Soaring Through the Storm: Revisiting Dr. Gayle and Karl’s COVID-19 Story

Today’s episode comes from the archives and was originally recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic with Dr. Gayle and her husband, Karl. Since that recording, Karl has passed away.

Karl was a wonderful man who deeply loved God, Gayle, and the game of pickleball. During the pandemic, Dr. Gayle faithfully served on the front lines while working in the Emergency Room at a local hospital.

We are honored to revisit this meaningful conversation and remember Karl’s life and legacy. I believe you will truly enjoy this special episode featuring Dr. Gayle and Karl.

In this encouraging episode of Soaring in Health & Wellness, Dr. Steve Wells welcomes emergency physician Dr. Gail Galen and her husband, Carl, for a heartfelt discussion on stress management from a biblical perspective. Drawing from both medical experience and personal faith, Dr. Galen explains how stress can affect the body, mind, and spirit, often contributing to physical symptoms and emotional struggles. The conversation also reflects on the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, including fear, isolation, anxiety, and uncertainty, while emphasizing the importance of seeking appropriate medical care and maintaining healthy relationships during difficult times.

Throughout the episode, Dr. Galen and Carl remind listeners that true peace is not found in circumstances but in God's presence. Through prayer, Scripture, worship, and daily dependence on the Holy Spirit, believers can find strength, hope, and rest even in life's most stressful seasons. The discussion encourages listeners to trust God's promises, cast their cares upon Him, and remember that no situation is beyond His reach. Whether facing health concerns, financial pressures, loneliness, or personal struggles, this episode offers a powerful reminder that God is faithful, His peace surpasses understanding, and His presence is available to guide and sustain us through every challenge.

Transcript

Speaker 0:00

Soaring in Health and Wellness is brought to you by Mountaineer Chiropractic, your soft tissue specialist, located at 2108 Camden Avenue, Sweet D, Parkersburg, West Virginia. For more information, go online to MountaineerCairo.com. If you'd like to be a sponsor or help support Storing in Health and Wellness Podcast, please go online to Eaglespace Ministries.org and select Patreon page in the top menu bar. Hello, and thank you for listening to Storing in Health and Wellness with Dr. Steve Wells. Dr. Wells is a chiropractic physician with a passion to help individuals reach new levels in health and wellness. He has been involved in the health and wellness field for over 30 years. Dr. Wells received his Bachelor of Science degree from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with an emphasis in health and exercise science. He received his second Bachelor of Science degree in general sciences, along with his Doctor of Chiropractic degree with honors from Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa. Storing in Health and Wellness is a tool to help educate individuals reach new levels in health and wellness and a passion to live with a sense of purpose and vitality. Dr. Wells and his guests, ranging from doctors from all areas of healthcare, educators, nurses, personal trainers, counselors, and pastors, will discuss and inform you on how to improve all dimensions of wellness from a biblical worldview perspective with one goal in mind: seeing you soar towards optimal health and wellness. If you're ready, let's get started with today's program with your host, Dr. Steve Wells.

Speaker 3 1:22

Welcome to another edition of Soaring Health and Wellness. Today's guest is Dr. Gail Galen. Dr. Gail Galen basically has a passion for health and wellness personally and in her medical practice. She has a desire to see her patients touch and receive the healing that is available physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Along with Dr. Gail, we have her husband, Carl, and we're going to be talking about stress management from a biblical perspective. So welcome to the program, Gail. Well, thank you for having me, Steve. All righty. Carl, welcome. Thank you very much, Steve. All righty. Dr. Gail, if you could kind of give a little bit about your background as far as in the medical profession.

Speaker 4 1:56

I am an emergency physician and have been an emergency physician for approximately 35 years. I was born in Cleveland and went to Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. And I've been in Marietta, Ohio for about the last 12 years. 12 years.

Speaker 3 2:14

Carl, a little bit about you?

Speaker 2 2:16

I've been in the family business all my life. My father started it. I was a middle generation, and my son now owns and runs it.

Speaker 3 2:25

All right. Well, I tell you what, today's topic is we continue our discussion on stress management, but we're going to kind of go look at as far as from a biblical perspective. I came across an article by Dr. Ken Motto, and he basically says one of the most pandemic fruits of our society is stress. And if you listen to our other episodes, we do talk about the physical components, aspects of what stress is, the mental aspects, psychological effects of stress. But stress may be defined as anxiety, nervous, tension, worry, urgency, and modern medicine has always revealed many of the results of stress, such as colitis, sleeplessness, chest pains, diarrhea, rapid heartbeat, headaches, and the list goes on. Dr. Gale, as far as being in emergency room tech, or not tech, and medical doctors, sorry about that. But as far as have you seen some of these physical complications of stress in your uh ER department and not really, I mean, you take a test and the test comes back negative. Did you see a lot of those components as far as stress-related?

Speaker 4 3:28

Yes. Well, what can happen well before the COVID era, uh, people come to the emergency department because they're having some symptom. Usually it's a physical symptom. But many times there's an accompanying emotional or other stressful event that is making their symptoms worse and sometimes can even be causing the symptoms.

