Shifting Times with Bishop Eric A. Lambert, Jr.

Shifting Times | Advocating for Your Health | An Interview with Aretha Swift

• Season 1 • Episode 23

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Do you take for granted that you will walk in health your whole life? What do you do or who do you turn to when you suddenly find yourself facing multiple crises and health challenges that threaten your life and mental wellbeing? In this episode of Shifting Times, Bishop Lambert interviews Aretha Swift, CEO and founder of Swift Advocates, LLC. Listen as Aretha shares her faith walk back to health, and how God opened the door for starting a health advocacy ministry that serves as a beacon of hope for others who need encouragement to fight for their own well being. 

"Shifting Times" is the podcast of Bethel Deliverance International Church hosted by Bishop Eric A. Lambert, Jr. Tune in bi-weekly for new episodes where we explore how the Body of Christ must consider shifting its doctrinal expression and the way it reveals the light of Christ in their life. These candid conversations with pastors, professionals and community leaders will confront the current issues of our society, give biblical solutions to life's challenges and provoke action in areas of complacency.

SPEAKER_02

My faith was challenged because all I was doing, Pastor, was receiving the medication. And I will say to everyone, yeah, we're gonna go, you're gonna go through, and some of them are going through, people are going through now listening to them. And so I encourage them to number one, they don't have a personal relationship with the Lord. Let that be your priority.

SPEAKER_01

Well, praise the Lord, everybody, and welcome to the Shifting Times Podcast. I'm your host, Pastor Eric Lambert of Bethel Deliverance International Church. And you know, here on the Shifting Times podcast, we like to address issues that are biblically related, issues that challenge the culture, issues that will build your faith, and bring you a strong desire to chase after the heart of God for what you need. We like to bring you what I call regular people. You know, you often find that on these types of shows, you get the superstars of the gospel. And sometimes those messages could be rehearsed or, you know, just an accumulation of facts and information. But here on the Shifting Times broadcast, we like to bring you regular people who are going through the same struggles that you may be confronting in your everyday life. We want you to know that God loves you and that he is the same God that you find in the Holy Bible. In fact, he says to the people in Malachi's writings, he said, I'm the Lord and I change not. And then the writer to the Hebrews said, Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. Today, this subject is very dear to my heart because a lot of people are wondering, does God still heal? Now, obviously, there are two dimensions of healing. There's the healing that comes from a miraculous move of God, and then there's the miraculous healing that comes through medical intervention. So all healing is miraculous because it comes from the hand of God. And today we have my sister Aretha Swift, and she's going to share with us today her journey of healing. Now, Aretha has been at Bethel uh longer than most people here. I mean long time. And we've watched her grow in the Lord and we watched her remain faithful even during challenging times. So, Aretha, we want to welcome you to the Shifting Times Podcast.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you, Pastor, and thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01

It is a pleasure. You look nice in that pink. Oh, I'll tell you, I like that.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you. I like your blue.

SPEAKER_01

Well, blue's my favorite color, so we have to put that on. Of course. We're sending a message. Yeah. Stability. But anyway, we want to talk with you about the past 25 years. Uh, share your journey. What some of the ups and downs that you've experienced during that time and how your faith enabled you to stay level with the ups and downs of the situation.

SPEAKER_02

Well, thank you. Yes, it has been a journey. I was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. And prior to that, I, when I was pregnant with my first child, um, there's a period in a pregnancy when we have to drink a solution to determine, you know, what our sugar level is and things like that. And mine's was relatively high. So at the time I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. And so my daughter just turned 35. So at that time I didn't know what it was. Uh, the doc I was living in Houston, he said, call home and ask your mom if it runs in the family. At that time, we just didn't know. But years later, I discovered, yes, on both sides of the family.

SPEAKER_03

Really?

SPEAKER_02

So I carried my daughter gestationally, and the doctor had told me at the time, he says, I'm just gonna let you know, with African American women, the chances of it continuing on or us developing it down the line, the stats reflect that it's more prevalent with us. And so, and that's what's happened, what happened. I had my second son, my second child, my Joshua, and I had it with him. And then I got pregnant, a surprise pregnancy at 40, and I had it with my youngest. So it was full-blown then. Wow. And so that is one of the reasons why I ended up being diagnosed with chronic chronic kidney disease, which is when your kidneys aren't functioning properly. They don't uh release the the fluids and the water in your blood, they don't clean the blood properly or release the fluids. And as a result, those fluids in the they back up and you have toxins in your body, and that's killing you because you're not it's not coming out in the urine properly.

