About Michele

Michele Longo O’Donnell is the senior minister and spiritual counselor of El Shaddai Life Ministries. This is a spiritually based ministry that has responded to the Biblical call to “heal the sick”. Mandated by Jesus to all of his followers, we at El Shaddai endeavor to realize a world devoid of suffering by the domination of dis-ease. We believe that the way has been established by Jesus to rise up and out from under the rubble of dis-ease ridden devastation. Our definition of dis-ease is not exclusively defined as physical infirmity, but also includes any dis-ease often experienced by mankind including mental, emotional, financial, and/or social challenges. We have discovered through 35 years of experience that no matter what challenge appears, its root is spiritual in origin. As so many have said before, it all begins at the belief level. “According as you have believed, so shall you experience” –Jesus.

In 1965 Michele became a registered nurse and went on to complete two years of undergraduate work at Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio. There she devoted several years to the pediatric intensive care, emergency room and coronary care units. She has since surrendered her nursing license to devote herself to this full-time ministry.

In 1970 her second daughter was born premature with respiratory and cardiac complications that required frequent resuscitations for several months. Due to oxygen deprivation she incurred, her mental status was compromised, and she was diagnosed with severe mental retardation. That situation led Michele to study the Bible, as well as the healing works of Jesus and to find her place in it all. She began to experience many spontaneous healings during those first years, but of greatest impact was the healing of her daughter who is now married, a mother of two lovely children, a former assistant Attorney General of Texas and today an attorney in private practice.

Subsequently, Michele attended a three year Bible college and was later ordained in a non-denominational, charismatic faith. She continued her quest for spiritual understanding which led to many deep and wonderful truths and experiences. In 1973 Michele moved to San Antonio, Texas. A combination of life experiences and the increased knowledge of spiritual healing led her to a belief in holistic living where it is realized that we are a whole being, body, mind and spirit, and these can no longer be compartmentalized when reaching out to help someone in need. Indeed all factors of life are interrelated and must be addressed if we are to experience balance harmony and wholeness in our lives. In 1975 she began a center which combines spiritual and emotional support with the introduction of many lost and forgotten wisdoms in the physical responsibility which we must re-learn to maintain wholeness in our bodies and lives. During the past 35 years Michele has recognized that there are Spiritual Wisdoms and Principles of Life, that when understood and practiced, result in increased strength and wellbeing, no matter what the present challenge or past circumstances of their life may be.

In 1999, Michele wrote her first book, Of Monkeys & Dragons: Freedom From The Tyranny of Disease, outlining these life principles. She shared her experiences with the hope that readers everywhere might understand the possibility of living without disease.

Due to the public's response to this book and a desire for a more in-depth explanation of these principles, in 2005 Michele wrote a second book, The God That We've Created, the Basic Cause of All Disease. This writing explains her belief that we were never intended by our Creator to live with pain, misery and tears. Further it states that disease and suffering is a learned experience and therefore can be un-learned.

In late 2007, Michele finished her third book, When the Wolf is at the Door, The Simplicity of Healing. When the Wolf is at the Door is a “how-to” book for anyone wanting to regain health and wholeness and live it on a constant basis. It emphasizes how to free yourself from dis-ease, whether that dis-ease is physical, emotional, relational, financial or other. It is an instruction manual for living in freedom.

Today, Michele O’Donnell is in demand internationally as an inspirational speaker. She is the host of a regular radio show called LIVING BEYOND DISEASE, heard throughout the USA, Eastern Canada, and worldwide on Internet radio. In addition, Michele has an annual retreat in the beautiful Texas Hill Country the last weekend of each February.

It must be added that we in no way hold ourselves to be a medical facility or to treat specific maladies. We instead “treat” the person as a whole unit and introduce “Life Principles” which we endeavor to help each person learn to apply in their specific circumstances. We have found that by doing so they enjoy an increased sense of health and wholeness. We believe that the body was designed and created to heal itself and as we learn to treat it right, it will in turn respond and treat itself right. Most but not all are placed on specific regimes including dietary supplements as appropriate for their care. This has often been defined as a “life changing experience” that they can take with them and practice for the remainder of their lives.