Speaker 3 3:51

All righty. At Tay, as far as with Dr. Mato, he talks about a good percentage of those who go to the doctor with a symptom of undetermined etiology can probably diagnose a root cause of stress for many quasi-ailments. He gives an example, such as a person comes and complained of chest pains, which is a definite symptom of a heart attack. However, when placed on an EKG, a normal normal sinus rhythm appears, yet that person suffers from existing chest pain. I have a personal story that was pretty close with my wife. When she was going through those difficult times at work, work stress related, I remember as far as she just got done injuring her knee, and the business did not want to pay for her knee, so she fought them on that. But it was pretty much pound and determined they were going to have her leave. You know, if you're not going to walk away with them, we'll just make your world a living hell, excuse me. So that you that you walk away and you quit. And so during those difficult times that she was going through, not only as a family, but also her, she spent more time since I've known her going to the ER room due to severe abdominal pain. And they would basically do a colonoscopy type deal just to check and see if there's anything, several tests, but all the tests came back and they were negative. And it was based on that stress that she was feeling to the point that just caused her abdominals to hurt. Her doctor basically told her that you need to leave, you know, the work because it's actually destroying your health. That also came from OBGYN. But you just kind of see that physiological impact of stress, as far as an idea, as far as seeing that in your practice, as far as it being an ER, is that a common, is that a common phenomenon?

Speaker 4 5:30

Well, it can happen, but the more important thing is first, if you who are listening or anyone is experiencing physical symptoms, they need to come and be checked out. So you don't want to just assume, even if you are under a stressful circumstance, that your chest pain is just stress. Right. It may be your heart speaking out. And so it is essential, and I'll just leap right now to the COVID area, that there are now people who are afraid to come to their doctor or come to the emergency department because they're afraid they're going to get an infection. Well, if you are having chest pain or you're having shortness of breath or you're having a bad headache, or you're having some neurologic symptoms like numbness or tingling or that kind of thing, you need to come because it needs to be checked out before you could ever say that this is only due to stress, because it can sometimes be a combination. There's a underlying physical reason that you may be having these symptoms, and it may be worse because of the stress.

Speaker 3 6:39

Right. I tell you, we're just going to go ahead and continue that conversation. All right, as far as with COVID, we're kind of just kind of flying by the seat of our pants here. This is probably the the the least amount of notes I've had for any episode. So we're kind of going to go over to how the spirit leads. But as far as when the pandemic hit back in March, or even probably even February, when you found out about that, how did how did can you kind of give that experience, you know, when they said, hey, listen, you know, came on the air, we're starting to see these deaths coming. You know, we don't know anything about this virus, the COVID-19. How do we respond? The PPEs, you know, I'd be interested to hear a little bit about your story since you were actually on the front line. I mean, it doesn't get any closer than what you were doing. And then as soon as we get done talking a little bit about what you were going through, and I'd like to talk to Carl and let Carl kind of give a little bit of his input as far as what he was experiencing being a spouse or a husband of the wife that was actually on the front lines.

Speaker 4 7:38

Well, no, first of all, when the COVID was coming to our area, we really didn't know all the circumstances. So we had some report of the virulence of the uh the virus. And so we put on the masks that we had, the equipment that we had, but we didn't really know at that point all of how effective it would be. So it was important to pray before going to work. So Carl and I pray together every day. And there are a series of Bible scriptures that we could refer to, but one of them is, what time I am afraid, I will trust in you. And so it is really important, the Lord tells us, to put on our armor, right, the shield of faith, take the sword of the spirit. We need to put that on the way we would be putting on our personal protective equipment. Now, having said that, when you go there, you still put on the personal protective equipment and ask the Lord to cover you by the blood of Jesus so that you are protected in every way, physically, emotionally, spiritually. However, that didn't prevent Carl from wanting me to make sure that I didn't bring it home. Carl, go ahead and that was certainly right.

Speaker 2 9:07

I wasn't too frightened by it all. I in all this thinks, there was a point though when I got a little nervous about her coming home from the emergency department with the opportunity to have it on her clothes or some other way. But we didn't get involved into the mask thing until masks became pretty readily available.

Speaker 3 9:38

Oh I see, I I remember just trying to get masks in general. I still haven't received my mask from Amazon yet. And I ordered it back in March. And I'm thinking, you know, I'm seeing people get, Where'd you get your mask at? You know, I asked her, where'd you get your mask? Oh, we ordered. I'm thinking, I still haven't got my mask that ordered almost two months ago. So it's like even trying to buy a cane of Lysol, it's so hard to find.

Speaker 4 10:02

Well, at that time, though, I did have a N95 mask at the hospital, and we were provided shields. So that was a blessing. So we had the equipment that we needed to be protected. But I made sure that Carl not only had a mask, but then we got him a shield off of Amazon. It sort of looks like a welder's shield so that he could be protected as well. So we took it pretty seriously. And uh, before I would come home, I'd shower and change clothes and immediately throw my clothes in the laundry because it is important to pray. It's important that the Holy Spirit uh go with you, be in you and with you at work, but then you have to do the things that are rational and make sense, like wear the PPE and take off any contaminated clothes. Right.

