I told her what I would tell anyone else in such a condition. Bring him in and let me evaluate him. If I can help, I will tell you, if not I will tell you that too. So she went to work on getting him to come in and see me. Several appointments were made and canceled, often at the last minute. Leonard would be so bad with the nausea and vomitting that he couldn’t make it in. Ultimately, he did make it in, and I sat down with him to talk about his case.

All during the consultation, Leonard kept a towel close to his mouth, and kept his bucket handy. He told me of all the medical tests that he had had. The diagnosis was gastric paresis. The doctors had given him medicine to take, but he couldn’t hold any of it down. At the end of the consultation, I told him of how the digestive tract is all controlled by nerves, and that if I find anything in the examination that is interferring with the function of those nerves, then there is a possibility that I can help.

Examination and x-rays did reveal subluxation in the thoracic and upper cervical regions, but on appearance nothing that as a chiropractor I haven’t seen thousands of times. So, why did Leonard have this problem of nausea and vomitting? I will never know for sure.

What I do know is that we laid out a plan of care to correct the subluxations that were found and went to work on them. After the first two weeks of care, my staff and I noticed that Leonard wasn’t carrying his towel or his bucket. The next week, his hair was combed and his eyes were bright. He was animated and excited. The following week, he was telling me about his skills as a capenter, and how he was ready to get back to work.

Can you explain it. I know I can’t. This man literally got his life back after almost 8 months of suffering. The healing power of the body was restored to the tissues and cells that needed that power, and Leonard healed.

My question for you is this. Would you have taken Leonard’s case? Would you have had the belief in yourself, your technique, your office protocols and procedures? Would you have been afraid? If so, let me help you out. I didn’t treat Leonard’s stomach, his nausea or his vomitting. I simply found his subluxations and adjusted them. The power that made his body is the power that healed his body. Let’s give credit where credit is due, but if I had acted in fear and not taken the case, Leonard would still be suffering, and I would have betrayed my calling.

My message to you is simple. Be bold. Be what you were called to be. Let the results take care of themselves.

Allow me to give you an example. You have a new patient that is complaining of neck pain. They just woke up with it a couple of weeks ago. They have had it off and on for years, but never this bad. They tell you that they have been to chiropractors before, and after one or two adjustments they left feeling great.

If you are a doctor who tends to minimize, you might say something like, “it sounds like you have had this before, and well, it looks like you got it again…lay down on the table and let’s fix ‘r up.” Maybe you do better than that. Maybe you tell the patient that it sounds like the cause has never been addressed and you do an examination and take some x-rays.

When you view the x-rays you see a reversed cervical curve with phase II degenerative disc disease. In the back of your mind you remember that patient saying, “one or two visits and I’m great.” You start to think you need to downplay the severity of the condition. You fear that if you tell it like it is that you will lose the patient to the guy down the street that can fix him in two visits. So, when you give your report of findings, you tell the patient, “it looks like you have lost some of your normal curve in your neck and I see a few spurs forming around this disc that has thinned down a little bit.” You minimized big time!

Let’s have a reality check here. Reality: phase II degenerative disc disease is evidence of a long-standing condition likely over 20 years in progress. Reality: a reversed cervical curve left in its current state will continue to promote degeneration of the discs. Reality: the above will result in increasing nerve impingement over time which will lead to further dysfunction in the tissues supplied by those nerves.

I am not asking any of you to exaggerate the condition whatsoever, but you owe it to the patients that you serve to tell it like it is, and let the chips fall where they may. Your patients deserve the best you have to offer. Let them make an informed decision.

To start with, you spend some quiet time contemplating what you would like to become. Who do you want to be or what would you like to become? Now in doing this, you have to look at many different aspects of your life. For example, you may want to be a loving spouse or you might want to be a successful chiropractor with a million-dollar a year practice. As you can see, these are two totally different animals, but the same person may seek them both.

They each deal with different aspects of your life. We all have many roles. For example, you may be a spouse, a parent, a child, a business owner, and a child of God. These and many others can be aspects of the same person. So to begin with, you need to create a list of all the things you want to be. You begin with the end in mind.

After you have created a list of what or who you want to be, then you go about the task of considering each of those individually. If you say, “I want to be a successful chiropractor with a million-dollar per year practice,” then you must consider what are the attitudes, concepts, behaviors, attributes, characteristics, procedures, etc. that I will need in order to become that which I have set out to become. In other words, what do I need that I do not currently possess in myself in order to become that?

Once you have created a detailed list of what you need in order to become, then you break it down into smaller bites. Ask yourself, “What do I need to do daily to achieve?” Each day create a “to do” list. Prioritize the list in order of what you want to accomplish that day that will move you closer to your goal. If you have 5 things to do today, and you only get to three of them, then carry the other two over to the next day. Keep plugging away at it as you develop yourself. From time to time evaluate yourself. How are you doing? Is this a path that you still want to pursue, or does it need to be updated. Keep developing. Keep refining. Keep striving.

