Over the past three decades, Earlene Irving has weathered life's storms without a single visit to the doctor, a feat she credits to her steadfastness to biblical principles, both in diet and daily living. Our conversation with Earlene isn't just an exploration of organic foods and clean living; it's a deep look into how her conversational relationship with God has anchored her through life's unrest. Her story discusses the understated yet powerful role of stress management and the comfort found in moments of quiet reflection, offering peace in a broken world.
Discovering Earlene's personal narrative, we navigate the intersection of obedience, faith, and healing. Confronted with a severe illness, she faced the brink of despair but found her compass in her faith, which guided her back to health. This episode exemplifies how the trials that test our faith can also deepen it, illustrating the biblical tale of Naaman as a parallel to our modern struggles with health and obedience. Listeners will find great comfort in Earlene's testament to the power of unwavering faith and the courage to seek wisdom, even when it defies conventional logic.
Finally, we highlight the incredible work of HealingStrong, the non-profit that Earlene champions. This organization's mission resonates throughout our discussion—providing hope, community, and resources for those on the healing path. Earlene's invitation to join the HealingStrong group in North Carolina extends beyond our discussion. This episode is more than a podcast; it's a vessel carrying messages of empowerment and the indescribable connection of how faith, health, and community support can carry one through even the darkest of times.
Connect with Earlene's Group: Meets in-person and online Harmony/Raleigh/Central North Carolina hs.centralnc@gmail.com 717-884-5103
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:
Over the past three decades, Earlene Irving has weathered life's storms without a single visit to the doctor, a feat she credits to her steadfastness to biblical principles, both in diet and daily living. Our conversation with Earlene isn't just an exploration of organic foods and clean living; it's a deep look into how her conversational relationship with God has anchored her through life's unrest. Her story discusses the understated yet powerful role of stress management and the comfort found in moments of quiet reflection, offering peace in a broken world.
Discovering Earlene's personal narrative, we navigate the intersection of obedience, faith, and healing. Confronted with a severe illness, she faced the brink of despair but found her compass in her faith, which guided her back to health. This episode exemplifies how the trials that test our faith can also deepen it, illustrating the biblical tale of Naaman as a parallel to our modern struggles with health and obedience. Listeners will find great comfort in Earlene's testament to the power of unwavering faith and the courage to seek wisdom, even when it defies conventional logic.
Finally, we highlight the incredible work of HealingStrong, the non-profit that Earlene champions. This organization's mission resonates throughout our discussion—providing hope, community, and resources for those on the healing path. Earlene's invitation to join the HealingStrong group in North Carolina extends beyond our discussion. This episode is more than a podcast; it's a vessel carrying messages of empowerment and the indescribable connection of how faith, health, and community support can carry one through even the darkest of times.
Connect with Earlene's Group: Meets in-person and online Harmony/Raleigh/Central North Carolina hs.centralnc@gmail.com 717-884-5103
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:
I did not know how much stress can affect your life and your health, and I was living it. I was seeing what it was doing to me, because my family and I had been in a six-year extremely stressful situation that we had never faced anything like that before, and so I was in fight or flight for absolutely 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for over six years. My body couldn't get healthy, it couldn't heal what was there, it couldn't overcome it, and since then I've learned that, like 98% of all diseases are from start with stress. But I didn't know that Stress just blindsided me.
Speaker 3:
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 2:
Today I'm talking with kind of like my neighbor a state up from me up there in North Carolina, Earlene Irving. Right, I love that name. Well, thanks, it kind of flows together. Earlene Irving, Did I tell you my middle name is Earl, so I'm like the masculine version of that Right.
Speaker 2:
Isn't it great. And now that we got that important fact out of the way, I want everyone to hear your story, because we were talking earlier, and I know you've always been healthy, always eating right, you had your gardens, you homeschooled your kids and no one was ever sick. So how long had it been since you've been to a doctor since? Well, no one was ever sick. So how long had it been since you've been to a doctor?
Speaker 1:
since Well, no one was ever sick 30 some years. It's been 25 years since I have been to any kind of a doctor of any kind, except for the dentist. I do go to the dentist, but other than that no doctors of any kind. So it's been over 30 years since I have had any kind of sickness.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and it's not that you don't like doctors. You just had no reason to go right.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely, boy. If I was in an accident, I would want a doctor there beside me to help me, absolutely. But if you don't need one, why go when you don't need one? So I didn't need one. My whole family was very healthy because 30 some years ago, father told us to my heavenly father. He told us to eat very cleanly and very purely and to go back to Genesis 129 and to eat like that. So that's what we did 30 some years ago and we were all very healthy.