Speaker 3 10:55

Well, you know, I tell you, and you see a lot of this as far as that are just basically, and they mentioned simple hygiene, but it was very contagious and it affected the elderly population. I think mom and dad, who are in their 80s, I think that they finally went out yesterday. I took mom shopping, and I'm thinking I'm teaching my mom not how to shop, but how to be socially distanced, that you don't congregate around people who don't have a mask. Because again, she's pretty much at that area as far as high risk with the triple bypass couple years, you know. I mean, I was concerned, and and she said, I can go shopping by yourself. I said, No, you're not going shopping by yourself. I'm going with you. We're gonna make sure that you got a mask on, you got gloves on, you got sanitizer, you got cutting wipes. And um, but anyway, it was I tell you, I had so much fun taking her shopping, and it was a blessing. But it's just a thing as far as because you know my mother, she's very, she's a people person. She wants to give you a hug. You know, how you doing haven't seen you. I'm thinking, mom, can't hug. Can't hug, mom, can't hug, stay away. But anyway, so that was experience on that hint. But as far as these, I've we were kind of talking about just reading Fox News the other day, and we talked about a letter that was sent by these 600 medical doctors that was addressed to President Donald Trump. And I want to kind of talk a little bit about that and your and get your input on it. But they were talking about the the negative consequences of this national shutdown. We have some doctors that are for the continual shutdown, don't open, don't open the uh the economy or open up the country until we have a vaccine. Some doctors are basically looking at the whole picture, not only look at the COVID, but what is it actually being shut down actually causing us as a country? And I want to kind of get your opinion on that. And Carl, you can jump in anytime you want to, as far as the effects that it's having on, you know, as far as like you mentioned, people not getting their routine uh cancer checkups, you know, as far as not going to their dentist, as far as doing some routine stuff that's cause and effect, as far as also suicide a little bit, and then a little bit about your experience and so forth, kind of go from there, if you would.

Speaker 4 13:10

Well, I I want to say again that it is really important to pay attention to your body and take care of the symptoms that you might have and go to the doctor or go to the emergency department, as you would in the past, if you are experiencing chest pain or shortness of breath, abdominal pain, fever, any of those things that you would be concerned about, it is important to call your doctor or go to the emergency department. And the reason that I say that is if there those symptoms are ignored, then what's going to happen is you're going to suffer from the effects of diabetes out of control or a heart attack that you didn't have to have or a completed stroke that you didn't need to have. So it it is just important to go. And now, having said that, it's also important to realize that throughout the country there are regulations within the healthcare industry. So you're going to arrive and most likely they will give you a mask to wear, and the person that's going to be taking care of you will be wearing a mask. And that is the way it should be. I mean, we should be rational and practice in a sound way, but that does not mean that we don't take care of other problems besides a virus. And in fact, there are other infections besides a virus. So that's why it's so important. Now, beyond that, uh, it is also important to do the things that uh would allow us to take care of our minds. And so some people are suffering badly from a sense of isolation. They're not communicating with uh friends, maybe not going to church because either their church doesn't have something online, or they have no avenue to actually go to a physical church. So I know Carl would like to say something about this.

Speaker 2 15:10

Yes, church was so important. We have a well, I coached a pickleball team the other last year, or late last year, and what happened in the middle of the game, in their second game, which would have been a total elimination from the tournament, I realized that they were playing so badly we needed to call timeout. Who called timeout, they went on to win the game, they went on to win the tournament. And recently, unfortunately, we had a very vivacious middle-aged woman, friend, commit suicide. I realized that the Sunday before, which was Easter Sunday, our church had opened. I was at that service. There were others at that service, and Eva, you were there. So I realized that what had been needed was a time out, but not one word, two words. A time out of the house. Had that person gone to a church that was open, I believe that because of her dynamicism, that she would have enjoyed seeing waving and elbowing other people. But because the church was closed, she never got that time out.

Speaker 3 16:54

Right. I tell you, you know, I'm just kind of looking through here and as far as this letter, and you kind of hear back, you know, uh at President Trump, he had talked about the cure for this COVID could be more costly than the COVID itself. And that's what we're talking about. And we talked about, I remember talking to Dr. Stephen Givens and Michael Moore, and they talked about the hu the the most cruel thing that you can do to someone is isolation. Yes. Put them in an isolation. And you know, I'm very fortunate to have a very uh that have family children that are at home, my wife at home, you know, you and Carl are lucky to have one another at home. But there's people out there that are by themselves, that are isolated during this whole entire thing. And it's just is and like you said, it it affects everything, not only the mentally aspect, but the spiritual aspect. You know, I enjoy getting together on Sunday with our church congregation. It does a lot for for me. I enjoy it. But as far as looking at this letter that, again, back to the letter as far as it was signed by these 600 doctors, the letter outlines a variety of consequences that the doctors have observed resulting from the coronavirus shutdowns, including patients missing routine checks up, which Dr. Gale had mentioned, heart problems, cancer, increase in substance and alcohol abuse, and increase in financial instability, which what Carl mentioned as far as finances and people losing their job can lead to poverty, financial uncertainty, which is closely linked to poor health. We are alarmed that what appears to be the lack of consideration for the future health of our patients, the doctors say in this letter, the downstream health effects are being massively underestimated and underreported. And that's where we're kind of finding out, you know, you know, the uh we've talked about the increase in suicide. And as far as letter as far as the statistics on that, Dr. Gale?

Speaker 4 18:57

Well, the suicide hotline phone calls have increased 600 percent. And and that has been accompanied by successful suicides. And that is for a number of reasons. It's because individuals during this time, this is a a time of disruption. Disruption in people's routine, disruption in their contacts with other people and communication, isolation. There are those who have lost jobs or are fearful that they're going to lose their job, fearful that they won't have enough uh finances. So there this is very real. And recognizing that this is a time where everyone is going through some kind of stressful event, there are those within our environment who actually are uh reaching a bottom low, even though they may have a uh cheerful face or uh may look like they're doing okay. And this is why it's so important to realize that in the middle of the darkness, uh, God is there. And a good example is when Peter was out on the water and he began to sink and he yelled out, Lord save me, guess what? Jesus just reached out and grabbed him. And too often what happens, and particularly people who are used to being very self-sufficient, they've been able to take care of themselves before, they figure, well, I'm gonna be able to do this again. Except now what happens is in the middle of a crisis, the enemy always wants us to believe that it's hopeful, hopeless, we might as well just give in, not go on. But God, Jesus, would like to tell us that he will save us. So if we're willing to call out for him, his presence will go with us and he will give us rest. He didn't call himself Jehovah, the God who is there, the God who provides for nothing. He didn't call us, he didn't call himself Jehovah Shema, who is our peace for nothing. And there have been times in my own life, I remember specifically a time when Carl had ruptured his patellar tendon, and he was going to have have to have surgery, and I was feeling sort of desperate at the time. And we happened to have a cross in our house that at the vertical of the cross is a hand which has a nail pierce on it holding another hand from the bottom. And then, of course, there's the horizontal cross. And I went up to that cross and I just put my hand on it and I said, God, you've got to help me now. And that's okay. That's actually a perfect thing. To do because God, our Father, delights when we do that. He wants us to say, we need help.