SPEAKER_03

Right.

SPEAKER_02

Um, so in 2009, something happened to me. Prior to that, I was not in a position to focus on my health. I was in an unhealthy marriage, I was in a very high position uh professionally, and I had, you know, these three beautiful children. And I 2009, I'll never forget. 2009, I reached the big pause, mental pause. 2009, I got my AARP card. Yeah, I got that in the mail because they get you right before you're 50. And um, and I was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease.

SPEAKER_01

Wow.

SPEAKER_02

And that's where the journey really began. But prior to that, I had chronic kidney disease and didn't know it. And over 37 million adults in America have chronic kidney disease but don't know it. 90% don't know that they have it.

SPEAKER_01

You know, I I think that when it comes to chronic illness, we don't want to know. It's almost like, you know, we don't want the doctor to tell it to us, we just wish it would go away. Particularly if you're a Christian. If you're a Christian, Christians live in denial. Very much so. Because, oh, well, we believe God, but I'm I'm kind of like proactive. I I I like to go every three months to get blood work because I want to see what's happening to give God something to work with. Did you find when you when you had that diagnosis, did it challenge your faith?

SPEAKER_02

It challenged my faith, but I was so consumed with trying to be a professional, trying to be a wife, trying to be a mother, and then the stressors that I were I was having in my life at the time, that that it just I didn't focus on my health like I should have.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, I had a primary who was great. She was wonderful. I miss her to this day, but she her parents got sick and she moved back to California. And she kept saying, Miss Miss Swift, your kidneys look sick. Sick. And I I still couldn't process that, yet I was feeling it in my body. I'm driving around the Commonwealth for my job, pulling over at rest stops on the turnpike, sleeping in my van just to get myself enough strength to get home or to get to Harrisburg or to get to Pittsburgh. It was that bad. So my faith was challenged because all I was doing, Pastor, was receiving the medications that they were prescribing, and they were trying to figure out how to balance this thing out with diabetes, high blood pressure, which is which are the two causes when it comes to chronic kidney disease. And those things I had. Chronic hypertension, type 2 diabetes, stress, cholesterol, all of these things were going on, and I was eating out of control, but I couldn't process that with trying to be all those other things in my health. And I'm gonna tell you, we do know what's going on in our bodies. You can feel and denial is the number one thing.

SPEAKER_01

That's what we're saying. I don't want, I don't want to make the necessary changes that come as a result of getting older. The metabolism slows down, you can't eat the things you used to. And we're gonna do what we want to do anyway, particularly in the African American community.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

And so you're in this position now where you have what I call the big three: hypertension, kidney disease, and uh diabetes. The ones that can really impact your life with you know your limbs and your eyes and everything.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_01

And so now you're confronted by this the stress of the job, the stress of the family, trying to hold all that together. How did you do it?

SPEAKER_02

Well, I didn't do it on my own. I had motivation.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Those three things. Okay. Number one, and when they told me, um, when my doctor called me and said, Listen, your levels are high from all the blood work. Get to an emergency right away. And I would not go. Really? She called my Jamie at college. Can you convince your mother? Jamie called mom. Grandmommy, mom won't go. They're saying she needs to be in emergency or she's gonna go into you know, yeah, shock. Yes, I wouldn't go because I was scared. And I knew I was sick, but then I started to think, is this gonna take me out? Yes, it's gonna take me out, but I'm not moving. And once mom called me, she was like, What are you doing, baby? You're sick. You think these doctors are telling you this just to be telling you? What about your children? What about you? You haven't even begun to do the things that the Lord has in store for you. Get yourself together, get a shower, and go to that hospital. And then when I went in emergency, he said I should have been dead a long time ago.

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

SPEAKER_02

I had enough toxins in me that it should have taken me out a long time ago. That's when reality set in. And then reality came also when I had to go on dialysis.

