We don't, that's right.
Speaker 4:They say A hundred percent. And my dad believed with a hundred percent and trusted what his beloved doctors were telling him to do, and so you know, he followed that path and we chose to do something different.
Speaker 1:Right. Well, and I think that's an important thing to make note of is you know, when we chose to do this, you get a lot of pushback from those in your circle. You know it's ingrained in us from the time we're little kids that this is the way you do things. The doctor, you know the doctor's right. They're going to give you the prescription and everything is going to be okay. And when you start saying you're going to do something different than that, especially when it's in direct contradiction to that, then a lot of times people treat you like you're out of your, you've lost your mind. That was a real thing. That we had to deal with was people that are like what are you doing? And not supportive, and that was all part of the lessons that we learned along the way. Is that sometimes you have to change your circle?
Speaker 3:Yeah, and they mean well, because they want you to live. But they think that's all there is. They almost treat you like what's wrong with you. You're kind of arrogant that you think you know more than a doctor.
Speaker 4:Yes, yeah, yes.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but then there you are. Both of you are pretty healthy, so I think you're doing a good job. I'll give you a thumbs up All right, we like it. So how did you find out about Healing Strong?
Speaker 4:We've been following Chris' work now for several years and instrumental in a lot of the way that we heal now, and so when I go back to revisit some of the things that Chris Work has in his podcast or any of the things that he posts out there, I go back and reread, and I stumbled across the Healing Strong and the nonprofit and I started to read everything that this nonprofit organization did and I knew that I had to be part of this. It aligns 100% with the way that we live our life and how we move forward, and I couldn't have imagined landing in a place where I was so completely meant to be, and so that's kind of how we found Healing Strong.
Speaker 3:Right? Was there not a group in your area? Are you starting one?
Speaker 4:I am starting one and my first day is going to be I believe it's well, I think it's August 26th, that's a Monday. That's going to be our very first meeting and I'm going to be our very first meeting and I'm going to share Chris Swart's protocols and weave in scripture and it's just going to be beautiful.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that's exciting. I had to start one myself in Greenville, south Carolina, because there wasn't any and it's just not something I would normally do. But I thought, know, I thought, hey, I just, I just healed from cancer, so I really need to give back.
Speaker 4:That's right.
Speaker 3:Hopefully someone will. Yeah, someone will take over. You know, once I start the group and that's been like four years now no one's taken over yet. That's okay, I'll just. I'll just keep opening the door to the place and someone's eventually going to jump up there and say, hey, let me take over. Until then, I feel like God wants me to do this.
Speaker 4:That's right, so you feel called to do it, and I love that.
Speaker 3:Where do you see this going? Are you going to follow the curriculum at all?
Speaker 4:I'm 100% going to follow the curriculum. I'm going to add in anything that I feel that best supports, whatever, any of the members need.
Speaker 3:Okay, have people signed up yet. Have you like advertising?
Speaker 4:I have two so far, so got to start somewhere.
Speaker 3:Yeah, some people start with just themselves, so you're doing great.
Speaker 4:And if that's the case, I'll sit there for the hour and that's my time to sit with God and I'm okay with that.
Speaker 3:You can encourage yourself.
Speaker 4:That's right, that's right.
Speaker 3:Well, maybe Eric will, come I probably would.
Speaker 4:I'd have one, okay, good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because you've got a great story and that obviously will encourage people and unfortunately there are people with cancer everywhere who found out it's becoming more and more popular.
Speaker 4:You know, I think the statistic is something like one out of every two people, and it's horrible. And so the more that we can put the word out there that there's multiple ways of healing, or at least try to integrate that in with what you're doing now is better than what they're currently doing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, since the government declared war on cancer decades ago, it's just gotten worse. So we definitely need to do what God, basically what God says in his word. I mean, he pretty much knows how our bodies work and he gave us our immune system for a purpose I mean just about anything. It's so odd and I find myself constantly have to rethink things, even though I know that the body heals itself, but I still my mind wants to go back to. Well, you know, maybe I need to do this procedure or that procedure.
Speaker 3:In fact, I went through immunotherapy because I didn't. I wasn't going to do chemo, but they never offered that and they said that, well, immunotherapy is a new thing. That kind of builds up your own immune system and helps it, you know, battle the cancer and it works pretty well with melanoma, which is what I had. So I went ahead and took that, mostly because insurance covered it, and it dried up my eight tumors in just the first couple of months and I responded well to it. However, it is still medication and most people have side effects to it. I mean, I thank God that I didn't really have anything.
Speaker 3:I had diarrhea for two years, but other than that, I can get around that. Yeah, and I'm cancer-free now. I changed my diet, of course. I cut out sugar and doing a lot of juicing and all kinds of stuff that was not put in my mouth before, like ginger and all this. Now I love it. It's great my body starts craving these things. That is telling you, hey, this was healthy all along. Why weren't you giving it to me? Right, I thought Twinkies were healthy.
Speaker 4:Right and right. We didn't know and we had to completely learn a different way of eating and whole food plant based. That's not easy and it's tight through me, and so I'd really, for the last five years, have studied this and how I can make this so it could be our lifestyle rather than an occasional thing that we do, and it's been tough going at times, but I feel like where we're at right now. I feel like I've finally figured it out.
Speaker 3:Right, You're certified right.
Speaker 4:I am certified in orthomolecular functional nutrition. That's a mouthful.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that was going to be my guess.
Speaker 4:Where did you get certified through? And again, I found her when I read her book Eat Real to Heal back in 2019. And she's somebody that has a lot to offer and has done a lot of great stuff in this world and I felt, and still feel, completely honored to have had that year that she taught.