Speaker 1 22:07

Right.

Speaker 4 22:08

And um interestingly, what happened was at that time the Lord reminded me of a song, and Don Moen sings it, and it's I am the God that heals thee. And I went and I found that song. I began to sing it. It says, I am the God that heals thee. Only the Holy Spirit told me, I am the God that heals Carl's knee. And so suddenly it became a promise to me. God wants us to not only call out to him, but believe that he'll help us. Carl?

Speaker 2 22:48

I want to talk a little bit about when I was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma. Through it all, I never used the C word either for the treatment or for the disease. And I really refer to it as a touch of lymphoma. I was able to define myself in the way that I never use those words what in some ways to many people seem like a death sentence. So I think we have an opportunity when we get something. I never talk about the things that make my joints hurt. I talk about joint pain. So I think it's very important of how we define ourselves and our self-talk through all of this. It's just important that we stay tuned to what God said. Gail mentioned that we pray every day. We do more than that. We take communion every day. And each morning when we wake up, we say to each other, Good morning, sweetie.

Speaker 4 24:05

Good morning, sweetie. God bless you. God bless you.

Speaker 2 24:08

I love you.

Speaker 4 24:09

I love you. And you left out, Good morning, Holy Spirit. You say that every morning. Every morning when we wake up. Every morning? Wow.

Speaker 2 24:18

And then at night, we say, Good night, sweetie. We start with good night, Holy Spirit. Yeah, good night, Holy Spirit. Good night, sweetie. God bless you. I love you. I love you.

Speaker 3 24:30

That's so cool. I tell you what, as far as back to uh Dr. Motto, he talks about as far as when he's addressing this concerning stress management, he he refers to a verse, John 17, 25, and it says, O righteous father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you sent me. And he talks about, again, as far as addressing a Christian specifically, is the world knows not our God. But we as Christians do know our God. And he gives two reasons why we allow stress to build up in our life. Number one is we do not trust God. And he talks about the sovereignty of God or the sovereignty of man. And as we were talking, Gail, before we started recording this, we talked about how people are getting through this very stressful situation as far as this pandemic, COVID-19. As far as, you know, knowing God and being a believer is one thing. You know, that's where we draw our strength from. But not being a believer. This must be very horrifying to them. And so, but the thing is, as far as, but we have to be able to give it to God. You know, I'm not I'm not in the front line, such as you, all right. But we've been actually open the whole entire time the pandemic has been, except for maybe three days. And, you know, my kids give me a hard time, you know. They think, damn, why are you wearing a mask for? I it's just because, again, I've either come accustomed to it or there's a sense of security in it. You know, we take temperatures because again, we're we're so I mean, I I feel like I'm so responsible. The decision that I have, not only the decision I have as far as wearing this mask or not wearing masks could affect my patients, and in return could affect their loved one. And I just don't want to go down. But as far as, you know, we got to trust in God. And I'm speaking to myself, you know, God's in control, okay? You know, uh He will not let harm come to us, but we also have to be use our wisdom, okay, in that field. And just knowing what you have gone through and seeing, you know, the way you pray, you know, putting on the full armor of God every morning before you go to work, before you go to battle. And you truly are a hero. So thank you. And I tell you what, and I re I sincerely appreciate you and what you do and what you've done for this community. And so when, again, I you know, President Trump, when he talks about this war and you all being heroes, and I tell you what, it's so touching. You know, when we when when this first came out, I was actually out on my porch banging pots and pans. You know how we do on the 4th of July or we do on New Year's, just to give the medical providers out there a sense of encouragement that you are loved. And and you know, you are taking risk every day not knowing what you were walking into. And so, so again, thank you so much. I appreciate that. And Carl, thank you for allowing your wife to go to war for us and to defeat this this invisible enemy. Yeah, but anyway, so as far as so we talk about as far as, you know, God, are you gonna handle this or am I gonna handle this? Do we give it to God or do we grasp on and say, you know what? I really, Lord, I know you and I trust you, but do I really, really trust you like I should?

Speaker 4 28:12

Well, the Lord has given us weapons that we have to use. And one of those weapons is the Word of God. And I remember one time where I was in a difficult circumstance, and I was saying, okay, Lord, well, I need to fast. And so I wasn't feeling too strong, so it wasn't like I was going to fast any kind of food or anything. But the Holy Spirit told me that my fast had to be that every day I would read the Bible first before I would do anything else. And at first I thought, well, that's kind of funny. Why would I do that? I mean, it not that it's it's an okay idea, but as time went on, I realized what the Lord was doing for me. He was giving me the armor, he was giving me the tools. And if you don't know where in the Bible to start, just start in the Psalms and read the Psalms and apply it to your life. Because the Holy Spirit will show you where it applies specifically to your circumstance right then. But you see, the word of God is living and active, and it cuts out the crap. And the Holy Spirit also will bring back those words during times of battle. And it's so important to know that God, who is wise, gives us everything we need. But one of his promises, there are so many promises in the Bible. Uh, one of his promises in Exodus is my presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.