SPEAKER_01

Now the dialysis treatment is really an eye-opener. Yes, it really causes you to feel I need to make some changes or I need to really be uh a participant in my own health.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

And a lot of our our audience, I think some of them are going through uh dialysis treatment or maybe even avoiding it. The the creatin numbers are not good, but they they don't want to deal with that. That's right. Because there's a fear that I will not get a kidney. And how did you how did you deal with that weight, with that, that, that patience that you have to have when you waited for uh a kidney transplant?

SPEAKER_02

That's when grace comes in, and that's when I really began because I was locked down for three days, three and a half to four hours with 15 gauge needles, too, in my arm. And uh I remember walking in with my mom. I'm 50 years old, holding on to her like a child, and it was medicinal smell, and I was like, what is this place? I'd never heard of chronic kidney disease, let alone diabetes. Now I'm caught up into this whole medical arena, and now I'm going in for a machine to keep me alive. And it was terrifying. I it was terrifying, but I tell you what, I gave the Lord saved me at 10 years old. And yes, I went on and lived my life, and I tried to go to church and do all those things, but when you get a certain age, you couldn't keep me out of my Bible once I was, because I was, I was, I couldn't go anywhere.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_02

But not only that, I knew even though, even though in the midst of everything going on and having gotten closer to the Lord just because of my family dynamic, I said, this is always felt something major is gonna happen in my life, never knowing I would need a kidney, and never knowing I would be on dialysis. And I'm telling you, and I'm letting everybody know you need the Lord. Dialysis is something that you don't want to experience, but if you have to do it and try to do it with the heart of praise and thanksgiving, knowing that God's gonna bring you out or he's gonna sustain you whether you get a kidney or not. I waited six, almost six years to get a kidney. Got my first kidney and it rejected immediately after waiting six years.

SPEAKER_01

Your body just rejected it?

SPEAKER_02

There's a virus that uh comes upon people who get transplant organ transplants, and it's called BK virus. Right. It had attached itself to my kidney and they tried they tried everything to save that kidney and it just didn't work. But guess what? Anybody that donates a kidney, that's an admirable, gracious act of kindness. And I did go silent voice-wise, but I was thankful to the person that actually donated the kidney to me because I got to experience it for just a little, but I knew something wasn't right after a certain period of time. But it was the grace of God, staying in the Word, still coming to church. Some people didn't even know for years I was on dialysis, and I don't want that kind of attention, but I think it drew me closer to the Lord. And I was like, this is the biggest thing I I thought of. I kept saying over the years, something big's gonna happen for me. I was like, a kidney transplant, dialysis, but it got to the point, Pastor, where I became comfortable to the point I know God is sustaining me through it. So I started walking after I got out of that chair. They were like, Miss Swift, please, you gotta take it easy. I started walking, walked myself up to five miles while I was on dialysis. Wow. I um I began to minister to the people in the dialysis center. I had a reputation of being Hollywood. I walk, I danced down to my chair, get in my chair, and just really focused because this was this right here, this will mess you up. You look at all those people missing limbs, and they don't just don't take it well. They're unkempt, some of them. Uh, they're lonely, and my heart just began to pour out, and it got to the point where my texts and all started asking me to comfort somebody who came in that wasn't doing very well. So it was the Lord that sustained me.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Now the emotional roller coaster that goes with all of this. I mean, these are very serious conditions. Very. And uh any one of them could have the effect of you being promoted to heaven. You had all three working. And I watched you, you know, during church, and we would talk often, and you never complained, you never, you never felt pity, you never, you never like uh reached out and said, Oh, Pastor, you know, I'm the no, I can't even remember you having a bad day. I can't remember. Now I'm sure you did, but you kept it to yourself. Now, our audience is going through the same types of things. You know, they're watching this now and they're drawing strength from what you say. And they're feeling, some of them are feeling like God has abandoned them. And that's a very real feeling. It really is. When when you have a life planned, and that plan is just perfect, and here comes a job experience. Yes, amen. The first emotion is to affix blame. Whose fault was it? Did I do anything wrong?