Speaker 2:
Wow, so you're saying that God knows what he's doing?
Speaker 1:
Yes, I will. I'm the first one to say absolutely. He knows exactly what he's doing, and what he told us was he wanted us to eat that way because of what was coming, and we didn't know what was coming, you know, but he knew what was coming and he knew that they were going to be destroying our food supply by chemicals and impurities and all the things that they're putting into them. And they're absolutely doing that. So he knew it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I love the fact that you have such a great relationship with your father, your heavenly father. Some people are like pray whenever they're in trouble or whenever there's a problem, and they're like I just never really hear from God. But you have a relationship where you are like in conversation with them, not that he just opens the clouds and speaks audibly to you, but you are in conversation with him.
Speaker 1:
Yes, for many years since, I guess since I was about 12, fourth grade, whatever fourth grade was. I can remember starting to listen to him and to hear him because that's what I wanted. I wanted to be his friend. Even at that age, when I'm sitting in church and I heard someone say talked about Abraham and how Abraham was his friend and how David was the apple of his eye, I thought that's what I want and I'm not going to stop till I get it and I have it.
Speaker 2:
Wow, that's amazing. That's kind of rare. Unfortunately, these days, even with people who are Christians and believe in God, we have cell phones for crying out loud. That has all the answers there, right Right, we're just busy and then we try to fit God in at the end of the day or at the beginning of the day, and then we kind of forget about him. But I love the fact that you just kind of hang out with him.
Speaker 1:
You know that old hymn In the Garden. That's my favorite hymn, because he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me that I am his Ellen and the joy we share and we tarry there none other has ever known. And that just sums it all up for me. I love having this relationship with him and the fact that anybody can have this relation. It's not because I'm somebody special, I just didn't settle for anything less and no one has to. They all can have this relationship.
Speaker 2:
Right, anything less, and no one has to. They all can have this relationship Right. What it takes, I found out, is when we say gosh, I just never hear from God. It's usually because we're never quiet enough to hear from God. He doesn't yell things, he's not very. I mean, he could be loud if he wanted to. Obviously I've heard his thunder, but he always has that still quiet voice. He's like just waiting for us to settle down and listen to him.
Speaker 2:
I try to do a morning walk all the time and I'm like I just stop talking to God and listen. He's got things to say. Even at my young age that I'm at now I've been 30-something twice. Now I Finally learning just be quiet, jimmy. I'm like a chihuahua. When I started praying, I'm like you know, we want to give God our list of things we need. We want to pray for this and that and the next thing, you know we're off to something, but God's like well, I had things to say, but it's like a one way conversation we give to him. But that's one thing I'm learning, because I am a slow learner, something you have learned since you were a child that you just got to listen to God because he's got the answers and so it really panned out for you in your story especially.
Speaker 1:
You know, jim, when you're talking about that with his voice can be very soft and quiet, and that is absolutely true, because he has it that way. You know, if someone is near you and they're whispering and you can't hear them, what do you do? You lean in closer.
Speaker 2:
Right.
Speaker 1:
And you lean in closer until you can hear. And that's what he wants us to do. Just keep leaning in closer until you hear him.
Speaker 2:
So life has just been rosy for you. You've not had any problems or any issues, correct?
Speaker 1:
Not exactly Okay. So in 2021 is when I really noticed that I had a very large lump. But it was actually there before that very large lump, but it was actually there before that and I was starting to show some signs of not being well. But because I have eaten properly and followed kind of I followed Chris's square one plan before Chris had a square one plan, so my whole family was following this and so because of that, we were very healthy. So I figured, when I found this lump, that it was in the center of my chest and I thought, okay, my body's got to take care of it, like it always has. Anything that would come up, my body would take care of it because I was very healthy. Only, by 2021, it was four inches long. Wow. And by 2022, I had a second one down where I had had a C-section incision and that had broken through my C-section incision and split it open. Nice, I had the one in my chest, which was four inches.
