When God Opens the Door...
What do you do when someone you have never met, who lives states away, offers to buy your home, even though it's not for sale?? You determine quickly that this is one of those times where God just opened a door right in front of you and you dern well better walk through it. Am I right?
OK, sure, there might be complications...
Problem #1:
I own a children's consignment shop that was in the middle of custom building a new location. A half a million dollar venture. Just signed that contract. It's happening.
Problem #2:
That husband of mine and his pesky job that supports our family. We need to eat. We like to do that.
Eh, we'll figure those things out later... Or rather, we figured He already had these things figured out, or He wouldn't have opened this door in the first place. So we did it. We moved to fairly small town three hours away. No one could understand it, and it didn't make any sense really. My gut said it was right, and my sweet husband trusted me in that. And a few months later, we would find out exactly why.
The Pains Begin.
We had been in our new home for all of 7 months. I was teaching once a week in a local homeschool group. The kids were involved in the local soccer leagues. The boxes were (mostly) unpacked. All was well... until it wasn't. Out of the blue, my 6 year old, Zack, started having unbearable stomach pains. Unbearable for him, which made them even more unbearable for me. Just before we moved here, we discovered that he was sensitive to gluten, so I made the assumption that the stomach pains were related to foods so I just needed to figure out what foods we needed to eliminate. Strangely, these intense pains only came in the middle of the night. During the day, he was either lethargic and crampy or he was normal. I hadn't established a pediatrician in our new hometown, so I didn't know who to call other than my good friend google, and he was no help at all except to introduce to me more worst possible scenarios that I hadn't thought of yet...
Have you ever had kidney stones? When these episodes, as we began calling them, got to their worst point - It was just like that. He wouldn't be able to breathe, he would writhe and curl into a ball, he would scream, he would cry... and then as quick as it came on, it would be over. He would fall back asleep. Sometimes it would only happen once or twice, and sometimes not at all. As these episodes were intensifying over the course of just a few days, and I had ruled out this being an issue with a problem food, we decided it was time for urgent care. We got there first thing in the morning (and we should have packed a lunch.) They poked and prodded. They took samples. They called in every doctor on staff who each interviewed us. HOURS later, they admitted, they had no idea what was causing this. They offered an antibiotic if we wanted it, but it was a shot in the dark. They didn't think it would really help. So we left with no answers.
One Year Prior...
You know when you're watching a movie and as the scene changes, the screen reads "1 Year Ago..." Well, let's do that. Let's go back one year...
Just before a perfect stranger 100's of miles away offered to buy our house, I was introduced to muscle testing. Applied Kinesiology is the technical term. (If you haven't heard of this before, you can read more about it here.) It was through this 'muscle testing' that we discovered Zack's issues with gluten. Not completely trusting it, we spent $350 on blood tests which confirmed exactly what the muscle testing already told us. Yeah, we became believers in this practice pretty quick.
We needed answers. I knew I needed to find a holistic doctor who used muscle testing. However, this is not information you can google. (I did try though.) Still being very new to the area, I only knew a handful of people. I prayed. I told a fellow mom in the homeschool group I was teaching at what I needed and we prayed. She made a few calls and a few hours later, I had a name and a number.
Deer in the Headlights
That was me. I had no idea what to expect from this appointment. My only requirements were that we find someone who can Muscle Test. I didn't think to ask any other questions besides "How soon can you see us?" This lovely woman, who I only knew as "*Lucy" worked from a home office, did not have a website where I could learn anything about her or her practice (seriously though people. I can't even. I HAVE to research. But I was desperate), and the number that I was given to contact her was her personal cell phone number! This is a little odd, am I right?? Entering her home office, I saw a massage table neatly dressed with crisp linens, bookshelves loaded with books and binders, and one wall was lined with bottles of natural herbs. So far, so good. Right? Exactly what you would expect in a naturopath's office. I also noticed several degrees and certificates from well known prominent universities hanging around the room. I found that comforting for some reason.
