As a business, I've not been in the holistic pet care industry long. As a pet owner and pet care worker, it has been a very long journey. I came to this industry as a result of not only being extremely frustrated in traditional care and methods but because I am attracted to doing things naturally, the way God intended and always have been. What I've found in this industry is almost an oxymoron though.

Holistic means caring for the entire person, animal, whatever it is you're doing ?mind, body and soul. It means to not just treat symptoms but to get at the root cause and treat that. In the pet care business, it means caring for the animal BEFORE it gets sick using natural foods not kibble, using natural whole food supplements, using homeopathic and naturopathic methods to build up the immune system so that when those bugs, parasites, viruses, bacteria, etc., come knocking at the door, the animal's body naturally fights them off without drugs and medicines. It means caring for the mind of your pet by exercise and interacting with them, training them using species specific methods, socializing them and so on. This is what holistic means.

Here is my dilemma: why then is the holistic industry full of the New Age movement (i.e., the One World Order Movement)? Even more so why is it ASSUMED that I am a new ager because I'm in this industry? I've had a couple of people in some of the networking groups I belong to be hesitant to do business with me thinking I may be part of "that new age" movement. I've also had new agers just assume I am one of them and like me based solely on that. I don't know why precisely this industry is so inundated with this movement, but I am a voice for Christ in this arena ? Who is THE Healer, THE Great Physician.

A few months ago I took a definitive stand to thwart any thoughts about where my alliance is but I didn't want to push away any "possibles" for Christ. I started publishing a Christian Quote for the Day on my holistic pet care RSS channel, AspenbloomWellPet. I got a lot of hits per day on that. So I decided, with the help of my partner, Cathy Carlton, to put up an all Christian RSS channel that was encouraging and yet distinctly Christian and we called it Sharing Spirit ? which is in fact a "subchannel" of AspenbloomWellPet. It keeps the two connected and no doubts as to where my faith lies.

I continue to share bits and pieces of my faith on AspenbloomWellPet ?usually in my weekly editorial so that there is never any doubt. I was also fortunate to find another like-minded Christian woman to help me start up some audio classes in preventative pet care. She is a breeder and uses all holistic means to care for herself and her pets. We're a novelty I can tell you! We both feel God has brought us together to infiltrate and penetrate, as we're not called to isolate. We're even calling our venture (her idea by the way) All God's Creatures. That has never brought any negative feelings to anyone, and in fact, we've had great reception from the leaders in the holistic pet care industry including veterinarians, herbalists, aromatherapists, and so on.

I know that God gives us our talents, our desires, and our abilities. Then He gives us the wherewithal to use them for His glory if we're but willing. So, He enables the called, and then opens the doors to do His bidding. I kept wondering, well how in the world are you going to use my love of animals and natural healing for anything Lord? Good thing God has a sense of humor and can laugh at our ignorance, huh?

I feel very blessed that God is using me in this capacity ?to shine the True Light into the darkness. While this road is not heavily traveled by Christians, or at least those who admit they're Christian, I am hoping that many will "come out" and BE salt and light. Be His love so that those who believe they have the truth, but are being lied to, will be drawn into His Truth, His Holistic Healing!

Kim Bloomer, of Aspenbloom, is a preventative pet care consultant. She also publishes several RSS channels including Aspenbloom WellPet Visit her website at Aspenbloom Pet Care