Welcome to our second issue of Christians with Chronic Illness Blog Carnival. What is something you miss since you have had your chronic illness/pain? How have you been able to adjust and accept the fact you can no longer do “it”? What new hobbies or activities have you found you enjoy that somewhat replace what you lost? What has your family missed concerning your illness and how have you found a way to change the way you do things so you can still participate in family activities?
We are excited to introduce you to some wonderfully gifted writers and hope that they encourage you on this chronic illness journey. Our month carnival highlights the best articles from many blogs that we have visited, and we’ve gathered them together for your encouragement.
If you’re interested in submitting an article from your own blog the instructions are at the end. We also appreciate you sharing this post with your friends at Twitter, Facebook, social bookmarking, wherever. We are excited to reach as many people as possible with the Good News.
Lisa & Michele
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Who of us haven’t thought I’d Rather Laugh Than Cry? These are the sentiments of Michele at Beelieve You Can! Michele’s Morsels.
In her post, My Loss, My Salvation, Kim Franz shares that through her loss of health due to her chronic illnesses she found the real meaning of life and gained something more valuable – salvation through Jesus Christ. Kim’s shares her heart, struggles, and most of all her growing in grace relationship with her precious Savior on her encouraging blog, Humbled.
As a young married couple, David and Ashley share that they have lost their youth, money, pride, self-reliance and ability to have children due to his psoriatic arthritis. Through Ashley’s blog, A Young Wife’s Tale, she share what they found was the love of burden bearers such as family and friends who have blessed them through their willingness to assist them with their needs.
Wonder where the ‘old’ you went? Are you comfortable with the ‘new’ you? In Joy’s Journey to Wellness, the author shares her special journey to wellness which is “one day, one step, one choice at a time.” As she shares in her very first entry, “I will gain control of my life through God. The presence of pain or sickness does not have to mean it is the landlord, the owner or the manager of my “building.” Share with the author of the post “Finding Myself” as she travels the journey to wellness.
Cyndi from God Nuggets shares an old, yet thought provoking journal entry regarding times of loss. She suggests that maybe God doesn’t want us to have the answers. Perhaps instead He wants us to rest in the questions and find Him there.
Living with a chronic illness or as Deni Weber prefers to call it, chronic challenges, provides many opportunities to examine the way one views the world. While there are many losses that are part of a chronic illness, there are gains to be had if one looks for them. Walk along side Deni as she takes a look at one of her favorite Scriptures about the losses we face and how we can choose to look at them – through God’s eyes in her post, Loss or Gain?
In her post, Faith is All I Really Have, the author from Just Me shares with us how through loss of certain abilities due to her illness she found renewed faith through the realization that God accepts her by grace, not by her works. God knows just want she can and cannot do and accepts her unconditionally.
Kathy Carlton Willis brings some thought provoking questions in her post, Pain Breeds Creativity. One of those questions is: Do the trials CAUSE us to want to write, or do we write in spite of the issues we face? Kathy challenges us to write loud and clear through our pain or healing, but always through the growth that has first occurred in us.
Shawn Ellis has a cherished wife who has battled “invisible” chronic illnesses for years. On his blog, Peace in the Storm, Shawn shares a simple message from the book of James that in the face of trouble, there is always–as his post names says —an opportunity for joy.
In her blog, Fly With Hope, Kelly Wahle shares before chronic illness she was performance driven. After her Migraine disease started to debilitate her, Kelly lost her self worth. Read how through her counselor she found that her self- worth is not in “doing” but “in Christ”.
Empty spaces — we all have them in our lives. What do we do with them? Do they have a purpose? What can they give us? Learn how to make peace with the in-between times of emptiness created by illness and the seasons of life. Read “The Empty Spaces” at Lisa notes.
Before Kerri got sick, she, like most people, thought of loss as in losing an object or losing someone through death. Never could she imagine the other things she would lose to her myasthenia gravis. Check out “Loss Comes in Many Forms” on her blog “Living with Chronic Illness.”
Lauren from ‘chronic fatigue syndrome – the road to recovery blog’ wrestles with certain issues and questions most of us with chronic illness have been forced to deal with at one time or another. Such as questions from well meaning family and friends like: “How are you Coping?” Lauren asks us to examine our answer and what would be the real answer if God was asking the question? See how Lauren has answered this question in her post titled, “How are you Coping?”
In her post titled Given a Thorn, Jenni Saake compares how a trivial thing like a thorn in her flesh may seem so small to compare to a chronic illness, but she has learn to accept the “thorn” of chronic illness and has learned to work around the negatives and accept that God is God and she is not. She shares how she has accepted that God is in control and knows best for her life.
Joy Goff shares her Journey to Wellness on her blog. In her post titled The Grieving Process (your lost health), Joy discusses what she believes most people go through when they begin to experience long-term illness/pain. She shares her experience with loss, grief over her lost health and how she is able to cope with this loss and move on with God’s help.
If you have ever found yourself feeling angry and can’t understand why, or even do not want to accept your chronic illness and its limitations, Debbie McLaren’s post titled, Chronic Illness & Loss, shares her journey of acceptance and spiritual healing from the help of the source of her strength, God.
The next Christians with Chronic Illness
Blog Carnival will be June 15th, 2009. (It will always be he 15th)
Deadline for submissions: June 5, 2009 (It will always be the 5th)
Send in your submissions here.
The Ministry of Lisa Copen 
Thanks for once again using one of my posts in your carnival!