SPEAKER_02

Did you have those struggles? Yes, and I contributed to what I'm going, what I'm going through. And what I yes, I contributed to it. They kept saying, you need to change your diet. I went through the nutritionist, I went through the dietary training, but just didn't couldn't follow, seemed to follow that. Exercise prior to going on wasn't consistent with that. Um try to lessen your workload wasn't consistent with that. The marriage wasn't working, wasn't consistent with that. I had all of these factors against me. Then I'm just popping pills. Like when I say pills, drugs that were prescribed to me, not even knowing what the side effects were. I became more educated once this came up on me. I'm reading, I'm asking what are the side effects. Do I really need this? Asking the Lord, should I be taking this or that? Um you're you're just in a whole different mindset. And you know the scripture in in James, I think chapter one, verses two and three, where he's talking about counting in all joy. And I say to people when I'm speaking, that sounds very good and poetic when it's coming from the pulpit, right?

SPEAKER_01

That's right.

SPEAKER_02

And I said, uh, have you ever had any trials and tests in your life? I says, Well, I have. And I'm not feeling Brother James right now. Amen. What do you mean, count it all joy when they're telling me I'm gonna die? Or I won't live to see my kids graduate, or you know, all of these negatives because my body is reflecting it in the blood work. It's in the blood.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, it is. I agree with you.

SPEAKER_02

It's in the blood.

SPEAKER_01

I agree.

SPEAKER_02

And I had to make an intelligent decision. Yeah, how do I live and what kind of quality of life do I want to have? But I will say to everyone, yeah, we're gonna go, you're gonna go through, and some of them are going through, people are going through now, listening to us.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

And so I encourage them to number one, if they don't have a personal relationship with the Lord, let that be your priority.

SPEAKER_01

Get that first.

SPEAKER_02

And then also familiarize yourself with what's going on in your body. Because you know, we know, and I said that in the beginning, and talk to your doctors, listen to them, and and just knowledge up, you know. Ask and get around people that are gonna help you during that time. Because I had I have I had my church family, I had my family, my children, my sisters in the ministry. I had people that cared about me enough and those that I shared with to elevate me.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

So, but I noticed people coming into the center, they don't have that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Even if you're dealing with cancer or something else, you need somebody in your life that's gonna be that encourager and hopefully someone that's gonna encourage you, not only with the word of God, but encourage you to the point where you are motivated enough to say, I can do this.

SPEAKER_01

There's a level of self-discipline in what you're saying. Uh lots of people, particularly believers, will always go back to scripture and say, I'm believing God to heal me. Yes. And they never quite get the fact that God has different pathways for healing. You know, it all doesn't come in that that that speak a word or the laying on of hands. There's some things we have to do, and there's some situations that come upon us that the Lord will just allow to stay, but grace you to get victory over. So fast forward to 2026. Here you are now. 2025 is when uh the Swift Ministries really began to take off. So here you are now with this tremendous testimony of the keeping power of God, the healing power of God, and the mind-regulating power of God, and you decided to take all of those experiences and launch out into the deep. What is the Swift Ministries all about?

SPEAKER_02

Swift Advocate LLC focuses on health and wellness, and particularly promoting health and wellness with a focus on chronic kidney disease. But I've learned over the years that I'm talking to people who aren't necessarily dealing with kidney disease. They're dealing with cancer, they're dealing with chronic illness.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

And they so what I do is number one, I speak, I share my testimony, you know. And let people know that I'm a miracle.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

I'm a miracle more than once. I I'm and I'm grateful. And so what I do is I speak to different organizations. And while it may people may think it's just women, believe it or not, I speak with men as well.

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

SPEAKER_02

Because they don't y'all don't do well on dialysis. It's it's it's not a it's it's it's it's sad when I s when I've heard it and watched it, and I know someone now currently who's who's having a rough time. And I've also watched a young man at 47 years old stop coming and die two weeks later.

SPEAKER_01

Really?

SPEAKER_02

Because you have to come to get the fluid and the toxins and all of those things out. But that's what I do. Most of my work is with promoting um health and wellness, and for us to stop getting to the point where I've heard many times, well, I'm gonna die from something anyway. You're a child of God and you're speaking like that. But people think feel that way. I'm gonna die from something anyway, but you're suffering. I suffered those years. I suffered. And we don't have to.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. But you had a lot of things that caused you to slip to that position of sickness and disease. Um is it true then, in your in your opinion, that many things come upon us because of neglect of our bodies? Now I agree, some things are genetic. Yes. They just are. I know in my family, everybody on my grandmother, on my mother's mother's side, were diabetic. It was just part of it. So I always tell my family physician, I said, that's in my gene pool. Keep an eye out for it. You know, I don't if you start seeing anything change, you you let me know right away. Right, right. Because, like you, I started studying and looking at uh my family uh history, what's there? And doctors do that. They'll always say, Do you have this in your family? Do you have that in your family? And unfortunately for most black people, we don't know what's in our family. And so here you you find out that you have these things that have attacked your body, but yet you maintain faith in the promise of God and not let it detour you from serving the Lord.