Speaker 3 29:57

All right.

Speaker 4 29:58

It is the presence of the Lord that gives us power, that gives us wisdom, that gives us rest, that gives us basically everything that we need. And the enemy would like us to get off of the word of God, get off of listening to the Holy Spirit, onto some sort of frenetic TV activity or something. And God is saying, I have something here that is well beyond anything that you could ever imagine in terms of what you need, but it will give you success for your life. So the word of God is very important, uh, as is the Holy Spirit who makes it active. Carl, did you want to add anything to that?

Speaker 2 30:48

Prayer is so important, but at the same time, we need to hear from God of what common sense and practical things that we can do along with it in a sense to make his job easier for us. We don't want to go out without a mask and say God is going to protect me. We have to use the common sense along with what God is saying us and the protection that he is offering us.

Speaker 3 31:19

All righty. I tell you what, we're gonna go ahead and take a break. And when we get back, come back, we'll continue our discussion on stress management from a biblical perspective with Dr. Gail and Carl. Perfect.

Speaker 31:29

Soring in Health and Wellness is brought to you by Mountaineer Chiropractic, your soft tissue specialist, located at 2108 Camden Avenue, Sweet D, Parkersburg, West Virginia. For more information, go online to mountaineerchiro.com. If you'd like to be a sponsor or help support Soaring in Health and Wellness Podcast, please go online to Eaglesways Ministries.org and select patron page in the top menu bar.

Speaker 3 31:50

Welcome back to Soaring Health and Wellness. Today's guest is Dr. Gail Galen. She is an MD, works in the front lines as far as the ER department. And she brought her husband, Carl, who's been giving us valuable insights. So we're going to continue our discussion on stress management from a biblical perspective. As we talking as far as relating to Dr. Ken Mato's information, he talks about the second reason that we allow stress to build up in our lives. And that second reason that he mentions is insecurity. And this is a person that is unwilling to say no, not, or can't. This person becomes involved with many things, and the eventual result is an overwhelming life with seemingly no way to back out of all the commitments. With many people, stress can be reduced by a simple tactic. Instead of going for tranquilizers, go for a letter of resignation. Those who are insecure in home, vocation, or worse, in God are those who try to please God by the ridiculous amount of good works, not realizing that Christ pleased God by his sacrifice. And they give a scripture as far as Luke 10, 30 through 42. So right there, you know, I'm going to work my way to heaven. You know, we don't get to heaven by works, we get by heaven by grace, God's saving grace and uh our living salvation for us, except in our life. So had your mouth open there, Dr. Gales.

Speaker 4 33:09

Once again, what happens is the enemy wants to deceive us that to make us think that we are not enough, so we have to work harder, and somehow God will love us more if we work harder. And that is a lie. God loves us. He said that he loves us as he loves his own son. God so loved the world that he gave his own son for us that we might be saved. And the one thing about scripture that's really important is that it's important to read it, but then it's important to speak it out loud because by the way, when you speak things, your body, your spirit, your soul is listening. And then it's important to apply it to your own life. So one of the scriptures about peace is the Lord is my shepherd. So Carl, I'm going to ask you to talk about how the Lord is your shepherd.

Speaker 2 34:19

Yes. How often we see another person or we pass somebody and they casually say, How are you? And then most people answer, Okay, I'm fine. And they never even heard you. So I decided that maybe that wasn't going to accomplish what I wanted. I wanted them to talk to me, perhaps. So when they said, How are you? I answered, I'm content. I am content. I am content. That's what I said. And often they would stop and say, Wow, that's really good. So I would call them over and I say, Let me tell you something. You go to funerals, right? You've been there. And they said, Yeah. Well, in most funerals they say the Lord's the the twenty-third song. And I said, They say, Yeah. Well, you know, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, I shall not lack, therefore I shall be. And I hesitate a little bit. Sometimes they say, Oh, content. And that begins a little bit talk about being a Christian to them. I think it's a wonderful opportunity to witness to virtually total strangers.

Speaker 3 35:47

I tell you, you you do do a lot of witnessing as far as do I mean as far as you you're still very active as far as sports. I think you play pickleball.

Speaker 2 35:57

Is that right? Oh, I play pickleball and I do CrossFit and I'm 88 years old.

Speaker 3 36:03

You're Carl is I wasn't gonna tell him, I didn't I was not gonna tell your age like that, but Carl is 88 years old. And you told me something, and I just found out today from Rodney, my brother-in-law was like that. That I just found out that you have how many downloads on YouTube because you were uh tell us that tell us that story. Two and a half.

Speaker 2 36:40

I was I was amazed.

Speaker 3 36:42

Yeah, I was amazed too. Two and a half million downloads. Oh my gosh. How long did that how long did that take you to get those two and a half million downloads?

Speaker 2 36:49

I I made one mistake. I didn't monetize those.

Speaker 3 36:56

It only took about six weeks. Six weeks? Yeah. And there was and there was no injury? No? No, no injury?

