Coping Skills

Searching For My Abundant Life

October 27, 2011 By admin 4 Comments

Emotional and spiritual growth. It is hard. I sit here balancing my netbook on my lap. If I rest my elbows on the arms of my chair I can sort of type. Both shoulders are throbbing. Ache. Pause. Shooting pain. Pause. Throb. Pause. They have hurt since before going to bed last night and did not improve. But due to my jaw swelling shut the day before, I was too focused on the pain there. My head ached. This morning the head is somewhat better. But now I feel the shoulders. Please, Lord, I cry out. Don't let this be my day! I already gave Tuesday and Wednesday to my illness. I want Thursday! I need to go and take a shower. Get dressed. But I can barely stand. I cannot reach my head to even pat down the bed head. How long … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Coping Skills, This is Me, What's New? Tagged With: Abundant life, Christian, Facebook features, God, Jesus, Lord, Rest Ministries, San Diego

Withdrawls

September 8, 2011 By admin 7 Comments

I am down to 10 mgs of prednisone. It's taken 4 months. I was at 20 mgs for nearly 3 years. "Prednisone is not good for you!" people told me. I know. If only you knew, I wanted to say. See this fat? See my eyes with huge cataracts? My swollen feet? . . . I know. But I don't know what to do. I flared out of control at 19 mg. After a decade with the same rheumatologist, I found a new doctor in April. Please, Lord, let him be able to help me. He is helping me. I like him. I believe he knows what he is doing. He treats chronic symptoms with long-term help, acute symptoms with temporary relief so my life can continue. I am now down to 10 mg from 20. A miracle. My goal is 5. I will likely be at 5 the rest of my … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Coping Skills, Founder's Blog, This is Me, What's New? Tagged With: Cold turkey, Counties, Health, Lord, Rest Ministries, Rheumatoid arthritis, San Diego, United States

Raise Your Hands If You Really Love Jesus

August 16, 2011 By admin 3 Comments

Shannon Dingle Last month, my church hosted a large women's conference. We put it on every other year, and it is truly a blessing. I really loved our musicians this time and enjoyed worshiping with other women from different churches and neighborhoods and backgrounds. Such a sweet glimpse of what heaven--plus men and children, of course--has in store for us! It was especially sweet to have this time, while my sweet husband was home with our two preschoolers, because I was in pain that weekend. I have rheumatoid arthritis, and my IV meds had worn off with three weeks before the next dose. Some movements gave me the sensation of needles in my joints, which isn't so pleasant (and some lack of movement did the same, but there wasn't … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Articles, Articles - Read, Coping Skills, Invisible Illnesses, What's New? Tagged With: Christ, Christianity, Church, Evangelism, God, Jesus, Religion & Spirituality, Y'all

What She Learned Lying Down, Angela Dugi Shares Her Reflections

August 4, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Bridget Gazlay Through my conversations with Angela Dugi, author of What I Learned Lying Down: Hope for the Chronically Ill, I saw that God did indeed meet her needs during her times of devastation. She struggles with chronic fatigue, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, osteoporosis, and asthma, and yet God has provided for her in miraculous ways. God has used her illnesses to teach her five life lessons: First, we must gain an eternal perspective "God used my weekly trips to the cancer center to teach me that, and much more." Because she is chronically ill, she could empathize with others who were hurting. She knows firsthand (after fourteen years) how encouraging words helped her to survive when she thought she could not … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Articles, Coping Skills, Person w/ Illness, Share Your Story, Spiritually Struggling, What's New? Tagged With: Christ, Chronic (medicine), God, Gospel of Matthew, Holy Spirit, New International Version, Second Epistle to the Corinthians, West Michigan

The Joy of Laughter — Even When It’s At Yourself!

June 1, 2011 By admin 5 Comments

By Tami Nantz "There is a time for everything. . . a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance." (Ecclesiastes 3:1a, 4) My sweet mama was one of the funniest people I've ever known. Her battle with rheumatoid arthritis began suddenly at the young age of thirty, when I was just four years old. I don't remember a time in my life when she was without pain. Within just a few years of diagnosis, she began to have surgeries. First, to replace her right hip, then her left knee, then her toes. She knew what it meant to suffer physically. Yet, one of the things I most admired about my mom was her determination to thrive, to be happy in spite of her circumstances, her determination to truly live. Tim Hansel wrote … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Articles, Coping Skills, Joy, What's New? Tagged With: Christian, Chronic (medicine), God, Health, Jesus, John Powell, laugh, Laughter, laughter and tears, laughter in difficult times, laughter in pain, laughter is the best medicine

How a Husband Can Encourage a Chronically Ill Wife – The Spiritual and Emotional Stuff

May 31, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Matt Horne This is part 2 of a 2 part article. Part 1 is here: Carrying Super Rachel - The Logistics of When Your Wife Is Chronically Ill It's tough to live your life with a chronic illness. Even with the best attitude and support system, you have bad days where you think futile thoughts. "I should be able to do this. . . anybody my age should!" When you can't walk yourself across the room, it's easy to become depressed. Here are some of the ways I help my wife combat this mentality: I reinforce that she's definitely worth something--in face, everything--to me. We both are an active part of our support group, the Texas Association for Dysautonomia Awareness. I encourage her to participate in things she can find joy in and … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Articles, Coping Skills, Marriage, Person w/ Illness, Person w/ lll Spouse, What's New? Tagged With: auto-immune, Caregiver, Chronic (medicine), Chronic Illness, chronic illness and marriage, Dysautonomia, Health, husband, ill, iPod, Jesus, marriage and cronic illness, marriage and crronic illness, marriage and illness, Matt Horne, Patient, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, vows marriage, wife