Speaker 1:
I was extremely sick. My kidneys and liver had shut down and all the toxins were staying in my body. So my body was bloated beyond belief, gaining a pound and a half a day and not eating anything. There was quite a bit wrong with me. My heart wasn't beating properly, I couldn't breathe because the tumor was pressing on something. So I couldn't lay down at night to sleep because I couldn't breathe.
Speaker 1:
And so my girl sat me down. I have four daughters and one son and my girl sat me down and said Mom, we know you're dying, we can see how sick you are and we ask that you do something please, because we don't want to lose you. So that got me a little motivated, to say the least. Because you know, I don't know that I was in denial. I just thought wait a minute. Surely my Heavenly Father can handle this, because he can do anything and he's always kept me healthy, so surely he's going to do it now. And so I'm waiting and waiting and waiting, but I'm deteriorating very rapidly, wow. And so they asked me to do something. But I didn't know what else to do. I was already doing everything. Following a square one, I was doing everything. So that was 2022.
Speaker 2:
Since you thought you were doing everything. You got a little nervous, maybe a little scared, because of course you always rely on God. I realize that. But you're like God. What am I missing here? What do you need to tell me? Of course you're speaking through your daughters, who kind of nudged you in the direction. What happened after that?
Speaker 1:
That's absolutely true. I did start to get very scared when I couldn't breathe. Even though you're trying to stay calm, when you can't breathe you start to really panic. Yeah, a little bit, with being so sick, it really. My skin looked like it was going to burst open. I was so large, I was yellow, very awful color yellow. My skin, my eyes were yellow. I was very, very sick.
Speaker 1:
So I did what I always do and I went to father and I said okay, you've taught me how to eat, you've taught me, you've protected me for 30 years, but now I have this situation and I don't know what to do. So all I'm asking is for you to tell me what the next step is. Show me what to do. And he did just that. He sent me to Chris Warr, who I had heard of but never looked into it because I was healthy, I didn't really need it. But now it was a different story. So I went and ordered his modules and I was watching all of his modules and Chris is so uplifting and encouraging and so much information. And I was just totally encouraged because, look at this, I'm doing everything he says to do. This is wonderful. And then it dawned on me wait a minute, I'm doing everything he says to do. This is wonderful. And then it dawned on me wait a minute, I'm doing everything he says to do and I'm still dying. It's not, this isn't good.
Speaker 1:
But then I got to module number six, and module number six is how to eliminate stress and heal your heart. And, oh, my goodness, that was it. That was the component that I was missing and didn't know. And as soon as I, I watched that video and my eyes were just wide open because I did not know how much stress can affect your life and your health. And I was living it, I was seeing what it was doing to me, because my family and I had been in a six-year extremely stressful situation that we had never faced anything like that before, and so I was in fight or flight for absolutely 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for over six years. My body couldn't get healthy, it couldn't heal what was there, it couldn't overcome it, and since then I've learned that, like 98% of all diseases start with stress. But I didn't know that. Stress just blindsided me.
Speaker 2:
So how did you take care of that?
Speaker 1:
Once I saw that and my eyes were opened and I realized, absolutely without a doubt, it was the stress, the amount of stress and how the length of time my body could not heal itself. So I said, okay, father, now I need to know what the next step is. What do I do now? And this was so exciting to me that I was really sick. I could barely. I couldn't walk, I couldn't eat. I had to have everything blended because I couldn't chew the salad. I was too weak, couldn't eat. I had to have everything blended because I couldn't chew the salad, I was too weak. So I was very, very sick and father told me. He said I want you to get up in the morning and I want you to go outside because I'm waiting for you there and, believe me, the creator tells you that he's waiting for you someplace. You better believe you're going to go out and meet him there.
Speaker 1:
So I got up and I went out. It was. I went out before it was even light. I was so anxious to get out there and I went out and husband set up a chair for me and bundled me all up because it was winter. So he got me all bundled up and he got me out into the chair and I'm sitting in the chair and father said now take your shoes and socks off. And so it's winter time, I'm sick.
Speaker 1:
But you know, father said so I did it, I took my shoes and socks off and I put my feet. He said put your feet on the colder. And so I did, and it was very cold. But it reminded me of in scripture when he told Joshua and he told Moses to take your shoes off, your sandals off, because you're on holy ground, which means he's there. So I knew he was there, without a doubt. I knew he was there because he told me to take my shoes off, put my feet on the cold earth, to breathe in deeply which was hard for me to do because I could hardly breathe and to meditate on him.
