I am writing this as I am in a flare. A flare is when the illness is active. I wanted to write not when I am in remission but in the thick of feeling hideous. It is easy to be encouraging when you feel your normal and not in pain, fatigue and nausea. To say that as the title says that chronic illness has hidden blessings does not come when you first are dealing with health issues, it takes years walking with the Lord through the illness or illnesses. We can always find the negatives such as for a lot of us our dreams of what we would like to do stay just that dreams because we don't have the energy to do them and the stress to pursue the dream flares us back up. Also making plans is difficult because you don't know how you will feel. For me personally, I tried to do driving school and I was going to do the English and the Italian class as well as do Italian language school, but once I flared from the stress of things going on in my life I had to withdraw from everything to try and get better. For a lot of people with chronic illness autumn and spring are hard seasons on our bodies. There are days that are really hard especially when the pain is 7 all day for several days. I love Job in the Bible. Many people criticize him for saying that he wished he was never born, but you know God never rebuked him for that. God understood the agony that was in his heart. Think about it, in one day he lost all 10 kids, his wealth, God left him his not helpful wife and he had miserable friends and his health was hit and he was in pain constantly. Who wouldn't say that they wish they were never born? My point is we can go to the Lord and pour our hearts out to Him on those hard days. The best part is that God knows you from the top of your head to the soles of your feet. He knows all about you. You never have to explain yourself to God or be afraid he will misunderstand you or judge you for how you feel. He understands and is acquainted with all our weaknesses. Hebrews 4:15-16 "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." He is walking with you through your illness. As this lady name Bernice would tell me, "Tell whatever is on your heart to the Lord because He is not going to snitch on you." The best part is the Lord really cares and loves you. You can never bother the Lord. You can never come too much to the Lord. Jesus has 'put his money where his mouth is' when He tells us He loves us because He died for us. He has shown us through His actions and His faithfulness.
So, what is the blessings of Chronic illness? If you have walked with the Lord for any length of time you have verses that you hold onto. For those with Chronic illness those verses become infused into our hearts. We have drawn close to the Lord. Ps 119:67 "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word." Our walk with the Lord becomes deeper because we run to Him more. Jesus is close to those that are suffering. I recommend to read a devotional by Susanna Spurgeon (Charles Spurgeon's wife). It is called Clusters of Camphire. It is written for those that are with Chronic illnesses. Susanna also struggle with a Chronic illness. She always points the reader to Christ and submitting to the refining process of the Lord. I am just going to list some other blessings. We learned to value the little things like sunsets, flowers, nature. We have learned to slow down and prioritize what is important. Yes, we may not be able to do a lot to physically help people but we can do a job that is often neglected and that is being a prayer warrior. The Christian battles are not physical but spiritual. We need more prayer warriors. We also realize that we only have so much energy and life is short so we pick and choose our battles with people. We have learned what will be will be and if it is suppose to get done it will. God will give us the energy for it. We can't afford to stress. All these life lessons many never learn and miss out on the beauty of Christ and of truly enjoying Him.
It is so easy to focus on our health 24/7 but let's instead focus our minds on enjoying Christ and those that God has in our lives.
So, what is the blessings of Chronic illness? If you have walked with the Lord for any length of time you have verses that you hold onto. For those with Chronic illness those verses become infused into our hearts. We have drawn close to the Lord. Ps 119:67 "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word." Our walk with the Lord becomes deeper because we run to Him more. Jesus is close to those that are suffering. I recommend to read a devotional by Susanna Spurgeon (Charles Spurgeon's wife). It is called Clusters of Camphire. It is written for those that are with Chronic illnesses. Susanna also struggle with a Chronic illness. She always points the reader to Christ and submitting to the refining process of the Lord. I am just going to list some other blessings. We learned to value the little things like sunsets, flowers, nature. We have learned to slow down and prioritize what is important. Yes, we may not be able to do a lot to physically help people but we can do a job that is often neglected and that is being a prayer warrior. The Christian battles are not physical but spiritual. We need more prayer warriors. We also realize that we only have so much energy and life is short so we pick and choose our battles with people. We have learned what will be will be and if it is suppose to get done it will. God will give us the energy for it. We can't afford to stress. All these life lessons many never learn and miss out on the beauty of Christ and of truly enjoying Him.
It is so easy to focus on our health 24/7 but let's instead focus our minds on enjoying Christ and those that God has in our lives.