Carrying Super Rachel – The Logistics of When Your Wife Is Chronically Ill

May 30, 2011 By admin 3 Comments

By Matt Horne Caring for a chronically ill wife is not what I had envisioned when I was working up the nerve to ask out "that hot girl" who would later become my wife. We were in college and she was on the cross country team. She let me know very early on in the relationship that she had a chronic illness. Nowadays, it's just part of life. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't know what to do with myself if she were well. There's a reason I call her "Super Rachel." On her good days, she can run circles around me--cleaning, getting things checked off her to-do list, and having tons of fun. She's amazing. On top of that, she has the greatest attitude and rarely lets her condition get her down. As her dad says, she's an "overcomer." Instead … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Articles, Cooking, Coping Skills, Love, Marriage, Organizing, Person w/ Illness, Person w/ lll Spouse, Share Your Story Tagged With: Chronic (medicine), chronically ill spouse, Dysautonomia, Exercise Physiology, Health, husband care-giver, husband caregiver, ill wife, in sickness and in health, marriage and illness, Once A Month Cooking, Person w/ lll Spouse, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome

Ways to Find the Fruit in Our Afflication of Illness and Pain

May 23, 2011 By admin 1 Comment

Excerpted from "What I Learned Lying Down - Hope for the Chronically Ill" Angela Dugi "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction." (Genesis 41:52) "Spring has arrived once again and with it comes the reminder that it's pruning time. I love to tend to plants, flowers and for that matter, anything that grows. As my body allows, I've been making rounds to each of the bushes around our house trimming, cutting and shaping. Getting rid of the old growth to make way for the new is something I enjoy. This past winter, however, I made a fatal mistake with my pruning shears. I used to have a beautiful pink antique rose bush that was fairly close to my kitchen window. It was a profuse bloomer with fragrant pink blossoms nine … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Articles, Books, Coping Skills, Loneliness, Ministry - Personal, Person w/ Illness, What's New? Tagged With: Christianity, Chronic (medicine), chronic illness book, God, Holy Spirit, illness christian faith, Jesus, Religion and Spirituality, What I Learned Lying Down - Hope for the Chronically Ill

10 Tips for Building Resilience in the Face of Chronic Illness

May 17, 2011 By admin 3 Comments

By Mary J. Yerkes When faced with the pain and fatigue of chronic illness, do you tend to rise to the challenge or fall apart? Resilience is the ability to roll with the punches, to bounce back from stressful and challenging events. It involves adapting to change and addressing life’s problems constructively. When you have resilience, you discover new opportunities in the face of great challenges. In contrast, if you lack resilience, you tend to dwell on problems, feel victimized by life’s misfortunes, and turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as substance abuse or compulsive shopping. You may even develop such mental health problems as depression and anxiety. Resilience isn’t about “pulling yourself up by your … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Articles, Coping Skills, Person w/ Illness, Tools, What's New? Tagged With: Chronic, Chronic Illness, Conditions and Diseases, God, Health, Laughter, Mental Health, Stress

Depth in Relationships and Life, Part 3 of 3 with Mary Yerkes

April 29, 2011 By admin 2 Comments

Yesterday Mary Yerkes wrote about how simple living can be found when remove some of the clutter and truly make our surroundings less cluttered. Today she writes about how important our relationships are and how to keep them a priority. By Mark J. Yerkes, The Simple Life, Part 3 of 3 Depth in Relationships and Life Of course, no discussion of simple living would be complete without addressing relationships. Relationships matter. A lot. I met with my friend Robbie for lunch this week, and the issue of relationships came up. He made an observation that captivated me. He said many of us go through life like skipping stones. Do you remember skipping stones as a child? The pastime involves throwing a stone with a flattened surface … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Articles, Coping Skills, Organizing, Overwhelmed, Person w/ Illness, What's New? Tagged With: Christianity, God, Health, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Religion and Spirituality, Simple Life, Simple living

Removing the Clutter: Part 2 of 3 with Mary Yerkes

April 28, 2011 By admin 4 Comments

Yesterday Mary Yerkes wrote about how simple living can be found when we start moving all of the different parts of our life in the same direction. Today she writes about how to turn our home into a sanctuary. By Mark J. Yerkes, The Simple Life, Part 2 of 3 Removing the Clutter Personally, I've made several significant changes to my life over the past year, all of which fall under the category of moving toward a more simple, meaningful life that supports my life purpose and gives me the time and energy I need to focus of what I value most. I have not yet arrived, but I am headed in the right direction. Here is the first significant change I've made over the past year, along with the benefits this, and the change I share with you … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Articles, Coping Skills, Organizing, Overwhelmed, Person w/ Illness, What's New? Tagged With: Christ, clutter, declutter, Emory University, Frans de Waal, God, Health, mary yerkes, Simple Life

The Simple Life: Intentional Living for the Chronically Ill – Part 1 of 3

April 27, 2011 By admin 2 Comments

By Mary J. Yerkes, Part 1 of 3 Simple living can seem elusive. In a world focused on achieving and accumulating more and bumper stickers that read, "He who dies with the most toys wins," the reality of simple living seems like some pie-in-the sky ambition, a trend. Despite the proliferation of products, books, magazines, classes, and organizational systems guaranteed to simplify our lives, most of us continue to hurry through live, pursuing activities and making purchases that ultimately add to life's clutter. There has to be a better way. As my rheumatoid arthritis and autoimmune diseases have worsened over the years, my desire for simple living has grown. It has become a quality of life issue for me; and if you live with chronic … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Articles, Coping Skills, Organizing, Overwhelmed, Person w/ Illness, What's New? Tagged With: Arthritis, Chronic, Chronic Illness, Coaching, Conditions and Diseases, God, Health, Illness