Jay

About Jay

I’m not great at self-promotion, but I’ll try to at least be interesting. My superpower is connecting with people and helping them recognize their intrinsic value so that they feel seen and valued. I was born with cerebral palsy that affects my right side. My dad left my mom and I when I was 7, and combining that with my disability resulted in a terrible self-image. My teenage years were laced with depression and anxiety that was exacerbated by a severe car accident at age 16 where my right hip, shoulder and pelvis were broken and I had to stay in a hospital bed in our living room for 2 months. I had to learn to walk again and ended up so overwhelmed that I checked myself into a mental hospital. I continued to struggle with a low self image, but eventually got married and had 3 kids. In spite of being very intelligent, I kept working fairly menial jobs. I started my first business at 34, and 7 months later was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. The surgery resulted in temporary paralysis and complete loss of the memory of how to use my left arm and leg, so I was unable to to do anything for myself, and had to retrain my brain to work my arm and leg again. I eventually recovered from the whole thing, at about 70% of my pre-cancer capacity. It took many years to recover mentally and emotionally from the cancer. In my late 40’s, I bought a second insurance agency and also had a business partnership where we bought 4 more businesses and ran all 5 of them simultaneously. During this time, the church where I had been serving in leadership for 15 years decided to remove me from my positions and I was heartbroken again. At 50, my business partner decided he wanted to go it alone and I went through yet another major emotional downturn. Since then, I have taken my passion for serving Christ and started a coaching practice that serves Christians in finding and fulfilling the call that they feel has been given to them. I want my story to be an inspiration and encouragement to those who are wanting to build the kingdom of God, regardless of their talents or challenges. I believe He allowed me to experience these situations in order to empathize with a large number of people and to help them see His power to lift us up, especially when we are not able to do it ourselves. I simply refuse to give up!