What happens when your search for peace leads you down a path that ultimately leaves you searching for even more? Dr. Laurette Willis began practicing yoga as a child and says it eventually became part of a 22-year journey through New Age spirituality. Behind that spiritual search were deep personal wounds and struggles with emotional eating, alcoholism and relationships that never seemed to fill the emptiness. Laurette kept searching for the next experience, the next answer and the peace that always seemed just beyond her reach.
Then, at 29, everything began to change. Laurette describes reaching a moment when she believed God confronted her with a profound question: What if everything you thought about God was wrong—and would you be willing to give it up to know the truth? Her decision to surrender her life to Jesus Christ marked a dramatic turning point. She says the alcoholism that had controlled her life ended, and a new journey of healing, faith and transformation began.
Today, Laurette is a Doctor of Theology, Christian life and health coach, Cognitive Behavioral Therapist and founder of PraiseMoves®,which she describes as a Christian alternative to yoga. She also developed the Christian MindCoach Method™, drawing upon Scripture and practical neuroscience techniques to help people recognize destructive thought patterns, renew their minds and develop healthier ways of thinking and living. Our conversation explores her concerns about the spiritual roots of yoga and New Age practices, but it also goes much deeper—into addiction, grief, surrender, deliverance and what it really means to experience lasting change.
Perhaps the most hopeful part of Laurette's story is what happened to the pieces of her past she might once have wished she could erase. Instead, those experiences became part of how she now helps others. “Your mountain can become your ministry,” she told me. It's a beautiful reminder that our failures, wounds and wrong turns don't necessarily have to be the final chapter. Sometimes, they become the very places from which we can offer hope to someone else.