SPEAKER_02

Amen. And I'm gonna tell you, dialysis was good for me. Oh, really? It was good for me in the context of it cleaned my body out, number one. But it made me realize if I don't take this seriously, I'm gonna die. Wow. And mom said something to me one day. She called me, she says, Uh baby. I hear the Lord say, Don't get comfortable on that machine because that's not his plan for you. Wow. Don't get comfortable because I started losing heart. She could tell emotionally, I was losing heart. But the one thing that I've realized is that it was good for me and then it taught me that I'm gonna have to focus on doing this. I'm if I want to see live and grow old with my children and enjoy grands if the Lord allows me to have them one day. I want to be there and be able to do that. But not only that, live my life, especially doing what I'm doing now. And I get great joy out of sharing my testimony, but not only that, that people trust me enough to do some of the things that I suggest. Because it's not easy. I cannot sit here and tell you the glamours that I've had in my life of being sick. No, that's not gonna happen. But the reality is we don't have to remain that way.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_02

We don't have to remain that way.

SPEAKER_01

That's the for me, that's the key to any situation. I think that God allows things to happen and He tests our response.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

How are you gonna handle this? You know, you look in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul gets the thorn in the flesh, he prays three times, Lord says no three times, and Paul just shifted his mindset. He said, Fine, then in my weakness I'm strong. Right. What a tremendous testimony. And you're saying the same thing that Paul did, that God's not gonna blow on you and change all these situations, but he's gonna change your outlook and cause you to become more disciplined, more determined, and through the things that you suffered, you turned it into something to help someone else.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly. And also, you know, we grow up thinking that because God is God, that he's just gonna do no, faith without works is dead. Yeah, you know, and also realizing that if we don't put out the effort, we're gonna die in that state. Yeah, we're gonna waste away in that state. And I know in families, they there are people who are sick. Yeah, some are terminal. Didn't have to be that way. And I know for me when I said I was responsible, yes, I was responsible. And I had to, matter of fact, I heard a sermon from you over the years and talking about uh it never was God's plan for us to be sick, but because of the sinful nature of this world and of man, you know, sickness sickness comes and it's how you deal with it. One of the benefits I talk about with Swift Advocate LLC is the acronym that you also had. And I said, that's amazing. I was sitting on dialysis one day and the acronym ACT came to mind. It's uh advocate change to survive. Wow. You have to advocate for your health. Wow. You have to, you, you have to go for it. You have to be disciplined and decide, I'm gonna do this. You have to change your thinking because if you don't, you won't be able to make it. You'll sit there in distress watching uh programs and seeing all these ads come up on these different diseases that are popping up and medications and the side effects, and you're sitting there popping them too. You know, um, you have to do something, you have to exercise, you have to change your diet, you have to forgive. People don't think that forgiveness and illness go together. They they they conflict, it's a conflict there, but there was this study done at uh Johns Hopkins, Johns Hopkins University, and she did a study, or this uh doctor did a study on forgiveness. And when you're harboring and holding um angst or something against someone, it hardens your heart, your muscles, your vessels, and corpuscles on all of those things. So I had to um that was the number one thing I had to do was forgive.

SPEAKER_01

I read that study. We had to read that study when I was uh getting my degree in forensic psychology.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

