BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

“We had a rough start to our marriage. I’d been born again, but I hadn’t learned how to handle my flesh. When I got angry at Mel, I cussed and threw my high heels at him. I’m not sure our marriage would have survived if we hadn’t gone to the West Coast Believers’ Convention that July. That’s when Kenneth and Gloria Copeland became our role models. We wanted to be just like them. Mel had already started the journey, but I joined him in learning to live by faith, walk in love and forgive. Through that process, our marriage was healed.” Secrets Revealed Throughout their relationship, Mel had no idea Desiree was battling anorexia and bulimia. She had managed to hide it from him while they were dating, through two weddings, a honeymoon in Europe and months of marriage. Over and over, she took her stand by faith. She confessed scriptures. She prayed. She released her faith. Time after time, her starving body screamed for food until she binged. Then shame and guilt drove her to purge. Mel came home from work one day and found Desiree sobbing. “What’s wrong?” he asked, gathering her in his arms. Desiree blurted out the whole story. How she’d been fat. She told him about the running. The starving. How she’d binge on a whole bowl of cookie dough. The awful purging. The vicious cycle she was powerless to stop, and how hard she’d tried. “This faith stuff doesn’t work!” she wailed. “Desiree Ayres! I don’t care how many times you slip! I don’t care how many times you fall! You are healed in Jesus’ Name!” Mel declared. Desiree blinked and stopped crying. It was the strangest sensation. She felt his words go into her body. In that instant, she stopped seeing herself as a victim. What Mel said was true. Bingeing and purging didn’t change the truth. The truth was that by Jesus’ stripes she was already healed. She’d received her healing when she’d asked. She was already a victor in Christ. Over the next few months, whenever Desiree felt hungry she would remind herself that, “Jesus said...‘I am the bread of life.’” Then she ran to the Word of God. One day, overwhelmed with the urge to eat cookie dough, Desiree heard these words: 'I want you to pray in the spirit.' From Victim to Victor “I started praying in tongues and after a while I felt God’s presence fill me,” Desiree recalls. “I threw down the cookie dough. I learned there were two things which, operating together, would defeat the flesh—including anorexia and bulimia. The first was to devour God’s Word. Then add to that, the strength that comes through praying in the spirit, especially when I was tempted. Jude 1:20 says, ‘But you, beloved, [build] yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit’ ("New King James Version"). That was the answer when my spirit was willing but my flesh was weak. Through that combination, I defeated anorexia and bulimia.” From that point, Desiree’s career took off with her landing jobs on several TV shows. “I was Catherine Bach’s stunt double in the 'Dukes of Hazzard.' I was Heather Thomas’ stunt double in 'The Fall Guy,'" she said. “I worked on 'Remington Steele' and 'Knight Rider.' I also acted in 'The Incredible Hulk,' 'Riptide,' 'Brain Storm' and many other shows.” While Desiree’s career was raging, so was Mel’s. He had acting roles in the popular TV soap operas "Days of Our Lives," "General Hospital" and "Falcon Crest," as well as the hit comedy "Three’s Company." Mel was a good actor and roles kept being offered to him. There was only one small problem. He didn’t enjoy his work. What Mel did enjoy was spending time with and serving such inspiring ministers as Fred Price, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Richard Roberts, and Lloyd Ogilvie. Even more, he loved listening to their conversations. Mel loved going to church, and attending multiple services each week. He couldn’t get enough of the Word of God. “I grew up in Florida where I’d made a profession of faith in Jesus,” Mel says. “When I left Florida I went to California to disappear. I got involved with the wrong crowd and started drinking and using drugs. I just wandered through life until, one day in 1980, I was driving across the L.A. freeway when the presence of God filled my car. The experience was so powerful I couldn’t drive. I pulled over on the side of the road where the Lord ministered to me for two hours. He never mentioned my sin. The message was this: 'I love you.' 22 : BVOV

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