I had both my boys with me at the appointment. Six year old, Zack and five year old, Levi. She asked the normal new patient questions about our health, family history, what our poo looked like (apparently that's relevant to your overall health... who knew?), etc. Then the bombs started dropping. I wish I had someone writing down the details of this appointment because my brain started spinning within minutes.
It all started with this question:
"Did you have a miscarriage before Zack was born?"
"Uhm, yes. Why?"
"Well, because Zack is carrying with him his sibling. It's a boy. He also has a man with him and some critters."
Eeeerrrrrt. Stop right there lady! I was born and raised as a good Baptist girl and we don't believe in such things. Absent from the body is to be present with the Lord, right? Isn't that what the Good Book says?? And what the heck are "critters"?? And how did you know I had a miscarriage before Zack was born? A man with him? What does that mean exactly? How do I get out of here quickly? Should I fake an emergency and run for the door?
These are my rapid fire thoughts while I was apparently looking at this woman like she had three heads. She picked up on the deep inner workings of my brain and began to explain that Earthbound spirits are very common and they can get 'stuck' here in the physical realm for various reasons, usually when a person dies suddenly, like in an accident, they can get confused and need some help 'crossing over.' In the case of miscarried babies, they will usually stay with the mother or 'attach' to a sibling that comes after them. Or if they were a twin at conception, the twin will attach to the surviving sibling. Having a sibling spirit attached to you can cause bi-polar, schizophrenia, or what is called the "hostile twin." This is not to say that this is always the cause of these illnesses, but in her experience it often is. She also said that a woman who has had a miscarriage will often develop the habit of gently stroking their own chest just below the neck. Somehow this is a connection to the spirit of the child still with her. She said, "I completely understand how you're feeling right now. The Lord brought me into this kicking and screaming." She went on to explain that she's a physical therapist and a naturopath. But it wasn't until the Lord led her into this knowledge of the spirit realm that she actually started seeing people get actual freedom from all sorts of ailments, including the ones mentioned above. She asked if I had ever watched the show "The Ghost Whisperer." Only every single episode, YES, and then again on Netflix a few years later. "I've never actually watched it, I don't watch that kind of that stuff" she quipped, "But did you know that show is based on a real woman's life experiences? Mary Ann Winkowski. Went to one of her seminars once... I don't agree with everything... she's Catholic so we do things differently... she only sees Earthbounds, not critters..." She went on to talk about a friend of hers who can see in the spirit (wait, literally SEE?? people. this is very new to me...) and she sees both Earthbounds and critters (which I found out was her word for demonic or evil spirits), and who had experienced some major phenomenon in her home and gave many other stories and first hand experiences that brought her to this point in her practice. And where was "this point" exactly? Well, she's still a physical therapist, and a naturopath. But she has found that just as Jesus healed a woman simply by casting off the spirit that crippled her for 18 years, "critters" and EB's (Earthbounds) are often the root cause of many ailments. So she's learned to just go to the source of the problem rather than address the symptoms.
"Remember, the Bible says our
battle is not against flesh and blood."
"Ok, well, I'm not saying I buy all this, but I'm here now and Zack needs help. Can you help him."
"Oh sure, but what's with the gloves?"
Time to meet Zack.
Intense and unpredictable. That was the best way to describe our Zachary. He is one of those kids that marches to the beat of his own drum. He has the quickest and sharpest little wit and man, he keeps us in stitches. We are constantly looking at each other and saying "Where does he get this stuff??" He is sweet, yet embarrassingly and unpredictably honest. To anyone and everyone. Which can be a little stressful, honestly! You just never know what is going to fly out of that mouth of his!
He was usually extremely happy (until he wasn't, and there were often no warnings going from one to the other). Strong willed and independent; two character traits that will serve him well someday, I'm sure. We never felt comfortable leaving him with anyone because he was such a handful. He had almost no comprehension of other peoples emotions. He just didn't know when to stop. He couldn't see when your frustration level was reaching that screeching whistle point. People, are you feeling what I'm laying down here? He was a challenge!
