There are a lot of topics swirling around in my head - as usual, but there is one that seems to stand out amongst the rest.
..... Questioning our faith/spirituality and worry

I am apart of a Lupus group and the members there are very supportive, compassionate and ready to jump in with prayer and encouragement at any hour of the day or night! One of the members recently ask if anyone ever struggled with their faith when they were first diagnosed. She then went on to say that she didn't cause it; it is not the result of something she did. God knows what she can and cannot handle so she is not going to pray, worrying that it will make things worse. She gave an example: If you ask for patience God puts you in a situation to practice patience. So she feels that if she prays about anything to do with her Lupus, it will get worse.

These were my responses to her:
(1) - I didn't when I was first diagnosed. I was just glad to finally have a diagnosis and thankful that it wasn't something much worse. There was one time that I wavered and that was when I was hospitalized with my first major flare of pericarditis. I had been sick for almost three months back and forth to doc and ER. They just kept saying it was the flu/infection/virus. When I finally was admitted, I was suffering from delirium, so my mom told me that I started to cry and asked God, "Why me? I never did anything to anyone." People always ask me how I handle it and say I have such a positive attitude and am always smiling. You know why? Because there are people who are homeless, hungry, and struggling with so many other issues and some are in addition to illnesses that are (in my opinion) much worse. So I just consider Lupus to be a nuisance. Don't get me wrong, I have my moments but I always come back because I know that it could be much worse. I hope that this helps or at least starts you on your way to where you want to be. I always say, "Be encouraged by being an encourager!" You can always, always, give someone a word of encouragement no matter what you're going through. It is easier than you might think and takes the focus off of you and in turn you become a blessing to someone else even through your own trials!
(2) - I can understand how you would have such fear. Interesting ---- that you would think praying would make things worse. My mom always tells me we are suppose to ask in prayer, trust and have faith that it will come to pass. My thing is, if you do pray about it, you pray that God's will be done or to help you endure, to reveal to you the purpose for your life with Lupus, to ease pain, etc.



EXCERPTS FROM GLIMMERS OF GRACE - SPARKLING REMINDERS TO ENCOURAGE YOU by Women of Faith, Inc. and Thomas Nelson, Inc.

WHEN THE SPIRITUAL METER POINTS TO LOW by Chonda Price from "Roadkill on the Highway to Heaven"

Sometimes I don't feel very spiritual. I mean, who does feel like they're sitting in heaven's great room 24/7? We're all human. We feel lonely, left, betrayed, empty, and weary. On those days, feeling spiritual seems like an ancient memory ....
So what do I do when the spiritual meter points to the low end? I just do. If I depend on emotion, emotion will let me down. So I do what I know, just be and eventually that feeling will return.


THE PRESCRIPTION FOR WORRY by Beth Moore from "Jesus, the One and Only"

All our praying in the name of Jesus could entreat God to accomplish anything. When will we learn to turn our worry effort into prayer? Christ's remedy for worry is to be like the ravens and the lillies --- trust God to do his job (Luke 12:25-26). The prescription for worry is trust. Trust comes to those who take God at His Word.



Jesus will meet extraordinary pain with extaordinary grace.
He will meet extaordinary needs with extraordinary resources.
He will meet extraordiary fears with extraordinary comfort. - Kathy Troccoli


Remember: "Be encouraged by being an encourager!"

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