Introduction
Doctors said I wouldn’t live past age twelve. I’m hopeful. I was always choosing to believe in victory no matter the odds or circumstances. I am fearless. Unshakable. Unafraid. I’m in love with the God who saves, and I won’t apologize for it. To be seated in heavenly places with Him means everything to me. I feel His presence tangibly and pray without ceasing. Our thoughts are prayers. We can entertain lack or what’s possible through Jesus. He is the first and last person on my mind. When my thoughts wander, I engage with Him and ask Him what He’s doing at the moment, what He’s saying, or what He’s feeling, and partner with Him to bring Heaven to earth.
My internal GPS, or God Positioning System, constantly recalculates to Him. I want to be used wildly for Him. I want to shine in such a way, that when people look at me, they see Him. This was a free gift I couldn’t earn. It only requires belief in Jesus and making Him Lord of our lives to activate the gift. He is sanctifying me on a regular basis. He is growing me and growing in me. And while that’s not always comfortable, staying stagnant is not where I want to be. I am like a child, eating up the sustenance of my Daddy’s presence by reading His Word, making time to sit and be with Him, worshipping Him, and taking risks of faith. Faith is our ability to remember. If God keeps giving us revelations, we must correlate them to Him and His word to gain understanding. He’s always trying to convey mysteries to us.
I also try to posture my heart to say what He says and do what He does. Matthew 5 shows the correct attitude of heart that fosters intimacy with Jesus. I am in submission to the Great Commission, which is commanded in Mathew 28: 16-20
“Jesus gives them some instructions and reassurance; this event has become known as the Great Commission. Jesus tells the disciples to: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”
My heart is to be a blessing and a hope to every soul I meet. To bring peace. I am so radically loved by the Trinity that I want others to experience Him, too.
This book is about my journey to arrive at this Victorious mindset by sharing my life with you. I can say with accuracy that the main key is yielding to His Holy Spirit on a regular basis. Some call it our conscience or common sense. Most of us don’t like being told what to do. We rebel against the authorities over us to be independent and forge our own path, often in rebellion to the status quo and to God. Self-preservation, self self-righteousness, and self-protection actually imprison us and keep us from forgiving and being forgiven. For me, the authority I didn’t bow to was what the world or society said about me. Part of it was because living with a chronic disease and disability makes you face natural reality in a way where you don’t have many options to hide who you are or your limitations and vulnerability. Society presses in, pointing out your lack and unworthiness to contribute to your life or the world at large, the way it sees fit, but it actually strips away the identity Jesus died to give us. I am here to say that we all have value and purpose. We must put aside selfishness and the need to be right, and learn to submit to one another in love. We are most powerful when we control ourselves, and discover the greatness we see in others.
When we find out who we are in Christ, the heavenly reality, which is the superior reality, it allows us to become a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. Christ in us is the hope of glory, and He wants to share His glory with us. Colossians 1:26-27 says, “the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” I heard a comment where someone said that they were of a lesser race, trying to rise to the status of a superior race. I commented back that the Bible says that he is royalty, and no race, gender, disability, or any other societal box can stop what God has ordained. At some point, we need to sacrifice the mindset of, “woe is me,” and embrace the mindset of, “wow is me!” because Jesus lives inside of us, no matter our race, disability, or any negative label others try to place on us.
You were a dream in God’s imagination before time began. You are His dream come true. He died so that we may have life and have it more abundantly. When we receive Him and make Him Lord of our life, He gifts us with eternity with Him now. It is not some distant, far-off place, but here and now. He puts Heaven inside of us!
(If you don’t know Jesus, I would like to take this opportunity to invite you to invite Him into your heart and make Him Lord of your life.)
Revelation 1:6 says, “And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
He calls us kings, because He has given us authority. He calls us priests, because we have access to His heart and mind.
When my parents brought me home from the hospital, my name was Theresa. My older sister by fourteen months, Mary, looked at me with enthusiasm and said, “Oh! Tisa!” And that is how I became known. Mary said that I was born with jewels on my feet. I chose to title my book, Resurrected! Shoes of Peace, and a Little Screaming, because everywhere I go, the peace of Jesus goes with me because He lives in me.
f.o.p is the way fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva is known. I choose not to capitalize it, as I refuse to give it any honor. f.o.p is a disease where the muscles in one’s body have what is likened to heart attacks, and then over a few days or a few months, and sometimes up to a year or more, turn into real bone. It builds a second skeleton in the person, rendering them immobile over time.
There’s no reactual pattern of which joint gets locked into a straight or some degree of bent position first. We are frozen in statue-like poses. Some are straight, like me. Others are in sitting-down positions or a combination with no set pattern. Some, like me, are stuck laying straight in bed and unable to walk, with limbs bent or twisted, or in any combination, the body gets sculpted into over timeover time. .
But here’s the thing: I am healed! Jesus healed me on the cross. It is finished. My hope to walk again and see His glory manifested in me will not be put to shame. Hope is a person named Jesus. Hope is having the emotions of the thing you a’re believing for before it happens. I am so rooted and grounded in His love for me that any attempts to convince me that I am sick will fail.
I am a healed person fighting off sickness, not sick and waiting to be healed. The Bible says that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen in Hebrews 11:1. God gives us a measure of faith, and we pay Him back by believing Him, and asking for more by taking risks of faith to believe for the impossible. When I was first diagnosed, my first awareness of that faith was when my mom, Susan, said that this disease is not more powerful than God. Hope was born in my heart because, at around the time of my diagnosis, I had invited Him into my heart. My journey in these pages, these leaves of healing, aims to share that hope and ultimately bring you His peace as you walk in my shoes. He is healer.

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