We had recently discovered Zack's sensitivity to gluten, and removing that from his diet helped his behavior greatly. With gluten in his system, he goes from 0-60 in seconds. We walked on eggshells waiting for his next blowout. But without gluten, he is much more even keel. I remember those first few weeks after we had removed gluten from his diet, something would happen that would normally trigger an outburst, I would get in the ready position, but the ball never came! Amazing.
Then there's the skin to skin contact he always craved from me. He would randomly come over to me and put his hand under my shirt to touch my back 20+ times a day. He had to fall asleep touching my skin. When he was little, even as a baby, he used to pull the neck of my shirt down to get his face on my chest just below my neck, or put his head under my shirt and rest his face on my belly.
And then there's the gloves that Dr. Lucy asked about... Zack dressed in layers. 2 or 3 layers of clothes everyday, including multiple pairs of socks and a pair of long stretch winter gloves. He said it made him feel "safe." He wore them everywhere. EVERYWHERE folks. We just decided there are so many battles we have to fight with Zack, what he wears is not going to be one of them.
This is our Zachary... or, more accurately, this WAS our Zachary! Keep reading...
After explaining about the gloves and some of Zack's other 'quirks,' as we affectionately call them, Lucy nodded and said "Let's see if we can take care of some of those things." Wait, what?? I just need his stomach pains to stop, and you want to also address these other issues?? Sweet mother of baby Jesus, I'm going to be in this crazy woman's house all day long. When am I going to learn to pack a lunch?
Alien Human Spirit
She asked if I was ready to say goodbye to my unborn (never-born) son. She explained that our bodies are only meant to 'host' one human spirit, and when another is present it is similar to hosting a parasite, for lack of better terminology. It's causes a drain on the physical body and can cause some very real physical problems. She said there are several others in her field who have also come to this realization, and suggested I listen to the teaching "Alien Human Spirit" by Arthur Burk.
She began to pray. She asked Jesus to send angels to escort this little guy home. She also sent the man with the angels, but we never actually dug into who he was. (I regret that, but please, my brain was seriously spinning at the time.) She commanded firmly, but quietly, that all the evil spirits that were attached to those Earthbounds leave my son, she asked Jesus to cleanse and restore what had been stolen from him. She blessed Zachary, reset his energy, prescribed an herbal remedy to help his body repair from the damage caused by hosting these spirits and then she was done. All was done in Jesus name, without any fancy scripted prayers or special words. The way she prayed struck me; so conversational. She spoke to Jesus as if He were sitting right next to her, and it seemed that she was hearing answers back from Him. I've never seen anyone speak with Jesus the way she did. I could see that she actually had a relationship with Him. I've known Jesus since I was a little girl, but no one who hears me pray would walk away saying "Wow, I can see the relationship between her and Jesus." I was provoked to a holy jealousy right here... Sitting in her chair was like being at the doctor's office, Sunday School class and watching my favorite worship song being sung all at the same time. I've never felt so close to His presence as when I was in that room with her. It was surreal.
And then she challenged me to "maintain our ground," learn to muscle test, and keep Zack "clean" - which meant to continue to shoo away any 'critters' that might see him as a clean swept home and want to move in (Matthew 12:43-45). "Remember, the battle is not against flesh and blood. Now keep him clean and watch him. See if some of these 'quirks' don't start fading away." She said he's formed habits of behavior, but if I encouraged him to stop it will be easier for him to do so now. I can't even imagine what this would mean for us if what she says is true.
Then she planted her eyes on Levi and said "But what's on him is worse than what Zack had." Our time had run out and she had another client waiting...
Post #3 tells Levi's amazing story. By the time we got to Levi's appointment, it had become clear that meeting Dr. Lucy was the reason God moved us out of our home to this new little town. He was waking us up, and using her to do it. I am forever grateful for it.
You MUST go to post #3!! You wont believe what happened with Zack!
Tracy
by the way, thanks for taking the time to read our story...
*To protect her privacy, I am withholding her real name.