Tammy Faye

I happened upon the Larry King show tonight without knowing who his guests were, and discovered that he had an extremely skeletal Tammy Faye (Bakker) Messner on. She is in the throes of what most would call end-stage (though she might not!) inoperable cancer, and wanted to come on the show to tell her fans how much she loves and cares for them. I have never particularly been a fan of hers--till now.

She was AMAZING. At first, I was horrified to see her as she only weighs 65 lbs. (Probably only 63, but she had on her standard couple of pounds of makeup, which exacerbated things.) She said she was up five lbs. and was very proud of it. She and her husband had just moved from North Carolina to the Kansas City area to be near his children and grandchildren--what kind of person survives a move like that when they are as sick as she is? And how many would be willing to do it? That's love.

She really looked quite scary--you can see an excerpt from the interview on YouTube if you put "Tammy Faye Larry King" (without the quotes) in the search window, and I'm pretty sure the media will do what it can to spread the sensational-looking images far and wide. But the amazing part wasn't the frightening way she looked; the amazing part was her faith and her inner light. It has not even dimmed an iota, even though she reports being in constant pain, primarily in her spine and stomach (thus, the weight loss).

That she was able to sit through a half hour of an interview and answer questions the way she did--even cracking a joke or two--was really a feat. (One caller asked what she'd like to be remembered for and before she gave her straight answer, she quipped, "My eyelashes!") She was obviously very determined to do it. Say what you like about Tammy Faye--she is truly a remarkable and inspiring being who is demonstrating to the world that with faith, you can do superhuman things. AND, that you can create your own reality if you refuse to buy into everyone else's ideas of what is supposed to happen. She refuses to listen to the doctors' prognoses because she says she doesn't want them to influence her. And despite the condition she is in, her husband--who clearly adores her and is her constant support--and son report she is continuously optimistic. Her husband says she even wakes up with a smile.

Clearly, she has found the peace that passes understanding and is living in Grace.What an inspiration! She is proving that denial is not some sort of sad delusion, but a strategy that you use when you have a vision for what you want to create that defies the status quo. Of course, I would never advise that someone deny their fears--and she says she has embraced her fears--but it would seem she has largely transcended it at this point. She is clearly operating at a higher vibrational frequency, which is absolutely predictable for someone who has put their faith completely in God as they understand God to be.

Oddly, after the interview with Tammy Faye and her husband, Roe Messner, and then her son, Jay Bakker (who is now quite a charismatic rebel preacher with a church called Revolution Church out of New York City), they had, of all people, Deepak Chopra on to comment! He was on concurrently with part of the segment with Jay and it was interesting to see the young man's face as Deepak gave his interpretation of his mother's interview and of her spiritual condition. Deepak, like I--and probably millions of others--was hugely affected and inspired by this woman's absolute commitment to living right up to the very end and by her total faith in what he called "the mystery we call God." It was clear that he could have spoken about it more esoterically but he was aware of his audience and, to his credit, kept it simple.

So, as you have by now deduced, the whole thing was very moving. I had almost decided to go to bed without blogging tonight, but you have Tammy Faye to thank for me staying up to write this because I was so affected and compelled to share . Such is the power of one inspirational person to create ripples. I affirm for her a continued beautiful passage and transition, however long she decides to make it last!