Hi there. I'm Jill Allen and this is find your fierce, the show designed for women to discover your fierce, unlock and unstoppable mindset. Build unbreakable courage and completely transform how you show up every single day. Each week I will bring ideas, methods and strategies that will inspire you to step into your greatness and live life on purpose. Let's be fit, fierce and unstoppable.
(00:35): Hey there gang. Welcome to find your fierce so glad you are here. Today's chat. We are continuing a series. The wilderness. We are diving into the promises of God, how to get through the middle of the journeys we are on. And the really hard part of being in that wilderness, which is our obedience and the everyday courage it takes and having complete faith in his plan. And I'm pretty excited here. As we have a friend of mine with us today, Janet Creasy from Arkansas, and she has a story, a testimony to share with you. And let me tell you, it's pretty powerful, Janet. Welcome. How are you, girl? I am good. How are you today? Good. I I've been all smiles. I'm excited for, you know, everyone who's hopping on here today, just to kind of, you know, just hear everything like the hard, the hard part of life and what it is that we go through and how we can still show up every day. And you are a walking testimony of all of that.
(01:28): I mean, where do we begin? Where, where should we begin on your journey? The walking testimony is actually pretty right. Just spot on. I have, let me say, learn to say that November 6th, 2015 is the day that changed my life and that used to be a bad thing. So instead of saying it defined me, I now just say it was the catalyst for where I am now in my journey of faith and what happened that day to keep it a little bit short. I had a very bad accident, just myself in a truck, and I'm a seat belt where I really am. But for that time, right at that moment, I was running errands in town and was skidding back home so that I could go pick up my kids. My youngest was nine months old and then the middle one had just started kindergarten. And I jokingly say, I'm the statistic.
(02:23): I was not speeding. I was not on my phone. And I was just a couple miles from my county road and was having some back issues at the time. And so I decided, well, I'm just going to pop my seatbelt off and went around a curve. And I have really no idea what happened. All I knew that the very next moment that I was flipping and it's kind of funny. So you can, you know, everybody can smile or giggle, but you know, one of the very first thoughts that I had was, are you kidding me? I just took my seatbelt off. So to make that long story short, because that's like I said, only the catalyst for the journey I've been on is that God was with me. That's nothing short of a miracle. There is a reason I did not have my seatbelt on that day.
(03:10): When my husband went to clean out the truck, he said he just got chills because I have a picture. I'm not sure I'm tech savvy enough to put it up on the screen. But the cab of the truck was completely pushing down on the head seat of the driver's seat. And for that moment, had I been buckled in, it would have been a pretty traumatic, I think, brain injury. I was ejected, but I did not go through glass. I had barely any scratches on me. Everything was already busted out the main thing. And this is kind of where it progresses from. There is I just completely crushed my right ankle. We don't know if the truck rolled over it. You know, I mean, I, I only remember pieces from here until the other side of surgery happened so fast, so fast. So, but I do say that that God knew what he was doing.
(04:04): I mean, he knew that I needed to be out of that seatbelt at the time. I still wear my seatbelt today because I just know that was, that was his miracle. So by trade I'm a registered nurse. So I could understand and deal with the physical of the ankle. I literally did not understand the emotional trauma that came with something like that. I was diagnosed with PTSD shortly after that. I haven't returned to work yet because I still have really, really some bad ankle problems, but we'll get there. Well, I was just going to ask you here. Let me ask. Was the ankle only thing physically? Yes. Yes. The only thing physically, I, they went ahead and med flighted me that there was nothing like my husband was about an hour away and he called a really good friend of mine. He said, she's somewhere on top by one 10.
(04:56): All I know she's had a wreck and between that, and then my mother lived about an hour and a half away. So they're thinking ejected. I mean, you're, you're kind of thinking some grizzly scene there. And were you coherent? Not really. I mean, I was awake. I was able to, there was a man that heard it came out of his house and then there was a young lady that came up on me and they were there with me somehow. I managed to get my husband's phone number out to the gentlemen. And that's kind of when he started calling, but a lot of it, I just remember literally crying out to God because of the pain. There was a 20 minute period and I know that's just, you know, so they med flighted me all. Let my family knew was that I had been injected, this had happened.
(05:42): And I just, I tear up sometimes to think that a few months after that, my mom said there was a 20 minute period in that flight. Well, I didn't know if you were dead or alive, but yeah, I mean, I was like no marks on me, just the broken ankle. And it was, it's pretty bad. I had two surgeries on that, but, but it's okay. We'll get there. It's getting better. I got through that. And it was during that bedrest that, you know, I guess I have to stop and say, going back to actually set free. When you talked about you did the right things, you went to church. And I like to say, I thought that I had a really good relationship with Jesus and what did I have a lot to learn? So during all that bad for bedrest, I remember finding a study with Proverbs 31.