Speaker 2 37:03

I'd like to add a little point about stress. I was in the family business at a very early age. And uh I had a lot of responsibility, and we had started out with 20, 30, 40, 50, eventually over 100 employees. I was then the president, and my father was virtually retired. It was a lot of stress, but all during those years, I never let my work interfere with my workout. Fortunately, the Y was five minutes away, but every lunchtime I went to the Y. Five days a week, played some sort of sports, talked to the guys, went back to the office. I felt refreshed. I didn't go home at night and yell at the my wife and kids or kick the dog because I was relaxed. I think it was just wonderful part of my life, and it paid off. Oh and I'm here today.

Speaker 3 38:12

Oh my gosh, I I I I am that.

Speaker 4 38:15

And I'd like to couple that with now during this time when m you haven't been able maybe to go to the gym or whatever, it is really important to get outside if you can, to move your body. And then there's a second thing. Singing or music is really, really important. So if you can go running or walking, and if you don't sing, you just listen to music. That is really therapeutic. It's important to do that.

Speaker 3 38:46

Well, I tell you, that's a great point.

unknown 38:49

Dr.

Speaker 3 38:50

Mono basically talks about a plora of reasons that Christians find themselves in stressful situations. And a lot of these basically refusal and deal with small problems before they mushroom into large problems. Avoidance, no functional approach approach to scripture, unable to apply scripture to situation owing to shallows. You had talked before we again started our second half here, as far as putting the word into action, not only reading it, but also speaking it. And that's a great point.

Speaker 4 39:22

Well, here's a good example. So we talked about how the Lord is my shepherd, and so that's the beginning of the 23rd Psalm. So you can read that, you can speak that the Lord is my shepherd. And now, in the middle of this circumstance, whatever it is, saying to the Lord, Lord, you are my shepherd. And maybe I don't feel that right now, Lord, but I want to feel that. I want to know in my heart that you are my shepherd. So, Holy Spirit, make this real to me now.

Speaker 1 40:01

And you know what?

Speaker 4 40:03

The Lord does that because he knows our heart. He knows where we are, he can hear and feel the desperation, and he's feeling it with us. And if we know that God is there, and we may not even know that, we just yell out and say, God, I need you. Amazingly, he's so merciful, so kind that he will respond. And so if anybody is listening to this right now and they want to know that the Lord is their shepherd, then now's the time. You say, Lord, you said you were my shepherd. So I'm asking you to show me that right now.

Speaker 3 40:42

I tell you what, Dr. Galen, and and Carl, you don't let me forget. But when we close, we're gonna have you pray for people who may, you know, looking for how do I get through this? And they need to ask maybe God into their lives like that. So we're gonna have you pray that prayer. So do not let me forget, please, because I got my mind's so different ways. Anyway, then we talked about the way the mind thinks. They also say, as far as we as Christians break present situations by past failures. How many times do we go into a situation and all of a sudden the devil comes and starts putting our past failures in front of us, like you can't do this? You know, how many times, Carl, you probably haven't lost pickleball very much because I hear you play a mean pickleball. But do you ever use your past failures or do you actually learn from your past failures, adjust and adapt, and use it to get better? What are you looking at? What are you looking at Dr. Gale for?

Speaker 2 41:42

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'd like to share something about bad circumstances, when bad circumstances happen and what you can or can't do about it. I was playing, when I first started pickleball about five years ago, I was also playing racquetball full-time, and I finally tore my right rotor cuff, rotator cuff for the second time. And I had to have major surgery. And I said, Oh man, I will it'll be a year before I'm hitting the ball again. And I said, No, I don't have to wait a year. I'm going down to the racquetball court with a pickleball paddle and balls and learn to play pickleball left-handed. And I did that, and two months later, I was playing fairly competitively with my left hand and my right arm in a swing. Wow. So people can look at things. And I think God helped me through all of that. I think he really did. He was there and said, Carl, you can do this. You can do this.

Speaker 4 43:02

Well, I think that the comment about how the devil comes along and wants to put thoughts that are negative in your mind. First of all, if the Holy Spirit is speaking to you, he may on occasion challenge you, but he also is going to be speaking things that cause life and are encouraging. So if you get a thought in your head about how, boy, I'm stupid, or I'll never get anywhere, do you know where that's coming from? It's coming from the devil. So the Lord has given us the power as believers to take authority over those thoughts and say, I know where that's coming from. In the name of Jesus, you negative spirit, you are bound. You get out of here and you ask for the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, come and you show me how you think about me. What do you think, Jesus? And you know what? He'll answer. That's the amazing thing. Is that our God, who loves us so much and knows that each of us have an amazing destiny in him, and he wants us to complete and fulfill that destiny, it's okay to ask him, Holy Spirit, what do you think of me? What do you think? Yeah.

Speaker 3 44:16

I'd say, you know, that's when you kind of get not to change the subject, but if we talk about the five love languages, you know. And I think my my love language for me is words of affirmation. And sometimes, Holy Spirit, what do you think of me? You know? And I sure hope you feel I hope it's it's great. Pat me on my back and so forth. As far as there's some scriptures, and and Dr. Gail and Carl have done a great job as far as, you know, pretty much what the scripture's been basically saying about stress. But there are some scriptures, if you if you're driving, you know, don't write down. But if you get a chance to replay this podcast, there's some scriptures that are really excellent to kind of help us deal with stress. And pretty much as far as before we actually can deal with stress management implies, we must first know what God states about stress and how we are to deal with it when it rears its ugly head in our life, Dr. Moto says. So he talks about how to deal with stress from scriptures, and you mentioned Psalms 119, 165. If we love God's word, result is great peace. And again, Dr. Gill, if you want to pick up on any of these, that's fine. We didn't give Carl any of our notes today.

