Laura, a shy 17 year old, could not wait to get home from the world renowned Hospital For Special Surgery that excruciatingly hot day in New York, July 1970. As soon as she arrived, she leapt to her bedroom throwing her face on her pillow, sobbing uncontrollably. No amount of pounding fists or furious tears could change her fate. The doctors had recommended an operation, which would put her in a body caste for a year and would force her to learn to walk again! She was devastated.

She had been diagnosed with scoliosis and a severe lower back injury, which could cause her to lose the ability to walk later in life. She had heard about scoliosis, but now she was the one burdened with this deformity beneath baggy clothes and a "great personality."

On that hot July day Laura decided, "No way. I am not going to have this scary operation." She decided to live with her twisted body and lower back pain well into young adulthood, accepting her "ugly" fate stoically.

In her late twenties, she began experimenting for a healing, trying different, unorthodox treatments, since the medical establishment had no hope for her.

At one point she even bought a bar on which to hang upside down from special "gravity boots." Every day she would hang there for 30 minutes or so hoping gravity would be her ally and readjust those crooked bones.

One day as she hung upside down she decided to pray for a solution from God. Perhaps it was the extra blood rushing to her head, but until that moment, she had never had the inspiration to ask in prayer for help.

Shortly after she began those prayers, she started having dreams of being a ballerina. She had so many of them she began to get the message. Ballerina's all had magnificently straight spines!

It was difficult starting ballet at 28 years old but after each lesson, she would feel and look straighter, taller and more symmetrical. One day after about a year into this, her mother exclaimed, "You are getting straighter! This is a miracle!" Laura already knew it was working and smiled secretly to herself.

Her spine continued to improve. Laura moved from being the quiet girl to being a sought out social butterfly. She even became an avid ballroom and Latin dancer, an entire social life and artistic expression blossoming around it. She had been led by her dreams after praying for help, to a healing and it had worked!

I can testify this story is real, because it is about myself.

We all have access to the power of spirit. However, your spiritual resources are not going to rally to your support until you firmly and deliberately ask for it.

Try this little exercise. Identify a challenge you are now having in your life. Now get into a relaxed state, either through deep breathing and a quieting of your mind, or just before falling off to sleep at night. After you relax, ask a higher power, God, to help you solve the problem. See it being solved; see yourself shining and exuberantly happy with a solution.

Keep a journal next to your bed at night. If you are awakened with a dream write down what you saw. Within these dreams you might have found the answer to your problem. The answer might come from reading an article, which prompts a solution. You might speak to a friend who tells you a story about someone who had a similar concern and how they solved it. The answer can come from anywhere. But you have to ask for guidance, and then remain open and alert to receiving the answer.