(06:35): And then that's what really, really got me to start this journey. And the reason that I say it was a start is because there was one surgery that year, a surgery the next year. So let's just timeline wise, 2018 early in that year, I had pneumonia. And then the rest of that year, I was sick doctors couldn't figure it out. I had a constant drainage of one side of mine sinuses. So it was treated lot multiple sinus infections. And I went all the way through to October before I finally got so sick that they admitted me to the hospital with pneumonia and I'll have to come and jump a little bit back and forth. But during that time they did a CT on my lungs, which were okay, but oh, by the way, we found this nodule on your thyroid, but you know, that's no big deal.
(07:29): We need to fix this. Yeah. So shortly after that hospital stay, I was actually diagnosed with a cerebral spinal fluid leak. So the easiest terms to say is I had a tear somewhere in the lining of my brain. So no more ankle surgeries at the moment, no more, you know, they biopsy the nodule, it's benign. Okay. This is a big deal. You're losing cerebral spinal fluid. And basically like, if you think about your garden hose, it was, you know, that leak in your garden hose. And so that whole time I was sick was because I was not only open to lots of infections with that tire, but I was running on a low pressure. I mean, you know, they just wasn't doing what it was supposed to do. And so I was scheduled for brain surgery. The only thing that could be put together is that probably, although I wasn't diagnosed with any head injury pretty much, you know, probably knocked that noggin around in the truck slipping and then having the pneumonia and having the bad cough, just put pressure and just like, you know, blew out that little tear.
(08:39): So in January of 19 I had brain surgery. I was blessed again, because there were no incisions. What they did is they went through a nasal cap and it was not fun. I can't even imagine at all. And I remember this is where that journey of faith just, I mean, I was building and I was building and I was reading more and learning more. And on a side note, you know, there's so many people that have these stories that say, I saw Jesus. I saw God or I he spoke to me and I was like, wow, I don't really have a story like that. You know? I mean, I I've always, I was raised to believe in God, you know? And, and all I can say is I just knew, but I remember that probably day three, after that brain surgery, my husband had to leave waiting on family just to come sit with me and just crying.
(09:34): I mean, because it's very hard to describe how pain happens with that. But when you mess with cerebral spinal fluid, you get headaches. You get, I mean, my whole, this was my whole side. I'm like, I haven't even packed with stuff. You know? I mean a sneeze hurts. Okay. Yeah. So I was just exhausted and literally no one in the room crying, just saying, I can't do this. And I can't tell you how I knew that it was, God, I can't tell you what his voice sounded like, but it was him immediately. A peace came over me and I heard after me just trying out, I can't do this anymore. I'm getting chills thinking about it. I heard then just let me carry you and just let me carry you. And it's just like a calm came over me. It's so powerful. I mean, and I'm like, I might not have seen him, but now I get how people say they just knew.
(10:37): Right. Right. And the reason that I now say from November 6th, 2015, up until today was actually a blessing. And the reason that I can hopefully reach people when they hear there's a purpose for your pain, or why did God allow you to go through these things? I had the accident a few years later, I had the problem of the brain tear and, and searching through that sickness. I had a lung scan, which accidentally found a thyroid nodule, or just kind of piecing it all together. And that tested benign. And it was it'll eventually get big enough. They don't mind bother you're swallowing. And when that happens, let's take it out. And so I did that last August and I went for an outpatient procedure to take that a half out and woke up in the hospital and COVID is in full swing. My husband literally had to drop me off at the curb.
(11:35): And he called before my doctor came in and I said, why am I in the hospital? And he said, the doctor hasn't been in yet. I'm like, no, just, okay. Tell me now, you know, now you've got me scared, but so this small tumor I was put in the hospital because when they went in there, it was so big. It was growing. It had gone down behind my taller bone and was headed into my chest cavity. So that was huge to begin with. Oh yeah. How did you feel that did you know? I mean, like, it's not a clue, literally. It just got big enough where you could see it and feel it. And I felt like I was having some throat issues. And so there was nothing else going on. I better go follow up with this. Right. So even there I'm like, wow, okay.
(12:22): Aren't we glad we decided to take this out at my two week post-op appointment. That's when the words came out of my doctor's mouth, everything looks good. But unfortunately Mrs. Chrissy, that you have cancer. And I don't really know how through that appointment, because again, no one could come with me was not expecting that. So he's like the first thing when you're alone. Right. And two hours away from home, I got into the truck there, the vehicle I don't and my mom called immediately. And she was like, how was your checkup? And I'm thinking I'm not really ready. I said it was good. I said, let me get home. And I'll, I'll tell you that. And sat there in that parking deck and praying to God, because I'm like, I can not fall apart. I have two hours to drive home. So we talked a whole lot.
