The non-prosperity gospel?

Living by faith has a way of turning your world upside down

My life has been the opposite of “prosperity gospel”. I have a very strong relationship with God. I live by faith which has gotten me through all of the hardships. Here is a few things we went through while my wife was alive:

• By 2008 her medical expenses took half of my almost 6-figure salary.

• Survived the largest corporate bankruptcies in history

  • Lay-offs resulted in our team going from 46 to 6 in 2 years

• We started a business that she ran from her bed.

  • Started and closed several business, actually

• Moved into the mountains (was her dream)

• She went blind

• She lived in a functioning coma for at least a year (2010-2011)

  • meaning-in and out of consciousness many (15+) times per day

  • Miraculous recovery by high-potato diet

• Moved 5 times over a 3 year period

• We lost everything (really is an understatement)

This article is about what my life has been like for the last 8 years, since Debi died. But I thought I would give a little highlight of what my life had been like for the 7 years prior to that. For those of you who don’t know, my wife, Debi, had a rare form of mitochondrial myopathy, MELAS.

I feel that I should explain the “functioning coma” before hitting the paywall. The “E” in MELAS is Encephalopathy which means brain disease. In part, the build-up of metabolic wastes produces brain swelling. In late August of 2010, I returned to our store to find her passed out on the floor. The door was unlocked and no-one else was around. I have no idea how long she had been like that. Within a few weeks, she was having those episodes 15 or more times per day. She would often pass out in the middle of saying a word. As in, “Honey, I fee….” … splat! Nights were even worse, I she would have seizures throughout. We were already struggling financially. During this that we completely ran out of any all forms of financial support. It took nearly 6 month, but eventually got on a long-term care program in which I could be paid as her caregiver.

After Debi died I was left with no income (again), and over $100,000 upside down on my home mortgage. I should mention we had to abandon that house in 2010 because she needed to live at a higher altitude. We tried, but she couldn’t handle more than a few days below 10,000ft. We tried to sell the house, but the there was a problem with the way the loans had been registered. That took several years to work out in the courts. By the time it was worked out, we had found a treatment that made it possible for her to move back to that house. In 2016, we moved back to that house in Colorado Springs. For the last 6 months of her life, we had a pretty stable life while the banks were fighting over whether to short-sell or foreclose. That is just one of the many non-prosperity miracles that have happened to us.

Since I had been a full-time caregiver, I no longer had income. I had an insurance settlement from a hailstorm the previous month. After that money ran out, I sold Debi’s wheelchair van for another several thousands dollars. It took over a year for the home to be foreclosed, but during that time I had also had quadruple cardiac artery bypass surgery. So it was a full 2 years after Debi died before I could even start to think about going back to work.

A combination of complex PTSD and Autism meant I made an average of less than $1000 per month for 7 years. But, if you follow my newsletter, you know I have been traveling around the world helping other people. How have I done that on so little income? Honestly, God only knows. Continue reading for the rest of the story…

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