My heart melted when my therapist said, “You’re an overcomer,” in my first session with her a few years ago.

I had asked God to make me an overcomer. I had been seeking, and expecting, mental and emotional healing since I was 16. It was one of the first prayers I ever prayed. I just really had no idea what I was asking for or how it would be accomplished.

By the time I was 27, my husband and I were in full-time ministry, as we began a 30 year career of church planting. Sadly, healing didn’t come through the church, and my marriage only brought more wounds. Rather than finding wholeness in soul and spirit, my body joined the waiting list as I became physically sick.

A series of moldy homes and chronic stress conspired with childhood trauma, and within 3 years after a tick bite, I had developed chronic Lyme disease, which showed up like a freight train one day delivering severe fatigue, brain fog, joint pain, short term memory loss, and the list goes on.

In my exhaustion, simple prayers became a way of life …

God, You’re the Creator. You know everything. Lead me to the information I need.

Faith is a gift, I can’t create that. Refresh my faith. Give me the gift of faith.

You said when the Holy Spirit came, He would lead me into all truth. I need truth.

God, You’re my Father, and my provider. Lead me to the resources and the path I need to be on.

You’re the Balm of Gilead, anoint me and heal my body, soul, and spirit.

These were mostly uttered silently from a fetal position in bed during times when I had no energy and very little capacity of my own.

It was a crazy time to get Lyme disease because in November of 2006 the IDSA was published, which created hostility in medicine towards doctors treating chronic Lyme. I was bitten in the Fall of 2005 and was treated with a short course of Doxycycline after I got the bullseye rash and the very typical flu-like symptoms. In February of 2008 it came roaring back in the form of a chronic, systemic infection, while we were living in another moldy home in Virginia, and I became pretty much bed-ridden for several months. Not only did we not have insurance, but insurance would not have covered my illness at that point if we had it. So I began to read. And I began to realize that there was a lot wrong with our food supply. And I began to think that the wisest thing I could do would be to take responsibility for my own health, regardless of whatever else I learned along the way. And that’s how it all started for me.

My journey started with looking for ways to kill bugs and avoid the obvious toxins in food. I assumed eradication was the answer.

After 7 years of moving through Lyme protocols, I shifted my focus to replenishing my system and began to look into mold exposure, too. Lyme and mold tend to travel together, and I was no longer feeling like Lyme treatments helped.

I began to get certifications. I was first certified through Functional Diagnostic Nutrition. I moved on to The Institute for International Nutrition, and I picked up more training in specific labwork along the way. I finally got a master’s in nutrition from the University of Bridgeport.