Reese turns life experiences into book to help others
By QUALA MATOCHA news@journal-spectator.com

Sandy Reese suffered from several physical conditions, yet conventional medicines could not give her any relief. As she sought answers, she began keeping a journal. She switched to using natural products in the hair salon and at home. In the end she found God who provided total healing. She has since published her journal hoping to help others find healing. The book, Walking Back Through My Journey, is available at businesses in El Campo, Wharton and surrounding towns. Staff Photo by Quala Matocha

Faith and healing go hand in hand for an El Campo woman once afflicted with so many ailments she didn't know where to turn to next. The doctors said she was healthy, but she knew she wasn't.

For 15 years, Sandy Reese suffered from migraine headaches, lower back pain, frequent bladder infections, sore and aching muscles, anxiety, memory and sleeping troubles and many more conditions.

Doctors, treatments and medications did not solve her problems. And a hysterectomy that only temporally masked her symptoms only offered temporary relief.

But things took a turn for the better when Reese began searching elsewhere for answers.

In January 2005 she and husband Gary took a cruise, a gift from their children. A massage seemed like a good idea to work the body aches out thought Reese. It was the advice of the masseur and an infomercial on natural cures that gave her some direction.

Determined to make some changes to better her health, she started a body cleanse product, a suggestion of the masseur, and ordered a book on natural cures. The combination of the two brought about some relief.

But she continued her quest of getting well. As a beautician for more than two decades, she realized the chemical-altering hair products she had been using several times daily were part of her problem. It was Debbie Beavers of Brazoria, a doctor of naturalopathy, who made her realize those chemicals were seeping into her body. She was filled with toxins.

She walked out of that appointment asking God for direction.

"The day I walked out of her office, I looked up at the sky and said, 'God help me?' After that things with natural products came into my hands," she said.

In addition to acquiring natural hair products to use for herself and her clients, she changed the way she ate, believing God's Bibical instructions are to eat natural, unaltered foods. She also threw out cleaning supplies and replaced them with natural products. She continued to rid her body of all toxins and began to feel even better.

"I have changed my complete life - what I clean my house with, the chemicals in my shop and completely detoxified my body. I buy organic foods," she said. "It is like peeling an onion, layer after layer, one day at a time I rid my body of toxins."

But there was still something missing in her total healing. It was Beavers who insisted she should seek spiritual healing also. She and her husband were attending church and actively becoming part of the Catholic faith. She attended a spiritual retreat and during that weekend an unusual sensation came over Reese. She knew in that instance, God was healing her body of all her physical and emotional ailments.

"I had been holding on to the past so my body wasn't going to let go," she said. But not until she sought God's help did she receive complete healing.

"God took the anxiety and stripped it from me," she said. "I experienced complete healing, physically and spiritually. You have to understand God to have complete healing."

Reese's journey of healing is shared in her published journal. She began keeping a journal upon the request of Beavers. She had never intended to publish it until now.

"It is my calling. God wants me to make people aware of natural ways," she said.

Since its publication, she has received numerous letters and e-mails on how her book has touched other people's lives.

"It is very rewarding today, the healings I'm seeing today - people I have shared my story with, they are receiving healing," she said.

Her advice for those seeking better health is, "Go the natural way. God will bring everything you need. That's how God is. It's the right way, it's what He put on this earth for us to eat." Walking Back Through My

Journey is available for sale at a number of businesses in El Campo and Wharton. For more information about Reese and where to purchase her book go to: www.friendsonajourney. com.