(13:13): God and I let two hour drive. And the very first thing that happened is they have to take the rest of that word out. So major surgeries back to back three weeks apart, I am still recovering from that. Let me tell you, so the other part of the thyroid actually came back cancerous, malignant as well. And I don't, I can't say anything, but it's God. And that he was with me every step of the way, all of this was a struggle. I'm not going to lie my voice that that's not right too. Let me ask you, I mean, this is one thing after another and looking on the outside and you're in the middle of this. I mean, you're like, you're a storm after storm, after storm. It's human nature to just kind of like anger, feeling alone, even ask why me. Yes. That all, there were a lot of times that, and many, many days I couldn't get out of bed and it wasn't a physical reason.
(14:13): It was the anxiety, the, the devil really working on me with the, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't do this because of the ankle. I can't do this because of the, that in the brain surgery, I can't go back to work. And he had me focusing on what I can't do instead of learning to lean and trust on to God for the bag that I can't do one thing, but I am still here today to be a mother to my boys. And I'm not going to say that it was rainbows the whole time. It was a struggle. The struggle for my marriage. I would literally say it is just within this last year, that, that things they are coming back where they should be between my husband and I, it's hard for him to look in and understand what I'm going through. And it's hard for me to say, why can't you understand?
(15:07): It impacts every single aspect of your life. Right? Right. It was through constant praying. I remember one of the breakthroughs where it went from what I like to call the poor pitiful means to believing that I still had the purpose was sack Williams. Song fear is a liar. I remember being in the vehicle with my husband. I don't really know what we were, where we were. And I heard that and just broke down because I realized that that's what was happening to me was that it was fair. It was the devil. It was, it was focusing in, on all the negative. And that's when I really, really started learning to go to God, go to the Bible. You know, all the self-help books on PTSD are wonderful and great, but until I had that relationship with Jesus, I wasn't going to get anywhere. Didn't get anywhere.
(16:00): So it's kind of amazing how it has all worked. I didn't have to have chemotherapy. I didn't have to have radiation. I took the radioactive medicine, had to stay away from my family for two weeks because I was radioactive and didn't really have too many side effects. The only thing, I'm not a singer, I play piano, but, but I do like to sing and I can't, there's there's you can hear the rest Venus, that's kind of a, that comes and goes, and that's going to be a for everything. But if that's the worst thing that comes out of this whole thing, then it's not a big deal. I mean, that's simple. That's simple. Well, just to break the ice here, there are some really amazing raspy and I love them. Okay. So let me know if you can keep seeing it on my reins now.
(16:47): Right. But I really pressed on to that. And because I have played the piano music just matches emotions very much for me. And the other thing is, Danny Gokey is tell your heart to beat again. That was a song that I listened to countless times. And throughout that was the crying because of what I lost to learning, to see it differently to listening now and saying, man, what I came through, because God allowed me to come through. He blessed me every step of that way. Am I still healing? Yes. Do I still have bad days? Absolutely. Like you were talking about, I'm still in the middle of this cancer wilderness because my first six month checkup was fine, but they are still monitoring it. And I, you know, there's still potential there. And I can just say that by the time we got to a thyroid cancer diagnosis, I think I cried when I told my husband and that was it because I have come through so much that I'm like, whatever happens, good or bad age, the purpose, and God's right there.
(18:02): And I like to tell people that he's there and all he's doing. I mean, he's staying in there and he's got his arms open, just waiting, waiting for us to step into them. And it took me a while to realize that you hear the all, all the same, you know, purpose for your pain. If you're, you feel far from God, it's not him that moves. And none of those really helped me until I let myself believe in that. And from that, I have it opened here. Definitely. I have a life that I wouldn't have said I had until all this 40, 31, and this is king James version. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall Mount up with wings as Eagles. They shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint. And that has so much spiritual and physical meaning to me because I learned to walk again on an ankle that really still needs a surgery, but I don't even want to say the word surgery right now, but I can, I can deal with it now to so much hope.
(19:13): And I think that sometimes as Christians I'll, I'll, I'll say it for me. I did the right things. I believe we were in church, but when all this happened and I started mourning a career, I mean, you know, being a nurse was my passion for helping people that heal that passion is still there. It's just that I can't do it in on a hospital floor. I do it through telling my story. I do it through volunteering now for Proverbs 31 ministries. There are still so many ways that I can use that passion, that gift. And it is that one thing that through this whole story, I don't want pity. I don't want, oh my gosh. I want to be able to reach somebody. Just say that wilderness. You're not in it alone. You'll never be in it alone. I had great support. But even if I didn't, you just have to know that God is right there and not just know it, but you said something so strong with such strength when you believed it.
