Rising UP!: My Recovery from Multiple Sclerosis, Disability and Despair

Rising UP! chronicles Anna York's physical, social and spiritual transformation as she makes a remarkable journey:

•From serious disability caused by multiple sclerosis to healing and wholeness

•From excruciating pain to vibrant health in body, mind and spirit

•From suspicion of eastern healing arts as "strange" and "unscientific" to healing with the help of a Tai Chi master and Traditional Chinese Medicine

•From anti-feminist roots to ordination as a handicapped female in a Southern Baptist church

•From being regarded as a "saint" to being rejected by friends because of her "un-Christian" mode of healing

•From being uninsurable for over two decades to being approved for a $100,000 life insurance policy

•From confusion about what has happened to insight and joy

"Tai Chi" and "Qigong" were strange and foreign words to a conservative Christian raised in the Midwestern heartland. Anna York would never have believed that these eastern arts would bring her healing. But they were only two of the many surprises she experienced on her path from severe disability to wholeness in body, mind and spirit. She also discovered Traditional Chinese Medicine, Thai Yoga Bodywork and a diet that would transform her most basic habits of life. As a devout Christian and ordained Southern Baptist minister, she discovered that her God is much bigger than she ever imagined, able to bring her healing from far distant lands and cultures.

Anna's story is a passionate one of loss, despair, faith and hope. It speaks of the treasures of healing and wholeness that can be discovered when we learn to trust and share across the boundaries of race, culture and religion. It also discloses the pain and rejection that can occur when transformation takes place outside one's accustomed social and cultural milieu.

Anna's story is for everyone, especially those who have family members with debilitating trauma, chronic illness and life threatening diseases. It is a story of the triumph of the human spirit over impossible odds--a story that invites all of us to Rise UP! and meet the challenges we face in life with faith, hope and joy.