Speaker 4 45:27

Well, one of the scriptures that I've used a lot is from Philippians 4. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. The Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything, with prayer and supplication, make your requests to God and the peace of God which passes all understanding, will keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Now it's interesting about that scripture is that it says, Rejoice in the Lord. It's not because we rejoice in the circumstance. In fact, the rejoice may be to the circumstance might be terrible. But we can rejoice that we have a God who will help us. And the second part of that is the promise. The Lord is at hand. He is never far away from us. And the only reason that we feel like he's far away is because we're closing our eyes. In fact, the presence of the Lord is a lot like sunshine. That if you are in a uh by a door and there's sunshine on the other side, and you crack that door open just a fragment, the sunshine comes pouring in. That is how the love of the Lord will pour into our life. If we'll just say, even, God help me, He will. So the Lord is at hand. Now He says, have no anxiety about anything. How is that possible? That's not really possible, except through the power of the Lord. Because in everything we can make our requests made to know made known to God because He will hear. And He will give us His peace. He will give us His provision. And you can take that promise to the bank.

Speaker 3 47:38

And I'm just thinking, how blessed are those patients who go to your ER department and you're working that evening or you're working during the day, and you're there actually doing what you do as far as medically so forth. And and what is going through your mind praying for that individual. You know, I tell you what, during this isolation time, there's been a base, I mean, as far as you know, more than anything, where they kind of limit family and friends to visit their loved ones in the hospital. And wow, what a blessing to know that you're there as someone who can't be there praying for them. You know, and you hear all these stories about, you know, this nurse, these heroes, and so forth. And it's just, well, it just if I were to happen to go to ER, I would want to go to your ER department. And I just pray to God that you're the way if I ever have to be there. Carl, if she's not there, then you can show up and pray for me. But anyway.

Speaker 2 48:38

She's a remarkable doctor. Oh, I tell you what. Not only does she pray for her patients, she prays for the nurses when they are down or depressed or have a special.

Speaker 3 48:49

Well, see, that that's what I that's what I I mean. You you're you're such you're such a strong and vital component, more than what your medical skills can do. It's it's what's in here in your heart and the passion that you have for your patients. And it's just I tell you what, it it I I'd want to run my team. Yeah. Well, thank you. You know, well, you know, Is she ever on your team, Carl, when she doesn't pick a ball? Huh? We're together. We're a team together. Okay, that's good to answer, Carl.

Speaker 4 49:18

We should just share a little story because just recently, Carl and I have been playing a lot more together. And as a team. We weren't doing that before. We were playing with many people. And so when you play husband and wife together, sometimes you figure out each other's faults. And so we had a couple of sessions like that, and we realized we realized that we better ask the Holy Spirit to come with us and to play with us and to give us not only the ability to play, but the ability to continue to love each other and not kill each other. And you know what? Once again, he answers because we have to realize, and in what you were saying about what we do, and this is true of all of us, the Lord gives us this amazing blessing to participate with him, have his Holy Spirit inside of us so that we can actually have direction and wisdom, but also that we can literally participate in the miracles of God. And it isn't something that comes from us, but it comes from the Holy Spirit acting through us, and at the same time, we become transformed. So it's a blessing all around. God is an amazing God, He is just so worthy of praise. I was gonna ask a question.

Speaker 3 50:47

Um, Carl. Thank you.

Speaker 2 50:50

When you when you play when you play pickleball, it reminded me of a story from the book of Jabaz, the prayer of Jabaz. And little John went to heaven and he met Saint Peter, and Saint Peter was showing him all around, and he saw this big building, and Saint Peter said, You don't want to go there. And finally, at the end, he begged Saint Peter to let him go. So he ran down to the building, went open, opened the door, and there were rows and rows and shelves and shelves of boxes tied in red ribbons, all alphabetically, and he finally found his name. And he opened it, and it he said, Oh my! And he opened the ribbon and oh took the lid off the box, and there were all the blessings that God had for him for which he had never asked.

Speaker 3 51:46

Wow, I tell you. I was gonna I was gonna ask you a question. And the question I was gonna ask you, Carl, is when you are playing pickleball together, all right? I know you're very competitive, and you want to win, right?

Speaker 2 51:59

I'm a very competitive guy.

Speaker 3 52:01

Now, I want you to be honest, okay? Is Dr. Gale, when she plays racquetball, is she as competitive as you are?

Speaker 2 52:10

No. No. So I roll my eyes a lot.

Speaker 3 52:17

All righty. I tell you, I want to go ahead and get through this like that because we want Dr. Gale to pray for those, you know, that need prayer and also those who are looking for help and handling stress. But again, just kind of go through these scriptures real quick. And as far as he mentions, as far as 1 Peter 5, 7 talks about casting all anxiety on the Lord. We give it to Christ. Uh, he talks about being yoked, Matthew's Matthew 11, 28 through 29, being yoked to Christ, find rest for your souls. And he talks about again, keep our mind on God. That's Isaiah 26, 3. Even through these difficult times of this pandemic, stress, keep our mind on God, results in perfect peace. In Isaiah 48, 18, he to obey God's word, result is peace like a river. And Dr. Mak Mato basically talks about as far as there's seven basic principles of hailing stress biblically. And so when a stressful situation arises in our life, we must immediately pause, give it over to God by prayer and supplication, who will guard our minds with outlandish scenarios which we tend to turn into believable facts, not in evidence. God knows our very need in peaceful times as well as stressful times. And if our mind is stayed on Him, He will keep us in perfect peace. If we love God's word and our yoke to Christ through salvation, our souls will experience a peace that is past all understanding, and peace shall flow like a river. After you've heard Dr. Gail mention several of these verses. This is how God expects us to handle stress. He is totally involved in every part of our life, and after all, our life is hidden with Christ and God, as Colossians 3:3 states. So, in closing, I want, Carl, you'll go second. Okay, I'm gonna have put Gail on the spot, and we're talking about a golden nugget. All right, before we pray, I want you to, if there's someone that's traveling or someone's in their house in a very stressful situation as we are now, if there's something that you can give hope to this individual, what would that be?

