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GET UP! PICK UP YOUR BED AND WALK


Jesus at the Pool at Bethesda
The Healing Pool at Bethesda


Prosperity Now! my book that helps people find their path toward a new life, one of joy and abundance, freedom from fear, possibilities, hope and faith is subtitled: A 12-Week Journey to the Life of Your Dreams.


My goal, my joy, my passion – my hope is that I can help people become “happy, joyous and free” as it says in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous. The life that God wants all of us to have, and that we can have if we want it.


But you must want it.


I had a conversation recently with some new friends about what I do. I said that a lot of people have resistance to really living a full life of joy and fulfillment.


They were surprised. Why would anyone not want the life of their dreams? I had a ready example….


In my early 30’s, I was in deep trouble mentally, emotionally, financially, spiritually and especially physically. I had tremendously painful back problems: stiff necks, sciatica, spasms so bad, I couldn’t walk. My back would go out and my knees buckle.


Driving a car (I didn’t own a car) I had to turn my whole upper body around to look behind me. I couldn’t twist my neck at all!


When it would get really bad, I would go to the emergency room (I had neither doctor nor health insurance). They would give me muscle relaxers, which masked the pain but allowed me to walk again.


I was a mess.


Then… I began dabbling in 12-Step recovery and in spiritual principles. My mind (slowly) started to open to possibilities for hope, for help, for healing. I wasn’t getting better (yet) but God was putting me on the path, and I had that modicum of willingness – that mustard seed of faith – that is all that is needed.


One day I was walking down Lark Street in Albany, where I lived and I saw a nice-looking man standing outside of a friend’s art studio. I said hello and asked if he was working at the studio.


He said, “No. I’m a new chiropractor and the owner let me set up two tables in his back room.”


I was intrigued. I had tried chiropractic care once or twice but couldn’t afford regular visits. The man was Dr. Tracy Bloom. Soon after I went and began getting treated.


Dr. Tracy doesn’t practice traditional chiropractic, the back-cracking type of chiropractor. He offers Network Spinal Analysis, which was developed in 1987 by Dr. Donny Epstein.


A Network practitioner uses breath, energy, muscle and spirit together in a process called entrainment to get the body to “network” with its various parts. The various parts of your body begin synchronizing in harmony. The healthy parts communicate with those parts that are frozen, damaged or otherwise unhealthy. Together, between practitioner and patient, healing happens!


So, the day I met Dr. Tracy, I was beginning to walk on the path of healing, but nothing would have happened unless I was open-minded to trying something new.


Of course, I couldn’t afford it. Financial fear is a major impediment to living the “life of our Dreams.” It’s a great excuse for staying stuck in the old paradigm.


But the pain (fear) of trying something new had lessened just enough, so I found the money and started seeing Dr. Tracy. That was in 1994.


I have been healed from the chronic misery from my 30’s. I’ll be 66 years old soon and am physically in much better shape than in my 30’s. When I moved to Paris, I found Annick Bonnard and her Network Spinal Care practice, continuing my healing journey.


Back (pun intended) to my conversation with my new friends. They asked me why people didn’t respond when offered a chance at the life of their dreams?


I told them my story. Many people suffer from debilitating back pain, yet when I tell them there’s help, you’d be surprised how many people balk. They put their defenses up and resist the idea – the possibility of healing that’s being offered.


They say, “Well…. The doctor is going to give me another spinal injection.” Or “I’m going to see a surgeon next month and he’s going to fuse the vertebrae.”.


It’s sad but a classic example of how people resist their good. I am not saying that the answer that worked for me is the answer for everyone. Far from it. People have their own path and there are many ways to freedom and healing.


It’s the mind that is closed to any offer of help, of relief, outside of the hopeless resignation they feel, or perhaps unable to look past the one solution they are fixed on. That’s what I’m talking about.


May people struggle against the idea of waking up.


The pain (fear) they know – painful as it is – is somehow preferable to the pain (fear) of the unknown.


This phenomenon is illustrated in my favorite biblical story of healing and wholeness: The man at the fountain at Bethesda:



In Jerusalem there is a pool with five porches called Bethesda near the sheep gate. Inside these porches lay many sick people. Some were blind. Some could not walk. Some could not move their bodies. An angel of the Lord came at certain times and made the water move. All of them were waiting for it to move. Whoever got in the water first after it was moving was healed of whatever sickness he had.


A man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. Jesus saw him lying there and knew the man had been sick a long time. Jesus said to him, “Would you like to be healed?” The sick man said, “Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is moving. While I am coming, another one gets in first.” Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your bed and walk.” At once the man was healed and picked up his bed and walked.


John 5:2-9


The biblical number of forty is the metaphysical number of completions. 40 days in the wilderness; 40 years in the desert, etc. It means, “however long it takes.”


The man was sick “thirty-eight years” which metaphysically means he was not quite ready to be healed yet but was close. Jesus knows he is close, so asks him if he wants to be healed.


Jesus offers healing but the man balks because all he sees is a worldly solution. Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is moving.


Jesus could have answered on that level: "Okay when the time comes, I’ll have two men throw you in the pool, so you get there first."


But Jesus answers him at the level of spirit – the true level whereby we are not just given temporary relief, but where we are truly healed:


Get up! Pick up your bed and walk.


The man has a choice. He’s been hanging out at this place of illness and sickness for a very long time. His friends are here. This is his life as he knows it. The implications of healing mean he can no longer stay here. He must “pick up his bed” and leave.


Go get a life. Go find work. He can’t be a beggar any longer. He must go out into the big city of Jerusalem, a place unknown.


One can see why he might decide: “Thanks but no thanks, Jesus. I don’t really want healing that badly. I want to stay here on my comfort-zone porch.


This place I know. Out there, I have no idea what is in store for me.”


Even though what is out there is freedom, wholeness, health and possibilities for good.


When people balk at their good, I must remember to be compassionate, because that is exactly what is called for. Compassion and patience. Holding out the hand of friendship and love. Being there so that, when the pain of staying stuck is a little bit more than the pain (fear) of healing, I can be helpful.


This is my goal, my joy, my passion – my hope is that I can help people become “happy, joyous and free.” That they can walk out of the place of pain (fear) and into the joy of living!


Happy Sunday,



Johnny


I am available to do Prosperity Now! individual or group sessions or general life-coaching, I Ching readings, dream interpretation or join us for our weekly Wednesday Course in Miracles group.


Or sign up on my website: http://www.johnafrederick.com

Or on my Substack: Paris and Prosperity Now!

Or subscribe to my YouTube channel: @johnnyfrederick01

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