An Inspiring Man

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Photo by Ryan, Sunset over San Diego

I would like to introduce you to a very inspiring man.  His name is Bill Sweeney.  He has ALS and he is completely paralyzed.  Bill has lived through unimaginable suffering yet he still loves and serves Jesus with all of his heart.  He has been a great inspiration to me in my fight against Celiac.  Bill’s blog here on WordPress is called “Unshakable Hope.”  He wrote a post today called “Pressing On” that I highly recommend reading.  I also recommend spending some time on his blog reading his other posts.  The Lord is using Bill in a mighty way to touch lives for the glory of God.  You will be blessed reading what he has to say!  I recommend following his blog while you’re at it too.

Here is a link to his post from today:

Pressing On by Bill Sweeney

God bless you Bill, God bless you all!

“Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

2 Corinthians 12:8-9

Author: Ryan Callahan

Hello, and welcome to my site! I am an independent Christian author (One Man's Very Strange Supernatural Life), blogger, and evangelist for Jesus. My main goal with this blog is to help people come to know Jesus, help people understand the Bible, and to minister to a lost and hurting world. This site is about hope, new beginnings, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love! I'm glad you are here, God bless you! Copyright © 2024 Ryan Callahan. All rights reserved.

26 thoughts on “An Inspiring Man”

  6. Ryan, you are so right about Bill being an inspiration, and what a great writer. Enjoyed reading his post immensely. Thanks for sharing it your post today.

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  7. Hi, Ryan! You were the first to like my reblog of Bill Sweeney’s most recent post. When I saw your like, I can’t tell you how much that blessed me.

    Early this morning, when I read Bill Sweeney ‘s new post, I was trying to think of a way to share it with you, in a way that would not come across all wrong. But a couple of hours later, when I saw that you had written a post about Bill, with a link to his new position, I felt such relief!

    You see, I have been worried about you, and praying for you, ever since I read your very discouraged post that you wrote a couple of days ago. That was the first time that I had ever read anything on your blog. (One of the bloggers that I follow, had reblogged your post.)

    After reading your sad post, I followed your blog and read a bunch of your other posts. I also bought your book and read it last night. I loved it, by the way. I intend to leave an Amazon review, very soon. But I couldn’t really think about a review, because I was so worried about how you were feeling now. I was glad to see that you got a lot of supportive comments. And I could not think of anything to add to them, so I just prayed. And prayed. And prayed. Every time I thought about your sad post, I prayed.

    I was especially worried, because a few years ago a wonderful young blogger began posting things like that. I was trying to help her, and other bloggers were trying to help her, and I thought she was doing better. But then she committed suicide. I was so heartbroken.

    The thing is, Ryan, I get it. Your pain. Your frustrations. Your sorrow. My situation is not the same as yours, but there are a lot of similarities. I, too, have the gene that causes celiac disease. I just discovered that a couple of years ago. I thought, “Maybe that’s why I am having all these miserable symptoms!” So I went gluten free as an experiment. And wow, what a difference. So, even though I was never officially diagnosed with celiac, I now live on a very limited, gluten free diet. And yeah, I miss being able to eat everything.

    My health is not nearly as bad as yours, though. I have Hashimoto’s thyroid disease, which means I don’t have enough of the thyroid hormone, but so far it is being kept in check with thyroid replacement medicine. I also have the antibodies for Graves disease, which causes too much thyroid — yikes. That means I have to keep a watch on my thyroid symptoms, or I will get the ugly buggy eyes, loss of vision, and worse. Plus I also have hereditary hemochromatosis, I inherited those genes, too. HH causes toxic levels of iron to build up in your body, and it can make you very sick and kill you in all kinds of different ways. So I have to keep a watch on my iron. Doctors seem clueless. They’re like, well you don’t have a diseased liver or a really bad heart right now, and your iron is only a little high right now…. Yeah, apparently you have to be at death’s door from HH for them to order the expensive tests and the phlebotomies to keep my iron in check. Preventive medicine? Forget about it. So I have to do it all myself. Mainly I try not to eat anything with iron, and almost everything has some iron. I wish I could just donate my blood regularly to keep my iron low, but my blood type is too rare. The blood banks won’t take it. They say they never need it, it will just take up space in their refrigerator and then have to be thrown out. Grrr. Why did I have to inherit both HH, and also AB negative blood?

    So, my diet is very restricted. No gluten, no iron. Caffeine makes my PTSD anxiety and heart arrhythmia crazy, so no coffee, no tea, no colas, etc. Plus I am allergic to peanuts, they give me hives. Shellfish has put me into anaphylactic shock. I have also had anaphylactic shock twice from medications that were given to me, so I sure did relate to reading about your experience with anaphylaxis in your post and in your book.

    I totally believe your supernatural experience, by the way. My paternal grandfather practised witchcraft. He died when I was 13. Because I was his favorite grandchild, lucky me, he designated me as his sole heir to receive his spiritual powers when he died.

    The spiritual horror in my life began the very instant that he died. It ended up with me being put in a state mental institution at the age of 14, diagnosed with schizophrenia, because I was “hallucinating.” It was a horrible place. I kept running away. One time when I ran, I managed to elude my captors for two days. My escape was broadcast on the news. When I was caught that time and brought back, an irate and obviously embarrassed hospital administrator ordered me to be put on the maximum security ward, with the criminally insane. I witnessed murders there, was nearly murdered myself, twice, and I was abused. If there is a hell on earth, that place was surely it.

    When I had been there exactly one year, I hung myself. Thank God, thank God, thank God, the pipe that I hung myself from, broke with my slight weight!

    So you see, I really do know what total despair is. I totally get it.

    After two years, the longest two years of my life, my “hallucinations” had ended, and I was set free from the institution at age 16. Today as a Christian, I know that no demon has any power over me, ever. I long ago renounced the evil powers that my grandfather had bequeathed to me, and I am 100% set free by the blood of Christ and by the word of my testimony. Many doctors and therapists have told me over the years that I must have been misdiagnosed, because there is nothing schizophrenic about me. But I know the truth: it was demonic. It was real. And in Christ Jesus, I am free.

    But life still has its ups and downs. Health issues, money issues, relationship issues. As long as we are in this world, we will continue to have tribulations.

    My goal today is just to be more like Christ. In Jesus, there is fullness of joy. Even when my flesh can’t even…

    God bless you, Ryan. By the way, I have kids your age, so my concern for you is along the lines of a mom. I read your mom’s comment above, and I was so glad to see it. And I am with her, I think another doctor’s opinion couldn’t hurt. 😊

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    1. I think that was the longest comment I have ever written. Whew! I thought I had it all properly edited. But after I posted it, I noticed a typo in the last sentence of the second paragraph. That’s supposed to say “with a link to his new post” not “his new position.” (Darn auto incorrect!)

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