My passion for helping others didn’t begin with opening a tea shop. It began with becoming a patient.

At 43 years old, I found myself in a place I never expected to be. Physically limited. Exhausted. In constant pain and desperately searching desperately for answers.

What started as subtle symptoms gradually became impossible to ignore. My ankles, hips, shoulders, and wrists hurt constantly. Every movement reminded me that something wasn’t right. Even breathing became difficult. There were days I reached for my rescue inhaler six to ten times because I simply couldn’t catch a deep breath.

I seemed to catch every respiratory illness that came around. My body felt swollen and inflamed. Weak. i was completely out of balance.

As a nurse, I already suspected what might be happening. When my diagnosis was finally confirmed, it hit harder than I expected. Lupus.

I was told my condition was progressing rapidly. Based on how severe my symptoms had become, there was concern that I could eventually require oxygen and potentially be confined to a wheelchair by the age of fifty.

I remember sitting with those words, trying to imagine what the future might look like. I was terrified. But beneath the fear was another feeling….. Determination.

By that point, I had already spent three years working in an alternative medicine office, where I had seen countless examples of the body’s remarkable ability to move toward healing when given the right support.

That didn’t mean healing was easy, and it definitely didn’t mean there were guarantees. But it did mean there was hope.

My physician was incredibly supportive, but because of how quickly my symptoms had progressed, she also strongly recommended beginning treatment right away. I understood why. It was a reasonable recommendation based on everything she knew.

After many conversations, careful thought, and a great deal of prayer, I made a decision. I asked if I could give myself three months. Three months to fully commit to nutrition, lifestyle changes, stress reduction, and other complementary approaches while continuing to monitor my condition closely. If I saw no meaningful improvement, I was fully prepared to begin the recommended medical treatment.

That decision wasn’t made out of fear of medicine. It wasn’t made out of pride. It was made because I wanted to understand what my body was trying to tell me. I wanted to know whether there were pieces of my health that had been overlooked.

I consulted with an integrative physician and began working closely with our in-house dietitian. Together, we made significant changes to my nutrition and daily habits.

Within just three weeks, my joint pain had improved by nearly fifty percent. By the end of three months, I was about eighty percent better. I was incredibly grateful. But deep inside, I knew there was still another layer.

Over the months and years that followed, my healing journey became about much more than food. I began learning about herbs. Sleep. Stress Management. Nervous system regulation. Movement. Suppressed emotions. Past trauma. Relationships. Prayer. Rest. And the incredible ways each of those pieces influences the others.

I discovered that healing rarely happens all at once.

It happens in layers.

Each lesson revealed another breadcrumb leading me toward the next. Some days brought incredible breakthroughs, other days brought discouragement. There were moments when I questioned everything I thought I knew. There were moments when I felt completely lost.

Yet every experience—both the victories and the setbacks—became another breadcrumb pointing me toward a deeper understanding of health. That journey eventually inspired me to write The Breadcrumb Trail: A Journey Through Chronic Illness to Wholeness.

Like Hansel and Gretel finding their way through the forest one breadcrumb at a time, I realized healing wasn’t about discovering one magical answer. It was about following one small truth after another.

Looking back now, I can honestly say my greatest healing wasn’t simply physical. Yes, my body changed. But so did my heart, my perspective, my faith, my priorities, and perhaps most importantly… I found myself.

That journey is the reason Tea of Life Apothecary exists. Not because I believe I have every answer, but because I know what it feels like to search for them.

If my story teaches anything, I hope it’s this: Healing is rarely a straight line. It is a journey of learning, growing, adapting, and trusting God one step at a time.

And you don’t have to walk that journey alone.