I hope this idea of working a goal in reverse has been helpful to you. If it has, I would love to hear back from you.

Until next time, God be with you all.

Chiropractors are no exception. In fact, from what I have observed, chiropractors seem to be especially susceptible to this caustic spirit. If allowed, it gently creeps in and ultimately overpowers, but it does not have to be so. God has given us a power to overcome it.

So, how do you have more faith and less fear? Check your soil. Fear grows best in one type of soil. Faith grows best in another type. Fear loves soil that is fertilized with rebellion. Faith loves soil that is fertilized with obedience. Fear loves soil that is mixed with foolish pride. Faith loves soil that is mixed with humility. Fear loves soil that is vain. Faith loves soil that is reverent.

What is the key? Jesus says in Matthew 16 beginning with verse 24: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” The same theme is recorded in the Gospels of Mark and Luke, but Luke adds one very significant word. Luke 9:23, “Then he said to them all, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.’” Did you catch the difference? The word is daily.

The key to creating the most fertile soil in which faith can flourish and in which fear cannot take root is to daily deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Jesus. How do we accomplish this? Start your day with a prayer of thanksgiving. Confess your sins. Pray for forgiveness. Acknowledge His sacrifice that saved you and gave you life. Then lay that life at His feet, and surrender it to His will. Pray that you might die at his feet, so that He can raise you up, and so that He can live in you to His glory. Pray for His will and purpose for your life to be carried out in you for today.

It is a mystery, but the destruction of self gives birth to a new self that is miraculously melded together with Christ in an abiding presence that we do not fully understand. This new self possesses a force that the forces of evil (fear being a force of evil) cannot stand against.

Again, the key word is daily. Each day, everyday, one day at a time. If you do this, you will find new life. It is a life superior to any life you might pursue of your own accord. Jesus beckons, “Come to me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30.

May the Peace of God, which passes all understanding, be with you all.

It was just another grain of dust and nothing more, but that grain began to take root, and the people of the world began to take notice. It sprouted and spread. It entangled the soil with its greater and greater roots. It overshadowed the people with its greater and greater branches. Its branches began to block the sun, and people began to cower in weakness. Soon, the people were utterly defeated and enslaved. They could not function as they plodded along in the darkness.

There sat another seed in the soil of their hearts. The tiniest of the seeds, it was inconspicuous, minuscule, insignificant, and unimposing. Some took notice, and decided to nurture it. They watered it and fed it. They cared for it lovingly, and it began to take root. At first its growth seemed so slow until one day something miraculous happened. It put out a shoot that shot straight up. That shoot pierced the darkness of the branches overhead, and at once a beam of light began to shine through.

When the light entered it was overpowering. So much brighter than before, the light that pierced the darkness began to overtake it. The leaves of the dark plant began to whither, and its branches began to fall. The soil that it once found fertile could no longer sustain its existence and the once great and mighty plant tumbled to the ground.

Jesus said as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there’ and it will move.” By the same token, I would propose to you that there is another seed that has great power as well. That seed is the seed of fear.

Fear cannot exist in the presence of faith. The bright light of faith will overpower the darkness of fear any day, any time.

Which seed to do you feed? Which seed do you nurture? Is the soil of your heart fertile for one and not the other? What are you allowing to take root? Intrigued? We will continue in part 2.

As Christians, we know that power to be from God. With that said, it is a travesty to see Christian chiropractors failing in practice. As I have written previously, pride is a major enemy. I know from my own experience that help is out there for all the struggling chiropractors, but the barrier pride prevents the initial connection from being made. Of course, I must mention the other tools of the enemy that are always at the forefront. They are fear, despair, hopelessness, disgrace, shame, guilt, procrastination, and stubborn will, and that is only a partial list.

To thank you for being a loyal reader of this blog, or even if you stumbled on to this site for the first time, today is your lucky day! In today’s post, I will be providing a link to you that will connect you with a treasure chest full of tools that will change your chiropractic practice forever. One thing is certain though. If I give you a hammer and a screwdriver, they will never drive a nail of screw in a screw unless you pick them up and put them to use.

I want to get very serious with you for a moment. Within the past two months, I learned of two separate instances of chiropractors that committed suicide. They made the ultimate decision to leave this world. Those weapons of the enemy that I mentioned before took their toll, and Satan was successful in his mission to kill, steal, and destroy. It saddens my heart.

Take action today. Click on Hope Awaits!to begin your transformation.

Be blessed! I love and appreciate you all. Dr. Barrows

My last series of writings had to do with what I called the 4 P’s. They were praise, prayer, patience and perseverance. It has really been on my heart lately to write about another subject that just so happens to begin with the letter “P”. My good friend and president of AMC, Tom Owen, III, has often been heard saying that “pride will cost you more than anything you own.” I have come to believe that to be true.