(20:22): Right. We know a lot of things. Right. But when we can grab a hold of it and cling to that faith, to that belief with everything. Right, right. And it's just, you know, I'm still learning as we're going through, you know, the set free journey. It's not, I'm not done learning, I'm not done healing. I'm not done with my faith. These aren't going to be the trials or storms that I walked through. You know, it's not, he's not done with you. That's the thing he, yeah. But he's not done with me either. Okay. This guy's confirmation. Exactly. Exactly. So, and, and, you know, I still, it's just every time I feel like going down that rabbit hole is what I call it. I have great support because, you know, my husband will be like, you need to come back to us or something between, you know, like the kids will say something and it's like, oh yeah.
(21:19): You know, just that gets me back to that positive. And it's hard in the world today to keep positivity every day, but it's possible. Yeah. As possible. And you're showing that in your, I mean, just, it makes you kind of wonder too, you know, with you being a nurse, you know, what I heard when you were going through that, that was that season was that season and using your gifts in a different way for his glory. And, and through that walk that he's allowed you to do and take there's more to all of this and there's more that's coming that you can't even see right now. Yes. Yes. He's got such a plan laid out that when you get to those Y meetings or whatever, and that's because I can't tell you page numbers in chapters, you might be able to, but I remember part of that is there's, he can see so much further ahead than what we know.
(22:13): You know, I can go back and say, I had a one vehicle accident. Maybe he saved me from somebody up ahead. That would have hit me head on I have thyroid cancer that they don't say exactly remission yet, but cancer is cancer, but boy, it, it sure was a blessing that no chemo and that I actually had no problems besides vocal stuff that, and that's not, I don't have that healthcare background, but I don't like to saying accidental findings cause they're not accidental. They're not intentional on purpose. And so I think, you know, I told you in a, in a text that this is probably one of the first times publicly, I've walked through my testimony and what's happened. So I do apologize if I jumped back and forth, but I do know that there'll be more of these opportunities, whether it's with you or someone else on a podcast or a stranger that I'm sitting next to, you know, I don't know, wherever that, I just hope that I can still reach out and help people and let them know that on your worst day, there's still hope.
(23:26): And there's still reason. And it's not, God, there's a big, big difference between saying God causing something and God allowing something. And yes, he allows things. But the reason that things come and go is to equip you better for what his plans are you or even the bigger picture is because this place was never, as this world was never supposed to be easy and it's never going to be permanent because there's a place for us in the new garden and in heaven. And that's not, I hear myself saying it and I, and I just want to say so much that my life is far from perfect, my mental health struggles, but without God, without the support of my family, without the Bible, without ministries like yours and others, and I would not be here today with a smile on my face saying, look what I've been through and look where I am and look where I'm going, because I have learned finally, you know, you know, can you imagine God being like, I'm trying to tell you, and I'm going to wake you up until you only learn just, just to stop.
(24:41): Like you said before, just I want to control it. And when it comes to kids, oh my gosh, you want to control what they do. You don't want to see them hurt, or you want to fix something and you just have to turn that over to God. And it's not a one-time thing. It is a daily walk to turn everything over. Oh, it's every moment inspiration that you are. I mean, just showing, and I know people are walking through their hard right now. I know they're going through something they're in their own wilderness and they feel alone and calling out to God and it's what you're sharing. Right? And, and, and when you call out, it's learning to, like I said, believe that he's there to answer cause he is he's there and the wilderness is scary, but the wilderness is also beautiful. Agreed. Amen.
(25:32): That is so good. I am so thankful that you I'm so honored that you are willing to share your story and help so many through this and to give hope as well to the women that are listening. So I appreciate you and really the faith hope and love, but in this world today, I think right now it's hope that we lose sight of very much though, and just keep hoping and praying and believing. Because as soon as you start running towards God, he's running just as fast to you with his arms open, that's gonna tear me up because you, because it's just, he has been there. He is there and he is the reason I'm talking to you today. What a blessing. Thank you. Thank you so much. If that doesn't get you fired up and, and to give you that hope that I know that you were needing and to become unstuck.
(26:27): I don't know what does I thank you so much, Janet, for that. Thank you very much for having me remind your guys set free. It's now available on Amazon. Check that out. We're going through the set free book club as well as we walk through that journey together. So find that on Facebook, then save the date for September 18th and 19th. It's the next gathering. It is called ironically, or actually not ironically on purpose the wilderness and you don't want to miss it because it's an overnight and we are camping and it's going to be exactly what you are needing in your life at this exact perfect time heads up on the next episode, we are wrapping up
(27:01): The wilderness series. So be sure to check that out and thanks so much for joining Janet and I today, please subscribe, share this episode, link on your social media. If you felt encouraged or inspired, as we all know, someone that can benefit. And I would love it. If you would give some feedback and review as well, talk, the next time be fit, be fierce, be unstoppable.
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