Speaker 1:
That was the hardest thing for me was meditation, because, jim, I'm a woman and women's minds do not stop. So it was hard for me to have my mind stop, because he didn't want me to just think on him. He wanted me to clean out my mind so that it wasn't there. Anything was there and I could just concentrate and listen to him and communicate with him that way, and I had to learn how to do that. The first time out it was wonderful, but I wasn't nearly doing what he wanted me to do because I couldn't understand. I wasn't nearly doing what he wanted me to do because I couldn't understand. I had to learn Right.
Speaker 1:
And then, later on, I also learned that putting your feet on the bare earth is grounding, which I didn't know exactly what all that was. I heard about it but didn't really know all the everything, all the science behind it, which I just found out recently because I watched an interview that Chris had with the founder of all that stuff. So I now know how healing it is to put your feet and to be grounded on Father's creation. So I do that regularly. So I did what he told me to do. I did that for 10 months, as much as I possibly could. It's raining, obviously, I'm not outside, but I did that for 10 months.
Speaker 1:
And he told me some other things that he wanted me to do and I was obedient. I did all of them. But that was my healing place, was out there with him and after 10 months of doing all of that, that four-inch tumor, the tumor in my abdomen every one of my symptoms was completely gone. Wow, I was completely healed body, mind and spirit. But it wasn't doing those things that healed me. Yeah, it was obedience that healed me. Yeah, if we're obedient to what he tells us to do, that's when we're healed. Yeah, if we're obedient to what he tells us to do, that's when we're healed. I think in Naaman in scripture in Second Kings, where Naaman was told to go and dip in the Jordan seven times and he was, you know, pretty upset about it.
Speaker 2:
Why is he?
Speaker 1:
telling me to go dip in the dirty Jordan when I could go to my country where everything's crystal clear and clean, and somebody was there with him and they said, just give it a try. So he said, all right. So he went and he tried it and he dipped and on the seventh time he came up and he was clean and he was healthy and he was healed. But it wasn't the mud in the river that healed him and it wasn't the dirty water that healed him, it was obedience. And he wouldn't have been healed if he went in six times or if he did it nine times. Too much, too little. He wants us to be obedient to everything he tells us to do, exactly how he tells us to do it, and so that's why I was healed Not so much the things that I did, but the obedience.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and we don't have to understand it, because quite often we don't understand.
Speaker 1:
Don't understand right. Why would I go out when I'm so sick and put my feet in the cold earth in the wintertime?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, like the nation of Israel when they're going around Jericho seven times like this does not make sense. I was on a short trip and then started yelling and okay, we look like idiots out here. Then all of a sudden, oh the walls are coming down, so now it makes sense. But it's always hindsight when we understand.
Speaker 1:
Well, you know talking about looking like an idiot. So I'm sitting out there in this winter I have my coat on my hood, on my gloves, a scar. I'm sitting there in the chair in the front yard without any shoes or socks on, and that's when everybody's going to work, so I'm waving to my neighbors as they're going by. That's funny.
Speaker 2:
That's funny.
Speaker 1:
But it's an opportunity to be a testimony.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
You know what in the world are we doing out there, and I was able to tell people.
Speaker 2:
Wow, how'd they receive?
Speaker 1:
that A lot of people. It's just uh-huh. Okay, you know, they just look at you and they listen uh-huh. But I think you know, father, if they're in a situation when they need that information, father's got to bring it back to their minds.
Speaker 2:
Right, that's one thing I was thinking when you're talking about that is you know, when people think, you know, well, stress does so much harm to it, but it's like, well, that's great, I need to stop stressing. But you know, it's a lot easier said than done, how do you stop stressing? And then they stress over the fact that they're stressed. Right, I think what you're saying is I mean, you didn't know how to not stress, but you listened to God who told you how to de-stress.
Speaker 1:
I guess you would say yes, because we can't stay away from stress. Stress is going to come at us from all different angles and we're not going to expect it. But I had to learn how to handle the stress, which is what Chris says, and on his module he says you have to learn how to handle it because you're still going to have stress come at you. But it's how you handle it, yeah.
