amazing, miraculous, and extraordinary healing 239
marriage, I became pregnant with twin girls and then with a
boy. As the stress mounted, the walls that kept other things
at bay started to get some wear on them. My strength swiftly
withered and drooped. With denial in place, my skill of
checking in and out of reality was given a name. I did not
know who I was or where I was. At this point in my life, the
fl ood gates were open, and the weight of it all caused my cir-
cuits to shut down, just like that. The next seven years were
a lifetime all their own.
I was thirty years of age, and everyone was wondering if
there would be a thirty - one in my future. Death was certainly
a possibility on numerous occasions at the decision of my
own hand. I not only had to deal with the hell in my head
but also had to deal with the axis of psychiatrists who thought
they knew everything.
My fi rst diagnosis was schizophrenia. As my behavioral
problems began to get acute, the doctors would admit me into
psychiatric hospitals and add to the growing list of diagnoses.
It started with post - traumatic stress disorder, then dissocia-
tive disorder, to multiple personality disorder, to borderline
personality disorder, to bipolar, to alcoholic, to epileptic, to... you get the picture. With each one came a slew of medi-
cations, and then another set to help with the side effects.
Somehow, I processed all of them at the same time, yet my
outbursts would lead to handcuffs, straitjackets, and psycho-
tropic drugs.
Do you know the saying that when the door closes, God
opens a window? My twenties were over, thank God for that,
and my thirties awaited me. I was still a disaster, but one
thing had changed: hope was on the horizon. My cousin
Kitty lived in the same town, and she knew a man named
Tommy Tyson. He believed with strong convictions that a
person could be healed by God with prayer and faith. At this
time, I believed in God, but, and it is a big but , God was not
big enough to heal me. Tommy had several visits with me,
praying and anointing me with oil, but my stubbornness and