By Michael H. Brown

We all go through it don't we? The news that we or a loved one may have a serious illness. In too many cases, what greets us next is the cold sterile atmosphere of a clinic or hospital.

There are two experts who are trying to change that -- are trying to alter our very approach to serious disease -- and they have the good news of hope: that there is the opportunity for recovery and joy and healing even after a diagnosis of something like cancer.

What's needed, they say -- these two scientists! -- is a spiritual approach.

The two practitioners are Dr. Michael Torosian, a surgeon, and Veruschka R. Biddle, a psychotherapist. They hail from the Philadelphia area and are determined to spread the word about what they call "a journey to spiritual healing."

"We've found that patients with many different illnesses have success with this approach," Dr. Torosian tells us. "A lot of physicians have a hard time grasping this because they're taught as scientists to 'prove' things and you can't prove a lot that goes on in the spiritual realm. We see a lot of things that you can't explain with just physical data."

There are changes in blood pressure. There are physiological improvements that go beyond medicine. Dr. Biddle, who is trained to help people with traumas, takes on patients who are ready to give up (who in some cases have begun preparing for their own funerals) and seeks to turn all that around -- knowing that with Christ, all things are possible.

What it takes is a connection to God.

With that comes "an incredible spiritual transformation that gives them peace," she says. "Suddenly they become very calm and peaceful. The peace is quite mysterious, and they are placed in a position of new power."

That power can lead to remarkable healing.

This is key: disease should not have control over us. We should have control over the disease -- when we are with God Who is all-powerful.

It isn't just verbiage, a pep rally. It's fact: there is never the need for despair.

Does that mean everyone who has faith and prays will see a miraculous cure?

How God answers our prayers is up to Him. What we need to know is that everything that happens to us is for our eternal betterment. God has created eternity for us. He calls some of us home.

But prayer affords the opportunity for the Holy Spirit to work within us -- and He does, in various ways that can be seen as miraculous. "I see an overall transformation," says Dr. Biddle, who with Dr. Torosian has penned a new book called Spirit To Heal. "The focus is to become more Christ-like, and trust is a major, major issue. If you do not trust, you live in fear. When you have trust, something beautiful happens."

"Physiologic things change," adds Dr. Torosian. It's not just a change in attitude. Even if someone has extensive cancer, there is no death sentence. Dr. Torosian never tells a patient they have X-number of years or months to live.

No one knows that but God.

And with God, no one is alone.

"We keep all our patients in prayer," comments Dr. Biddle. "Everything goes so smoothly when we pray. When you do pray for a surgery, we invite the Spirit of God into the entire process." And when a new patient comes to see her, says Dr. Biddle, she prays for that person's guardian angel to lend her insight.

Does she find results?

"Yes, absolutely," says the therapist. "A lot of people forget that they have a personal guardian with them all the time, and when you're in any situation of illness or fright or loss and you know that there's a spiritual companion as well as God, it gives you that extra security."

In the book, Dr. Biddle recounts entering the room of a 45-year-old woman named Lynn who was nearing the end of her life with cancer. "I was suddenly overcome with a deep sense of a Divine Presence in Lynn's room," recalls the psychotherapist. "The room was filled with such peace and love that I was moved to tears. As I approached Lynn's bed I suddenly sensed the presence of two large, beautiful angels standing on either side of her bed. The angels were placing their arms gently underneath Lynn's very frail body, just as though they were ready to lift her up. I was in such awe of this image that I was not sure how to tell Lynn or her family what I was experiencing. I wondered if I was seeing a vision or if I was creating a picture in my own mind. I did not want to question what I was experiencing, it was just too beautiful."

Lynn, who was having difficulty speaking, whispered Dr. Biddle's name and asked her to come closer.

"I just had the most wonderful experience," the ill woman told her. "I think I am in a dream." When asked if she wanted to say what happened, Lynn said she had seen two beautiful, tall and strong angels at either side of her bed. They were waiting to lift her up to Heaven.

The point? We are never without hope. We are never alone. "I have seen many, many patients pass away and it has totally taken away my fear of dying," Dr. Biddle tells us. "I observe such a wonderful peace. What they see at that moment must be so incredible that I think death is by far the most beautiful experience that we ever have."

The psychotherapist says that this includes accidents -- that people with serious injuries also gain that peace and painlessness at the moment of death. They are seeing something we can't. They see the Light. Dr. Biddle says she has also observed indications of the presence of saints like Padre Pio. And the psychotherapist says it's common for those dying to slip into a different sort of consciousness two or three days before their expiration and encounter deceased loved ones who have come to help them with the transition.

"I remember one girl who had her wisdom teeth out and had an allergic reaction to the anesthesia," says Dr. Biddle. "When she woke up after three days in a coma, she asked her mother, 'Who is Philip?' Her mother turned white and asked why. The girl said, 'Because I saw Philip in Heaven and he told me I needed to go back and he even looks like me.' Then her mother said, 'He was your twin brother who was lost. We actually had had a Christian burial and named him Philip.' They had never told her about it."

The key is surrender and unconditional trust. This is what heals. The key is also to forgive. Crucial! Fear is created when there is no love.

"Surrender your thoughts, feelings, and emotions and ask God to replace your fear and anxiety with His serenity and tranquility," write the two experts in a book you should give your doctor, especially if your doctor thinks that there is any such thing as a disease that is "incurable."

Resources in Spiritdaily bookstore: Spirit To Heal

Dr. Biddle's and Dr. Torosian's website:  www.spirittoheal.com