From Bedridden to Purpose: How God Turned Her Pain into Healing

From Bedridden to Purpose: How God Turned Her Pain into Healing

She talks honestly about being so ill she begged God to take her home, the loneliness of years in bed, and the shock of realising that worry and people-pleasing can act just like an addiction: "What you're doing with worry to your body isn't much better than what your husband's doing with workaholism." A turning point came one night when, feeling completely stuck, she prayed and sensed God say two simple words: "use the horses." That moment eventually led her to faith-based equine-assisted work, where a red horse called Cha-Cha and a round pen exercise helped break her "can't mentality" and reminded her, "You can do new things." Melissa walks through her western-themed healing framework, from saying "howdy" to the Holy Spirit each day, to building a healthy "herd" of supportive people, to spotting trauma A and B, and learning a playful but practical coping tool called the "roundup".

How do people find hope in the darkest times? This conversation follows Melissa Pruszynski’s path from being bedridden with late-stage neurological Lyme disease to running a horse-based, faith-led healing farm. Christian women who feel worn out by addiction in the family, chronic illness, anxiety or over-functioning will recognise a lot of themselves in Melissa’s story. As she jokes, "cheesy equals easy" – if it’s memorable, you’re more likely to use it when you’re overwhelmed.

Throughout, Tanya gently steers the chat back to addiction, worry and workaholism as coping mechanisms, and how facing your own patterns can shift an entire family line: "When you heal, future generations will heal." If you’ve ever thought, "I’m stuck like this" or "it’s too late for me", this story might have you asking a different question: what if this pain is the start of a new purpose?