Speaker 2:
Stress is not bad, because we're going to come across stress. It's just never releasing the stress, never letting it go. I mean, stress is always part of your day. It makes you hurry up when you need to hurry up or get things done when you need to, but then you need to release it. That's what meditation and time listening to God and also talking with them. But listening is the hard part, right? You're not stressed when you're hanging out with God. For some reason, the stress is gone. When you're hanging out with God, for some reason, the stress is gone.
Speaker 2:
So often we want God just to heal things like that, which will make you for a great story, and sometimes he does it that way because it serves a purpose. But usually there's a journey, there's a valley you go through, and that's when you become closer to God. You were more shallow before then. Your faith deepens, your trust deepens as you're going through the darkness of the life, so to speak. You know it's not in the sunshine that our faith grows. It's in that darkness, when he's with us and he carries us through. He doesn't all of a sudden snap his fingers and we're fine and we go on our way. There's always lessons involved and he loves us so much. He wants us to learn these lessons and to deepen our walk with them, and that's what I find anyway in my journey.
Speaker 1:
Absolutely. My mother used to read Streams in the Desert, a devotional book.
Speaker 2:
I got one right here.
Speaker 1:
In that devotional book there's one day that one of the devotions is that Moses went into the blackness of the darkness. And what did he find there? Who was there? It was God. He was there in the blackness of the darkness. So don't be afraid to take the step forward to go into that blackness that's in front of you, Because you're going to find that he's there.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I think I even read that this morning. That's why that thought was on my mind. It's like crazy coincidence.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, really that's exciting.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, my mother was healed as a child of polio and they didn't even believe in God. But because of that, all 90 some members of my family now are all serving God. In that instance it was a sign that turned us all around. But usually it's something that's like hey, there's something that needs to be corrected in your life and that's why this is happening. So I mean, usually it's a lesson we have to learn, which was in your case.
Speaker 1:
I mean, usually it's a lesson we have to learn which was, in your case, what I had learned from going through all this that it's all about the journey.
Speaker 2:
Yeah.
Speaker 1:
It's not if he just heals us, which he can certainly do. He can just speak and we are healed. He can touch and we are healed a hundred percent and he can do that because who he is. But if he does that, then we don't go on the journey with him Right and we miss so much. Because it's all about the journey, this is all about our relationship with him. It's an opportunity to learn and get to know him. We can't say, oh, I know him and we do. How do we get to know him? We have to walk beside him and we have to go with him and we have to learn step by step. And that's how we learned it.
Speaker 1:
And I learned so much in that journey that I really wouldn't ask for it again. But I am so grateful for what I've experienced and what I have learned and my relationship with father. I now trust him like I have never trusted him before and I've always had trust. But it is so deep now because of where I walked and what I was facing, and now I can trust him with my life. I can trust him with my family's lives. I can trust him with anything. He's so amazing and I've learned so much. It's all about the journey, jim.
Speaker 2:
Yes, he's. He's not our genie, so it's not about the genie, it's about the journey. That could be a bumper sticker. I'll work on that, your bumper sticker great. I don't think anyone understands what it is, but still so, now you're I mean you're back to being healthy again and you're able to manage stress as it comes, Cause I mean stress has not stopped in your life, right?
Speaker 1:
right, right. Yeah, I've learned how to handle stress and two times since I have um, I've been healed. I've had stress come at me where, all of a sudden, I realized I was going back into my old pattern.
Speaker 1:
I was starting to pace and starting like I wanted to run away and get away from the stress, and I started to realize wait a minute, this is too familiar to me, I know what I'm doing here. And so then I sit down and I think, okay, I know what to do, I know how to handle this. So I redirect my mind onto Philippians where it says think on these things. You know whatsoever, things are pure and lovely and honest and a good report. Think on these things. And I have to consciously redirect my mind to think on those things instead of the stress that's there and it works every time.
Speaker 2:
How'd your family respond to this? What did they think?
Speaker 1:
My family, because when we were going through the stressful situation that we were in, the whole family was in this stressful situation and we spent so much time on our knees that our carpet had little ruts in it from where our knees were at the couch where we all would line up and pray. And because we went through it as a family and even this with my sickness, we went through it as a family and it has strengthened us so much, not only our relationships with each other, but it has strengthened them because they've watched me and they've watched my husband and how we handled it. And what did we do? We went right to Father, and they know that because they've grown up with it. But what did we do? We went right to father, and they know that because they've grown up with it. But to actually see it and live it, it just strengthens everybody. So it's been a wonderful, wonderful experience, not the sickness, but the journey and where we've come to at the end.
