Unsure? Ask for a Sign

He will deliver - Then take action

Judges 6:12-17 (NLT)

The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”

“Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.”

Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!”

“But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my entire family!”

The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.”

Gideon replied, “If you are truly going to help me, SHOW ME A SIGN to prove that it is really the Lord speaking to me.”

The Plan

If you’ve read my Sunday substacks, On Walking With God, over the last few weeks, I’m sure you got the feeling that I am working on something big. And I am.

And we’re almost there...

We’re going to be rolling out a series of ECP clinics to help heal many health conditions, but it will be especially beneficial for those with cardiovascular issues. With the mountains of evidence that has been published regarding the heart damage caused by the Covid-19 jabs, Americans need this therapy as quickly as we can get everything in place.

We know the demand is high. Even before the disaster caused by these worthless and deadly Covid injections, heart disease was the #1 cause of death in America for both men and women, even though the condition and deaths are more prevalent in men.

The term ‘heart disease’ is used to describe several conditions: hypertension, atrial fibrillation, angina, heart failure, arterial plaque (blockages), and now commonly, myocarditis which is inflammation of the heart muscle that often results in heart failure or sudden death.

God’s Project

I was first introduced to the External Counter Pulsation (ECP) treatment in February 2022. The treatment is non-invasive, feels like a deep tissue massage on your legs, and takes about an hour. I tend to have some swelling in my lower legs from sitting too much and too long at my computer. After the first treatment, the swelling was gone... and remained gone until I went back about three weeks later for a second session.

During my time away, I started investigating ECP and pulling published studies from PubMed. What I read was amazing. This technology was first developed in 1953 and was granted FDA approval for chronic angina and cardiogenic shock in 1995. As the therapy was starting to become more widely used and accepted, angioplasty, stent placement, and bypass surgery took the lead and became the Standard of Care for coronary artery disease.

The beds are large and weigh nearly 400 pounds. The cuffs are run by hydraulic pumps that are a little noisy but the rhythmic sound is relaxing. ECP works by increasing nitric oxide (NO) throughout your body. NO is a vasodilator. When you increase blood flow to your organs, they can detox and get more oxygen and nutrients. ECP also increases a hormone called VEGF, which stands for Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor. If you have a blockage in a blood vessel, VEGF assists in growing new vessels around the blockage; it’s rather like creating your own bypass graft!

Why was ECP pushed aside?

Unfortunately, IMO, it was and remains all about the money.

In the US:

• In 2019, the average cost for angioplasty was $28,200

• In 2018, the average cost for stent placement, depending on the number of stents and the complexity of the procedure was $29,300 to $80,400

• In 2018, the average cost of bypass surgery was $123,000

  • That does not include medications, cardiac rehab, or possible complications

• The cost of 35 sessions of ECP at our centers is currently around $5,000

 Hmmm.

Then I found many more conditions that ECP could help to improve. Much of the research over the last 20 years or so was done in China, Singapore, India, and Japan. All of those countries have a large and aging population. And they certainly can’t afford American-style medicine for their people with heart disease. Along the way, researchers explored a long list of conditions, to see if ECP could help.

The short answer is: Any condition that needs increased circulation, ECP can most likely offer improvement.

It occurred to me that ECP was not only fascinating, but it was necessary. And it was sad that it wasn’t being widely used to help people.

Then I looked at what it would take to set up even one center. And I looked at the structure of my current life and lifestyle. Kevin passed away nine years ago; it has taken me the last five years to create the life of my dreams, what I said I wanted to create when he passed. Everything is now in place and I have been so happy to be in this place!

You know the expression, “Want to hear God laugh? Tell Him your plan...”

Within my Spirit, I kept hearing the Lord call me to “do something” with the beds. The treatments are so needed. Humanity has been severely injured by these shots – young people, old people, even children. They are having heart attacks and strokes in massive numbers... “Do something with this, Sherri.”

I kept ignoring that Voice. The gentle nudge grew louder...and more urgent...and more firm.

I finally said, out loud, “I see the life I have and I see what will be required of me to do this project and I’m really not interested. Thank you for the opportunity, Lord, but no thank you.”

I literally heard Him say, “Hmm. Excuse Me. Do you know who you’re talking to?”

Oops.

I said, “Sorry. Let me rephrase this... no thank you, Sir.”

Wrong answer.

The gnawing in my Spirit got more and more intense.

Finally, I prayed:

“Ok, Lord. You know I’m happy with my life right now. And I’m going to be 65-yo in a few months. I don’t have it in me to do the heavy lifting required to launch a national brand and huge sticks-and-bricks project…from scratch. So, I’m going to be like Gideon and ask You for a sign.

“If this is really what You want me to do, full out, for the rest of my life, then I need to know it’s YOU designing this project. You need to make the money show up, the real estate fall into place, the key people come together, and the employees come forth. And it has to be fun.

This will be YOUR project for YOUR people. I will be the human representative, the boots on the ground, the human hands pulling it together. But it has to be You doing the work. Amen.”

Well, guess what?

In a matter of only a few months, He put everything in place: the money, the real estate, the business associates, and now, even future employees are starting to send in resumes for when we open a center in “their town.”

I said, “Ok, Lord. I’m all in. I’m all Yours. I will be like Gideon, totally dedicated so that Thy Will Is Done.”

As I write this, today (Feb 19) is the 7-month anniversary of opening our first tiny little center with 5 beds – the Tenpenny Health Restoration Center (THRC) - in Middleburg Heights, Ohio (Cleveland). The ‘fun’ part of my prayer request happens every day as we see miracle after miracle in response to ECP.

We are having a Grand Opening for our second center, in Ventura, California, on March 8-11, 2023, called ECP Studio. We’re starting to look at locations across Ohio, then Missouri, then Texas... and we have a roll-out plan, but it takes time.  

I have constructed a massive plan, and the Lord has delivered everything that I asked for. I’m doing my best and working my hardest to deliver what the Lord has asked for: Help for His People.

Every time I get stressed or stretched by the size of this project, I do this visualization:

I imagine sitting in the front passenger seat of a really nice car, like an Audi A8 or a high-end Mercedes. I put my head back, cross my arms, and toss Jesus the keys.

I tell Him, “I’m going to take a nap. I trust that when I wake up, You will have driven us to exactly the right location and the timing will be exactly right. I’m not going to stress about any of this Lord. It’s in Your Hands.”

It’s a good exercise to do in every area of life. Trust. Believe. Lean in. Let go of the steering wheel. Be grateful. Accept His blessings. Know He is in control.

Today’s Prayer:

Dear Lord, our life is in Your hands. The more we trust Your plan, the better we can serve You. We can do nothing by our might. We can literally move mountains when we let go and let You be in charge. Like Gideon, once You step up to the test, and play our silly little game, we have no choice but to follow everything You command for our life. And by doing that, we win. Amen.  

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PLEASE don’t overwhelm me with “When are you coming to [fill in the blank.]?” Also, I cannot give individual medical advice.

All of this takes time. Importantly, of the patients who have come to THRC in Ohio in the last seven months, 53% have come from out of state. You can set up an appointment or a free-15 minute consultation by calling 440-373-7372.