And the instructor made a big deal out of it. And here I was as born-again Christian, could not tie in the scientific realities to it. But then I started thinking anything behavioral in the scriptures when God addresses our behaviors and our responses, there's always uh a mode of healing that goes with that. When he says, forgive people, when he says honor your mother and father, he's he's simply suggesting to us that when you do these things, you're gonna live long. Yes. I mean, it's no magic wand where he says, honor your mother and father, and your days will be long. When you honor them, you obey them. And I sit here today, Ree, and I say, if I had listened to my mother and father years ago, there were a lot of things I suffered that I would never had suffered. And even into like my body, I mean, eating certain things. And I I had to find out where the rebellion would come from in my body because I didn't eat what she told me. She's trying to get me to eat beets and little little cabbages, and I couldn't eat none of that stuff. Right. And here now, I go to a salad bar, first thing I pick up is beets. I pick up the stuff that she told me not to eat, because now finally, yes, I realize it works. And you're right, holding on to bitterness can cause all these other things.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, it messes with everything, your whole being. Wow. And so once I started reading about that and how God He can't forgive us, that's right. And yet I'm walking around this woman of God, and I'm holding one person. Yes, one person in the whole wide world. I'm holding them. And um once I let that go, it was like I could breathe. And I'm grateful for that. And I also had mentioned to you earlier that the first kidney rejected, so that was 2016. I had an opportunity for my second transplant on uh uh September 20th, 2019. And I had called. First, I called my kids, I called mom, I called you.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I remember.

SPEAKER_02

And I remember you saying to me, because then I'm thinking, I don't want to go through this again, but I don't want to be on dialysis for the rest of my life, and these opportunities don't come by because you're talking anywhere from six to ten years before you could possibly get a transplant.

SPEAKER_03

Wow.

SPEAKER_02

Um and I remember you telling me, you kept saying, take the kidney sis, take the kidney sis, don't put God in a box, take the kidney. And Titi and I have been just fine ever since. T T I named her Titi because I my sister's birthday was that Friday, and we were supposed to go to DC to celebrate her birthday. T T came. So when she celebrates her birthday, I celebrate.

SPEAKER_01

You celebrate. Yes. That's good. Well, you know, it's it's it's a miracle to see how God has brought you all the way through. And I think that it's important that you share your story with as many people as you can, especially now. Sickness is on the rise. Oh my. And our people are losing hope. Many of our people have no substantive health care. They don't even understand what to do when these things come up. But I think the greatest casualty is the loss of hope. Our people are hopeless.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

They just think there's certain things that are supposed to happen to us because of our genealogy. And it's like, okay, well, black people get this and black people get this. Now, granted, there are some things that are indigenous to us, but we don't have to die with it. We don't have to die with it. And your testimony says just that whatever came upon me, I don't have to die with it. I'm determined not to die with it. And here God is keeping you and giving you the ability to rescue someone else. It puts me in mind of Luke 22 when Jesus told the disciples, Satan desires to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But he said, I'm praying that your faith doesn't give way. And when you come out of it, strengthen somebody else. And that's what you're doing with swift advocates. I I I like that because we we should advocate for ourselves.

SPEAKER_02

Yes. And not only that, when I seniors and people, you need a second set of eyes and ears when you go to the doctor. And that I promote more than anything because a lot of times they're speaking a language that we may not understand, but I also encourage people to use wisdom and and read up on certain things. Just don't take pills just because they prescribe them to you. Yeah. And it's interesting to meet people, and then we're all on the same medication. And I'm like, this is really strange. But it is what it is. God does not condone medicine. I mean, he's he's he's okay with medicine. Sure. Um yeah, any way possible to get healed or stay healed or stay well, um, he's for it. Yeah, and that's killing too.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, it is, and that's the discipline we have to adjust to is that God does heal in different ways. You know, he has many pathways. In in the scriptures, he sends uh Isaiah back to Hezekiah and he tells him to make a poultice of figs. Natural cure. And we find out later that there's something in a fig that kills cancer. So there was the the the theological concept was that Hezekiah had a cancerous melanoma. And so Isaiah comes back and he puts that fig on him and it goes away. You know, I mean, Jesus did his thing, he really did. I mean when Jesus did his thing, I think everybody looks for that.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

But God does things. And when I was a child, uh on my father's side, the Jamaican side, whenever I had uh like a chest cold, daddy would give me lime juice and honey. And sure enough, it would knock it right out. Right out. You know, we didn't have all those sophisticated things. Yeah, you know, castor oil, all of that. Yeah, and and I think that today we're lazy. We just let the doctors write a prescription. We never question it, we never come back to find out, you know, should I even take this? Or better yet, doc, is there something else? Is there something I can do naturally?

SPEAKER_02

And and I will admit, I was one of those people. Um just a numerous amount of uh prescribed drugs. And when they started having side effects, so now they're switching things around to try to get me to a point where my pressure is leveling out, but I contributed to that as well.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Um, but I say also I felt better. Dialysis was good for me because I feel better now than I was going through the chronic kidney disease, the end stages.

