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Letting God Choose A Word For The Year
In the past, I have resisted choosing a word for the year because it has always seemed so arbitrary. I’ve seen other people do that, and then they seem frustrated when the random word they chose hasn’t magically panned out over the year. It almost seems like setting yourself up for failure to decide the year will be a certain thing, and then get disappointed when it isn’t. Especially if that word is a vague hope, vs. a goal you work towards.
But a few years ago, I listened to a podcast by the Ransomed Heart team about letting God choose your word/verse/theme for the year. (Here’s this year’s podcast on that topic.)
I found this perspective so refreshing and have enjoyed praying about what word and Bible verse God has for me each new year since. It has been a great practice for growing closer to God and bringing my plans and hopes for the year to Him.
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Brain Fog Broke My Internal Editor
Fibromyalgia has impacted my ability as a writer, and I’m just starting to understand all the ways it has. I’ve been trying to express it for awhile, with the irony being that it takes way more effort now for me to express anything. Brain fog has made it extremely hard for me to objectively edit my work. It’s like the editing part of my brain is broken.
Blogging has been much harder than I thought it would be, for reasons I didn’t expect. I knew energy to write was going to be a challenge, in addition to fighting through brain fog to express myself. But I wasn’t expecting to have so much trouble evaluating the quality of my work.
I was given a great piece of advice
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To the Christian Who Feels Sad at Christmastime—Here’s What’s Helping Me
We’re getting real on the blog today.
I want talk about struggling with feelings of sadness around Christmas, something that can impact anyone, not only those of us with chronic illness.
In a way, this feels a bit like a taboo subject. I kind of worry about admitting to this struggle out of fear that people will think I’m not grateful for all Christmas represents (it is Jesus’ birthday after all!) or that my sadness means I somehow dislike Christmas (which certainly is not the case!)
I’ve struggled over the past several holiday seasons, and a lot of it has had to do with getting used to my limitations due to chronic illness. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, so in addition to struggling with not feeling happy, I’m also struggling with not feeling quite like myself. My love for Christmas is a part of who I am, so this sadness is yet another way my chronic illnesses impact my identity.
And I think as Christians we can sometimes feel pressure to feel or act happy 24/7, so feeling sad this time of year adds another layer of complexity—I feel guilty about it!
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Like A Disappointed Butterfly
I was sitting outside last week, and it was one of those still days where you could imagine you were the only person on earth. There was no one else home, no neighbors outside, and no lawn mowers or car engines were humming in the distance. All I could hear
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A Playlist of Upbeat Songs
If you love music and are looking for some songs that will lift your spirits, I’ve compiled a bit of an eclectic mix!
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Some Thoughts on The Value of Patience
As a blogger who is a Christian, I’ve been trying to practice asking God what He wants from my blog. I want to be willing to let God disrupt my schedule and plans because He knows what I need to be writing more than I do, and He knows what my audience needs to be reading more than I do.
If you’ve listened to the wonderful Ransomed Heart podcast, you’ll be familiar with this idea that God’s plan is often disruptive. I’ve found this perspective helpful, as well as, ahem, disruptive. This awareness has helped me to look for times when I am getting too caught up in myself and the way I think things should be done.
As far as blogging goes, this means asking God in prayer about what topics to cover next. God is like my editor who gives my blog schedule final approval. (And yes, He has swapped things around on me!) As I was thinking about my upcoming posts, I asked God, “What topic would you like me to write about next.” “Patience” was the immediate answer. So immediate that I was rather taken aback. Do I really need to work on patience that badly?!
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A Playlist of Upbeat Christian Songs
If the approach of summer has you in the mood for making a playlist, I have some great suggestions for you!
It’s amazing how much music affects our emotions, and I’ve definitely felt the need for more upbeat music lately.
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My Guest Post: Uncertainty in Fibromyalgia And Chronic Illness
I am delighted that I had the opportunity to write a guest post that originally appeared on the blog Chronically Hopeful. I hope that if you can relate to my struggle with uncertainty you will be encouraged by this post!
(Also, be sure to check out Chronically Hopeful’s Facebook page for more encouragement.)
You would expect a diagnosis to bring some certainty to your life. But when the diagnosis you receive is for a chronic illness that is currently incurable, that is not often the case. It took me some time to realize this. At first, I was blindsided by the amount of uncertainty that took up residence in my life due to my health.
Being diagnosed with a chronic illness puts us in a constant state of uncertainty. This uncertainty is one of the unexpected and most difficult side effects I’ve been dealing with since being diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Before getting diagnosed, as my health declined, there was always the assumption in the back of my mind that things would get better, I would get well, and life would continue as normal. But the diagnoses have just kept coming in the last two years: thyroid cancer, Dysautonomia, CFIDS, in addition to the asthma and allergies I was diagnosed with early on in life.
Unless you’ve experienced fibromyalgia, Dysautonomia, or other chronic illnesses, it’s hard to imagine the daily impact. I find myself wishing someone had warned me, which is just the same as wishing there was no such thing as uncertainty!
My body and my mind have become sources of uncertainty. I’m normally a very organized and dependable person. I could be counted on to show up when I said I would, to have a project done by deadline. Now, I often have to cancel last minute because there’s no telling when my body will suddenly decide it’s done for the day. I also used to thrive on having a schedule and routine. My symptoms and lack of energy throw my entire day into chaos, making it nearly impossible to predict when I’ll be able to accomplish even simple tasks.
Perhaps most frustrating of all is the uncertainty I now experience when it comes to my mind. I used to easily memorize information, but now struggle to find words or put them in the right order when speaking. When proofreading my writing, I’ll often find that I’ve inexplicably typed the wrong word. This is all part of the infamous brain fog of fibromyalgia. It makes me uncomfortable when talking with even close friends, let alone people I don’t know well, and impacts my confidence as a writer and my self esteem in general.
In spite of all this (and maybe partially because of it) I’m a huge believer in silver linings. What, you might ask, could possibly be a silver lining to so much uncertainty?
Maybe, if we can harness our uncertainty, we can let it force us to realize that uncertainty is a natural part of life.
The world teaches us that we should have every step of our lives planned out. And part of me really likes that. I want to know all the details. I want to be prepared. But is this healthy?
Can you relate to uncertainty due to chronic illness? I’d love to hear your thoughts about my post in the comments!
