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The Best Medicine
James Wimberly lives in Chicago’s bustling Lincoln Park community. A South Side native, James moved to Atlanta as a young boy and discovered a new church family one day while walking around the neighborhood. He heard singing and other sounds of worship through the screen door of a nearby house.
"I looked in and saw a lady named Fanny Thompson, who asked me to come on in and join them," James says. "Ms. Thompson took me under her wing and I experienced something new—through all of the joyful expressions of the service, I had an experience with God."
James eventually moved back to his hometown and is now a praise leader and elder in Fire Aflame Ministries, a congregation that worships on Chicago’s South Side.
James has lived with ESRD since 1984. Originally on peritoneal dialysis, he switched to hemodialysis in 1988. In 1992, James received a kidney transplant. "It was glorious," he says. "My skin color came back, all the oils in my skin returned."
Four-and a-half years after receiving his healthy kidney, James needed dialysis again. The setback didn’t damage his faith. "I believe somehow, some way, a way will be found," he says. "As a believer, I believe God can and will heal me from this. What I’ve experienced hasn’t deterred my faith."
James says his faith doesn’t mean he’s not responsible for his own hard work in staying healthy. "I have to help myself," he says. "That’s just plain wisdom. My faith has helped me learn how to deal with it."
James says there is another source of inspiration that comes from God that has helped him maintain his health. "Laughter does us good," he says. "It’s like a medicine. It’s a way through these dark clouds sometimes. I think that’s what we share with one another at the clinic. There’s always a reason to laugh."
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