Speaker 3:How did your kids respond? You said you had six kids. How did they respond to your diagnosis? Did it kind of freak them out?
Speaker 1:Well, there's six of them, right, and they're a range of ages and they all kind of responded differently in their own way. Yeah, I would say if I had to. They're all pretty quiet about it. Even, you know, throughout the whole period it's not something they really wanted to talk about a lot. We would kind of have to pry it. You guys should talk about this. And they're all pretty quiet but very supportive. I mean, we made a lot of changes in our lifestyle and they were supportive all along the way, all six of them, but pretty quiet, not real vocal about sharing how they felt about it or, you know, any types of fears or anything like that. But you know, and I wonder sometimes how much of that, we're pretty positive and we don't really do negativity or things like that, and so sometimes I wonder if maybe they were. They didn't want to come across as a downer or you know, I don't know, but, um, yeah, they didn't share too much, but yeah they didn't share too much.
Speaker 4:They also took a lot of cue from us, because we walked this path. You are healing. There was no other way. And so our attitude we walked in love and light. This was the way that we were going to heal and we felt 100% confident of that, and so I'd like to think that that's what our kids saw, that's what they were feeding off of us. Um, we had no fear. We walked with no fear and they saw, they watch us yeah, there's probably a lot of truth to that.
Speaker 1:Um well, there was some fear the first three months well, that's, uh, that's okay but you know, once we reached surrender, then there was no more fear, and I stay still that I personally view the whole experience as a gift. I view it as a gift from God and I look at it, the changes that it's forced us to make in our lifestyle. We're completely different people just three and a half years later than when we got this diagnosis, and I view it as a gift. It gave me three gifts, actually. It gave me the gift of living in gratitude, it gave me the gift of living in grace and giving grace where I didn't always do that before, and it gave me the gift of giving, and I wouldn't have put those three things at the top of my list four or five years ago, right, and so for me and I think you share this sentiment it's been a beautiful journey, and so you're probably right. I mean, they saw our confidence and they saw that we're living in gratitude and joy every day, so why shouldn't they be?
Speaker 3:That's a good point, because people our age and older that's where you get the pushback. But when you have kids and they're watching you and they're feeding off, like you say, you know how you're responding to it. So I mean you're teaching a whole nother generation though, like hey, when I'm going through a valley, you know, I know how to act now because I've seen my parents do it and, like you say, most people, they're better after cancer. No one wants cancer, obviously, but once you go through a deep valley like cancer and as soon as you get your diagnosis, you are scared to death. I mean, I cried like a little baby for like an hour and then I was fine, of course, but being the caliber of a man that I am, I can relate.
Speaker 3:But I was scared. I thought, man, I'm not going to make it. They gave me a month or two to live. I thought I'm not going to make it to Christmas because this was in September. But then, all of a sudden, like God, filled me with this peace because there's all these different things that happened during this time, because, you know, I had to live it out in front of a radio audience of 500,000 people, so I couldn't be quiet about it. But all these different things he kept putting in my path that made me realize. It's always like he's winking at me, saying, hey, I'm here, I got it. I knew this was going to happen when we were born.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 1:Isn't that amazing, the small miracles that he brings into your life every day, that I always kind of look at it now and think prior to this we were too busy to see all those or to notice all of those. But once you achieve surrender and you kind of slow your life down and you open your eyes, they're there all the time. And the people that he brings into your life, for maybe just a specific thing it's so beautiful. For maybe just a specific thing it's so beautiful. I mean just the people that have come into our lives that we would have never been in contact with, but they came and they served a purpose and it's just. It's been beautiful, right.
Speaker 4:We woke up.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:We became awake.
Speaker 3:Yep, yeah, priorities change. It goes to relationships rather than, you know, being productive in your business, which is important, of course, but I, rather than being productive in your business which is important, of course, but I mean you realize how much more important that relationship with your kids and your family and a circle of friends that support what you're doing Right A hundred percent.
Speaker 1:You're all doing a good job Well, thank you. Yeah, it's made us focus more on the experience than the outcome. Right, yeah.
Speaker 4:Living in gratitude for today, today's, the gift.
Speaker 3:Well, you guys got it together. I can't help you at all. You know what you're doing. No marriage counseling here, so how can people get a hold of you? The website Healing Strong. I look for it out here.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I own the Healing Strong website and you can also if they are into social media. You can find me at purefoodygal, but my email is on there as well, the Healing Strong, so if they go to that website they can find me.
Speaker 3:Is your group in Vancouver or Portland?
Speaker 4:It'll say Healing Strong PNW, so Pacific Northwest, with the Vancouver Washington as the address.
Speaker 3:It was a pleasure talking to you all. It was encouraging. I didn't need it encouraging, but I got encouraged anyway, so I appreciate that.
Speaker 4:Thank you, jim, thanks Jim, wonderful. Thank you so much for having us.
Speaker 2:You've been listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast, a part of the Healing Strong organization.
Speaker 2:We hope you found encouragement in this episode, as well as the confidence to take control of your healing journey, knowing that God will guide you on this path.
Speaker 2:Healing Strong is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to connect, support and educate individuals facing cancer and other diseases through strategies that help to rebuild the body, renew the soul and refresh the spirit. It costs nothing to be a part of a local or online group. You can do that by going to our website at healingstrongorg and finding a group near you, an online group, or start your own, your choice. While you're there, take a look around at all the free resources. Though the resources and groups are free, we encourage you to join our membership program at $25 or $75 a month. This helps us to be able to reach more people with hope and encouragement, and that also comes with some extra perks as well. So check it out. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give us a five-star rating, leave an encouraging comment and help us spread the word. We'll see you next week with another story on the I Am Healing Strong podcast.