Speaker 2:
So do you have like a line of chairs in your front yard and you're all sitting there barefooted now every day?
Speaker 1:
Well, my kids are all grown and gone. I don't school it on my kids all the way through, but they're all grown, married and I have grandchildren.
Speaker 2:
I mean, I love that story. I love how God got your attention and you were. You're probably one of the easier ones for God to get your attention because you had such a great relationship with them. He's like, ah, this is my Earlene, this is going to be easy. She listens to me. What would you tell someone that has recently been diagnosed and they're in that? They're in those early stages where they're scared and they're confused and they feel like they got to do something really fast before this takes them out. What would you say to them?
Speaker 1:
Okay, first of all, chris gives some very good advice and he says don't fear. You know, fear doesn't come from father. And if it doesn't come from father, then don't accept it, right, reject it. So don't allow the fear to come in. Cancer is not a death sentence, as we have been led to believe. It is not a death sentence, if anything. It's an opportunity, an opportunity to get to know your father.
Speaker 1:
So next thing I would say leave the appointment without committing to or signing anything so you receive your diagnosis. And then, instead of signing up for anything right away because that's pressure leave the appointment and just tell them I'm going to get back to you, you have time, go home and you're going to think about it, and that sometimes can be really hard. You have to kind of hold your ground there, because try to be strong and think before you go in and think, okay, if this is not the news I want, then I'm going to listen to it and then I'm going to leave so that I can go home and try to sort this all out. And then the third thing I would say is give yourself three days. You have time. When you receive a diagnosis, you have time. So you at least have three days. You have time. When you receive a diagnosis, you have time. So you at least have three days. This is just my opinion and my advice, but I know that it works.
Speaker 1:
So you take three days and you give those three days to Father. Just you and him, no interruptions, no distractions. Just you and him. No interruptions, no distractions. Have your scriptures open to refer to them and pray constantly. Kneel down before him or prostrate yourself if you can. If you need to have praise music on, then put some praise music on, but this is a time for just you and Father and you have to commit to that. No television, no distractions, no company coming over. It's just you and Him for three days. And in those three days there'll be times where you feel like this is boring or nothing's happening. But don't give up. Do this as if your life depends on it. But don't give up. Do this as if your life depends on it. So spend that three days with your Heavenly Father.
Speaker 1:
Write down anything that you're experiencing or thinking or feeling or hearing. Write it all down. Spend time in His Word, spend time praising Him and worshiping Him. Just spend time getting to know Him.
Speaker 1:
And then, when you're that close after three days, I guarantee you you're going to come out with something and you're going to be able to tell of his wondrous works, because you're going to hear from father, you're going to get to know him. Be like the woman who went before the judge and just kept going and kept going and kept going until she got the answer. Be like that woman Just keep going to him until you get the answer and you know what that first step is in your journey and he's going to tell you. Believe he's going to tell you, know he's going to tell you and he will tell you.
Speaker 1:
And then, once you know that first step, then you can go on from there because he has it all planned out for you and it's going to be different than anybody else. It's not going to be my journey, it's not going to be your journey, it's going to be their own journey. But they are going to be well-equipped and know, because they have spent that time alone with their Heavenly Father. That's how you can hear his words time alone with our Heavenly Father.
Speaker 2:
That's how you can hear His words. Wow, yeah, that's good advice from someone who's been through it. That's great, earlene. I've enjoyed this conversation. You've given a lot of information for people to think about, especially those who have just recently been diagnosed. How can people get a hold of you? I know you're a co-leader for a Healing Strong group there in North Carolina, right?
Speaker 1:
It's called the Central North Carolina group. My email is on there or they can email me at ziongate Z-I-O-N-G-A-T-E dot E-M-I at gmailcom. So those are the two ways that they could reach me if anybody wanted to, and I will help them with their relationship with Father in any way I can.
Speaker 2:
All right, well, thank you so much for sharing that story, and it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 3:
Thank you, Jim. You've been listening to the I Am Healing Strong podcast, a part of the Healing Strong organization. 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. 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.
Speaker 3:
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 or 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.