Welcome To Years Restored Lifestyle Center
“We provide the best practical lifestyle education following God’s blueprint to promote the restoration of the body, mind, and spirit in a home-like environment.“
Away from the hustle and bustle of city life, nestled among majestic pines and cedars, is the 57-acre home-like lifestyle center. Amidst incredible natural beauty, you will find it a place of healing and rest with its peaceful surroundings, bubbling creeks, and walking/hiking/jogging trails.
My Story
Mercy Ballard – Director of Years Restored Lifestyle & Learning Center
It may be my mile a minute personality, but running has always been something I’ve loved to do. I had a long-established habit of running a few miles before work every morning, however, in 2004, I noticed that my endurance was starting to lag. I was running less and less and noticing that I was developing severe shortness of breath. Pretty soon, it became too difficult to even walk around the block without stopping.
In 2005, I made an appointment to see an internal medicine doctor and was diagnosed with severe anemia. My hemoglobin level was around 8 and the normal was supposed to be greater than 12. I was prescribed iron pills, or ferrous sulfate, which I dutifully took. After taking them for about 2 months, I woke up one morning with intense palpitations. At the ER, my pulse was 140. It was quite a shock to be in the ER when I had been so healthy for all my life, and when the physician assessed me, I was in tears. This led both he and the ER nurse to feel that my issues were of an emotional nature, possibly anxiety or family stress. My hemoglobin in the ER was 7, even lower than it had been 2 months prior. I received 2 units of blood and was discharged without being given any explanation for why I was having the symptoms I had.
I was confused, I was concerned, and I was determined to get to the root cause of my problem. I made an appoint with a gastrointestinal physician who ordered many different lab tests, all negative. I made an appoint with a cardiologist and again, no issues were noted there. I made an appointment with an obstetrician, and again, all the results were negative. I visited a hematologist who again did all kind of testing and again, all my tests were normal. A bone biopsy was done. The results were negative. A pet scan was ordered. This was also negative.
As the years progressed, my hemoglobin levels continued to drop. An iron infusion in 2006 seemed to help in raising my hemoglobin levels, but didn’t do anything for my energy levels. The brain fog and the fatigue was making difficult for me to continue with my work as a nurse. I honestly felt that I did not have the energy to live for much longer. What made it even more difficult was that I could tell that some of my doctors felt that my symptoms were all in my head and that I suffered a mental or emotional issue.
My illness also caused many healthcare providers to tell me that my condition was being caused by my diet. I had been a vegetarian for all of my life and knowing what I did about the importance of a plant based lifestyle, I wasn’t convinced by the advice I was getting. However, being sick really caused me to turn to God. One night I prayed a prayer that went something like this: “God you know that I’ve been following the best possible lifestyle I know and I’m getting worse. If it’s time for me to go, I’ll accept it. But if not, please show me what am I doing wrong. There is something obviously wrong, so please help!”
A few days later, one of my colleagues at work brought me a journal article to read, telling me that they thought that it might help me. The title of the article said something about celiac disease and I disregarded it because I had been tested for celiac disease with both blood and biopsy testing and both were negative. But this colleague persisted and insisted that I read the article. So I did. I didn’t really find anything in the article but at the end of the article was contact info for a lab that offered testing for food sensitivities. This was the beginning of my journey of healing my leaky gut.
I thank God for my persistent colleague. She was not even a close friend, but God used her in a special way to bring me healing. It took me about 2 years of commitment and persistence to a new way of living to completely recover, but today I am back to my energetic mile a minute self. Since then I have felt the call to help others with chronic debilitating health issues and to share with them the great news not just of physical restoration, but also mental and spiritual restoration that God wants to give them.
In 2009, my husband and I lived in Fort Worth Texas, when we started looking for a place to start a lifestyle center. We traveled to many states looking for country property. I had in mind a place in a private location, fresh air, many trees and lots of water. I was praying one morning in 2009, asking God to lead us to the perfect location, when I got a call from a friend telling me that she found a place in the mountains of northern California.
My family and I flew to see this place and to my amazement, it was exactly what we had on mind. A very private place with a forest, plenty of water, walking paths, and excellent weather. We could not have asked for more. In 2012, God opened the doors so that we could start a learning center to teach people about lifestyle and health. In Jan 2013, we did our first Detoxification/lifestyle program. Since then, God has blessed us abundantly in these programs with amazing clients who have had amazing experiences that we can share in. God has also blessed us to compile a cookbook entitled “The Autoimmune Plant Based Cookbook” which is available now on Amazon.com.