My childhood was filled with contrast. I was adopted and never met my father. I was sexually abused and bullied throughout school. My adopted mother passed away during my Junior school year and I started living on my own.

At the age of 18, I was hit with a deep wave of depression with no one really there to help me at that time. However, through some random sequence of events, the book, The Secret appeared in my life. I am unable to remember exactly how it happened. When I received it, I read it straight through and carried it everywhere I went.

I was living on my friend’s couch and was working at Starbucks which was located across town. I only had a bike to get myself there and the chain on the bike would constantly fall off so it would take a good 30 to 45 minutes to get to work. I remember thinking, what was the point of my life.

Here is what I did after reading The Secret. I wrote a check out for $10,000. Took a picture of the car and the house I wanted. I believed I had my dream job already, which was to be accepted into active duty. I remember any time I spoke to anyone, I would bring it up and speak as if it had already come true.

During the next nine months, everything did come true! I was accepted into active duty for the Military with a salary of $4500 a month, without meeting any of the qualifications. I received a call from a Primerica Rep stating that my mother had left me exactly $10,000 in an account. With that money, I was able to buy my dream car and house. And it didn’t stop there. Because I knew these principles worked, I applied them for my life in the military. By the age of 27, I had already reached the rank of E-7 which the majority of soldiers can not do until they reach the age of 35!

I since then, I have gotten out of the military to help others discover the principles of The Secret. But in doing so I still felt like I was searching for more. Like there was still something within me I did not fully understand yet. That was, until the release of The Greatest Secret. Even with all of the success and contrast I had experienced, the greatest moment of my life was when I finished reading The Greatest Secret. And it hit me! The answer I had been searching for all this time had been right in front of me!

I close this story from a place of gratitude and love for Rhonda Byrne. Also, for you, if you are reading this, because if I can discover the answer then so can you!