SPEAKER_01

Right.

SPEAKER_02

I I feel much better. And once I leave dialysis, I felt so clean out and free and and and that I was I was line aligning myself with the word of God. And it was it was like, God, if you we just listen and take take you as for who you are. You're powerful, you're wonderful, you love me, and that's the thing. I thought I'm not being loved right now. If this is the big thing that I thought I was gonna have, that's right. But you also know last year I shared something with you, and I don't mind doing that now, where I celebrated six years with my kidney in September. Praise God. And the same week I got a breast cancer diagnosis. Now God brought you through it, He brought me through it, and like my son said, my Joshua, Mom, you just have another testimony to add and share with the people.

SPEAKER_01

Amen.

SPEAKER_02

And I'm grateful.

SPEAKER_01

I remember when you talked about that diagnosis, you didn't have the urgency that you may have had back at the beginning because God had given you this testimony. If I took care of that, I'm gonna take care of this.

SPEAKER_02

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

And he's so good. I tell you, it's it's great. I'm glad you were with us today, sis. Oh, thank you, Pastor, for having me. Beautiful, beautiful story, and I know you've helped someone today. Well, we've come to the end of our time today, and listen, I want to encourage you to do two things. Number one, go to the doctor and get your blood work, go get everything checked. Like I said, I get it every three months anyway, because I just want to stay ahead of things. I don't like playing catch-up. I like to be ahead of the game. So I want to encourage you, get a hold of your primary care doctors. Find out about those areas of importance, your cholesterol levels, uh, make sure your creatin level, which is your kidney readings, you want to make sure your glucose is in good range. You don't want to have to try and play catch up. If you can catch it early, it's treatable. There is nothing that comes upon us that we can't deal with if we catch it early. And many of you are believers and you're, oh, I give it to the Lord, I give it to the Lord. Well, take it back and start doing things to make sure you're in good health. This is what the scripture says. He said, Beloved, I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health. That means get your healing and keep it. In fact, if you really look at Exodus 16, when the Lord says, if you listen to what I say, I will put none of these diseases upon you that I put upon the Egyptians, for I am Jehovah Rapha. And the Hebrew term Jehovah Rapha doesn't just mean I'm the Lord that heals, it means I'm the Lord that keeps you from getting sick. So God is very much into prevention. So we want you to take that. That's the first thing. Go and get your blood checked and get your get your body checked. You check, you get your car inspected, so get your body inspected. Number two, change your diet. Start eating more healthy foods. Now, I'm not saying you can't have your little junk food every now and then, but not every day. Take care of yourself. You only get one body, you only get one of everything, and when it's over, it's over. So why not enjoy your time here and give God something to work with? A healthy body, a healthy mind, and a healthy soul. If you do that, you will enjoy life. And remember, Jesus said, I am come that they might have life and that they may have life more abundantly. So God doesn't want us to be sick, God wants us to understand what it means to walk in health. Now, we want to thank Sister Aretha for being with us today. And you try to get a hold of Swift Advocates LLC and let Aretha speak to you about ways that you can get your healing stabilized. We're going to put the information for her ministry work right at the bottom of the screen. And you write it down and you give her a call and you let her know that you would like for her to come and talk to your women's group, your church group, whatever, because people need help. They need encouragement. They need to know that I can beat anything that the devil throws at me. So get that information at the bottom of the screen and give Aretha a call and let her know that you are desirous of having her come to give you some information to help you during times of crisis in your life. Well, thanks for joining us. It's been a pleasure to be with you again. And remember, the times are shifting. The only one that's stable is God. So you continue to hold on to the word of God. He'll bring you through. God bless you. See you again on another episode of Shifting Time.

SPEAKER_00

I'm so glad that you were able to stop by for another thought-provoking conversation with Bishop Eric Lambert and his guests. Now, if you found yourself to be blessed and encouraged by this content, please remember to like, comment, and share so that others can also be uplifted and encouraged as well. We want to make sure we reach as many people as possible in order to continue transforming lives. So remember, subscribe to our YouTube channel, like, comment, and share. And also join us again so that way we can keep up with the Shifting Times podcast with Bishop Eric Lambert.