Speaker 4 54:19

Well, depending on what is the problem, the first thing is to realize this too will pass. Amazingly, what happens is the enemy wants us to think that uh it's never gonna end, whatever the problem is, it's too bad, I can't make it. But Jesus on the cross said, it is finished. His work is complete. And so if we're willing at that time when we feel hopeless, to just literally say, God, I feel hopeless. In fact, you can lay down on the floor and say, God, I feel hopeless, but I know that you can help me. So you said you're gonna be faithful, you're faithful, so you're gonna be faithful, and I believe you that you're gonna be faithful. Even if I don't feel that you're gonna be faithful, I'm gonna say this because you said so. So, Lord, you said that you're gonna be faithful. I know this is gonna pass. Lord, help me now, and that's okay.

Speaker 2 55:21

All right, Carl. I think it's important to think of others. The gift I have that the Lord has given me is awareness. Awareness of what's around me, what's happening, whether it's on the highway or in a restaurant, or maybe at the YMCA. And I think people need to be aware that no matter what their situation, there's someone who has it worse. Much worse.

Speaker 3 55:58

Alrighty. Like I we had mentioned before, Dr. Gale, I would like for you to pray for those people who are are wanting to, you know, ask the Lord into their life, all right, to help them in these difficult times. And when they can't, you know, it's that that picture that really you see the the footprints in the sand. It's like that you see two, and all of a sudden you see one. It's that's and that's uh I just love that that picture as far as God, that's when God picks us up and carries us through these stressful times. So if you could close in prayer, I would greatly appreciate that.

Speaker 4 56:33

Okay, Steve. Well, Lord, we just bless you and we thank you that you are here with us now. And I pray, Holy Spirit, that you would go now and touch every heart, every heart of the people that are listening. For those who don't know Jesus and even those of us who do, we just want to tell you, Lord, that uh we know that we have not measured up to a perfect God. We are sinners, but Lord, you are a perfect Savior. So we're asking, Lord, that you would forgive us, forgive us for ignoring you, forgive us for doing things that we know were wrong, and we ask, Lord, that you would cleanse us by the blood of Jesus, and that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit now. And Lord, I pray that you would now come, Holy Spirit, and wash over each person that's listening. In the name of Jesus, we bind every spirit of stress, uh, every negative spirit, every spirit that is lying, every spirit of death and destruction in Jesus' name, every spirit of suicide, you are bound in Jesus' name. And we ask instead, Lord, that your Holy Spirit of life, Lord, you are the resurrection and the life. I pray right now that you would fill each heart with the power of your love, the light of your presence, the hope that you give us, which is amazing, and it's for the present and it is for all eternity. And I pray, Lord, that you would give a fresh revelation of your love to all of us during this time, because at the name of Jesus, every stress bows. So we speak to this problem that you might be dealing with right now, and we declare that you must bow and that the Lord uh is Lord of our life.

Speaker 2 58:31

I'd like to pray also, Steve, if you don't mind. Oh, please. I I usually don't have long prayers like Gail. I usually one word or two words come to my mind. And the one that comes to my mind now is I forgot it. Okay. The Good Samaritan. And Steve, that's you. You're the Good Samaritan. And Lord, I I just ask a special blessing upon Steve for what he does with these talks, with his patients, and that you would continue to show him and provide the resources necessary for him to be that good Samaritan. Amen. Amen.

Speaker 3 59:23

I just want to tell my listeners that God works in mysterious ways. And I really didn't have an idea as far as that we were gonna actually do it this week, and until Dr. Gale called me, and I've been trying to get Dr. Gale on our program for I think past two years. And so when she called me this week and said, hey, listen, let's get together and do that podcast that you were talking about. And so, Dr. Gale, where would you have Carl been if you weren't here?

Speaker 4 59:52

Oh, we were supposed to be in St. Kitts right now on vacation. But, you know, with every crisis, there's an opportunity. So we didn't get to go to St. Kitts because of the COVID issue, but here we are with you, Steve. Thank you.

Speaker 3 1:00:07

And this was a lot more fun. Yeah, I don't think so. Well, thank you, Lord. And thank you again so much for your time and your insight and just allowing the Holy Spirit to use you in the medical profession. Uh, Carl, thank you for joining your wife and giving us your wisdom. You're syntax. So, anyway, so thank you so much. And until next time, keep advancing.

Speaker 1:00:27

Thank you for listening to Sorry in Health and Wellness with Dr. Steve Wells and his guest. We would like to thank our sponsor, Mountaineer Chiropractic. For more information, go online to MountaineerCairo.com. If you'd like to be a sponsor or help support Soaring in Health and Wellness Podcasts, please go to the web at Abelswave Ministries.org and select the patron page in the top menu bar. If you or your business or church would like Dr. Steve Wells to speak at your church, special paper conference, please go online to Aquel's Ways Ministries.org and select contact in the menu bar. Or send an email to Eagleswave Ministries at gmail.com. Until next time, I say chapter 40, versus 29 through 31. Strength to the weary and increases in the power of the weary. Even the weary, and young men still. They will run in the growth weary, they will fall in the thing.