Because of pride, we find ourselves unwilling to seek help when we need it. Because of pride, we see our selves as autonomous in all things with little or no need for God in our lives. Now you might not think that you are guilty of this. You might think, I believe in God, I pray often, I turn things over to his control, and on and on. When in reality, you walk through most of your daily life being led by your own mind rather than totally surrendering your will to the Holy Spirit. Dare I say, it must be an absolute, unequivocal, reckless abandon, totally sold out surrender. If it is not, pride remains.

Pride creates a sure barrier to the fullness of God’s grace and blessing in your life. Pride causes you to live your life in selfishness. By that I mean that serving the self, gratifying self, or at least working to ensure that you protect yourself from what you perceive to be the trials of life is your daily aim. Pride causes you to see yourself as the source. Pride inhibits the working of our holy, loving, and gracious God in our lives.

What does all this have to do with you and your practice of chiropractic? It has everything to do with it. You set goals, you take action, you head out on a course that you have determined. You seek referrals in your practice, you market for new patients, you set goals for your staff, you go through your routine office visits day in and day out. The more your practice grows, the better you do financially, the new house, the new car, the more you accumulate, the more you begin to think it is you, and your strength, and your abilities that is the source for it all. That is pride, and it is a sure and definite enemy.

Pride is a beast that can start small and subtly, but can continue to grow into a great behemoth that can overshadow your heart, if you allow it. So, this begs the question. How do you slay the beast? You can’t.

God can.

God can, and he will and he does anytime you ask him.

It takes action of your part. You must humble yourself. You must pray, and in so doing these things you must lay yourself on the altar in absolute surrender of self. Lay down your life daily, and let God pick it up for you, and he will give you a life far more abundant, far more spectacular, far more peaceful than you could ever imagine. Oh, there is great joy found in the denial of self, and it makes absolutely no sense to our feeble minds.

I must emphasize the importance of doing this daily, for if you don’t, pride will rear its ugly head again, self preservation will kick in, and you will be right back in the same old trap. So, how do you do it? You make a decision daily to pray, to read God’s word, and to ask for his strength sufficient for that day. Give no thought to tomorrow. Today will have enough challenges of its own.

I will leave you with this. Jesus said in John 15, verse 5: “I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me, and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Pride will separate you from His abiding presence. I think that sums it up. God be with you all.

Let me just name a few that come to mind: Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Job. If your are not familiar with their stories, then I encourage you to get out your Bible, and look them up, and learn from the true great ones who have gone before us. I gather tremendous encouragement from reading of the trials and triumphs of the heroes of the Bible. It helps me in my walk, in my persistence, so that I do not become weary.

Persist. Persist in loving the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. Persist in praising Him no matter what the circumstance. Persist in presenting yourself to Him in humble prayer. Be patient, and persevere to the end. In so doing you will find peace.

Now, what do all of these “P’s” have to do with your practice. From my perspective, they have everything to do with it, for these are the foundations of your character, and a strong foundation is essential to a strong practice. Until next time, be blessed my friends. I love and appreciate you all.

God is eternal. His mind is eternal. Our minds think in the finite. We cannot fathom the infinite or the eternal. When you are down, when you are weary, when you think no one cares, there is always One who does. He will never leave you or forsake you, and His love for you is immeasurable. He does, however, have his own timetable. Do not delude yourself into believing that no one has ever been where you are. Do not delude yourself into thinking that God does not care, that He does not see, that He does not feel your daily suffering. He does, and through Jesus Christ, he has walked in your shoes.

God Loves you. Wait on him. He is making you into a new creation, so that you will be prepared to love and to serve him for all eternity. Be patient. For how long must you wait? Well, you will have to wait for the fourth “P” to find out!

We jump through so many hopes in our pursuit of life, health, and happiness. We struggle and strain to do so many things of our own power, using our own mind, and exercising our own will. I am here to tell you that there is a better way. We have at our disposal the Creator of everything that is, was, or ever will be. He has opened for us a portal into his heart, and while we are here on earth, that portal is prayer.

If you are facing trials and tribulations in your life (and we all do), then hope awaits you. Let me say that again, hope is waiting on you. For me, nothing says it more plainly than second Chronicles wherein chapter 7 and the 14th verse it is written: “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.”

God will hear your prayers, but you must do your part. You must humble yourself, and you must turn away from sin. That means letting go of pride, the pride that makes you say that you can do it all on your own, that you don’t need any help, that everything can be solved in your own power. That is a foolish pride, and only leads to ruin. Likewise, you need to stop with the willful disobedience that keeps you pursuing sinful ways. We all sin, but we all have a choice to stop. Examine your life. What are you holding on to that you know is wrong, and you know it is separating you from God? Make a choice to stop, and turn back to God.

Jesus says in Rev 3:19-20, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”

Hope awaits you in your trials of life. Answer the door, and fall at the feet of the Savior. It makes all the difference.