1 / 21

Dealing with a Chronic Illness

Dealing with a Chronic Illness. My Personal Introduction to Dealing with a Chronic Illness. In August, 1996, I left my wife and children in Nashville while I went to conduct a week long meeting in North Carolina. Upon my return, I found Teresa unable to do anything but drag her left leg.

walden
Télécharger la présentation

Dealing with a Chronic Illness

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Dealing with a Chronic Illness

  2. My Personal Introduction to Dealing with a Chronic Illness • In August, 1996, I left my wife and children in Nashville while I went to conduct a week long meeting in North Carolina. • Upon my return, I found Teresa unable to do anything but drag her left leg. • Her eyes had gone out of stereo and her inner ear, in an effort to compensate, was putting her whole world on tilt.

  3. My Personal Introduction to Dealing with a Chronic Illness • On the trip back to Valdosta, she could not even keep down a sip of Sprite. • When we got to our house, we discovered the A/C was out and it was boiling hot. • Soon, we were off to the emergency room. • Over the next few days, Teresa was poked and prodded in just about every way imaginable, and some not so imaginable. • Finally, a spinal tap and MRI led the doctor to a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

  4. Fears arising from Dealing with a Chronic Illness • In dealing with a chronic illness there can be an overwhelming sense of losing control which leads to fear. • One of the first fears confronted is that of losing independence. • This results in an assault on one’s pride. • It can also lead to a sense of helplessness. • There is also the fear of the unknown.

  5. Place Your Trust in the Lord • Proverbs 3:1, 5-6 “My son,….Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” • Isaiah 40:31 “But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”

  6. Take Your Troubles to Godin Prayer • 1 Peter 5:6-7 “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.” • Philippians 4:6-7 “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”

  7. Realize Jesus Understands • Hebrews 5:7-9 “who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son,yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”

  8. My Beautiful Broken Shellby Carol Hamblett Adams • Dawn has broken on a beautiful day here at the ocean…I walk by a broken scallop shell…And leave it to search for more perfect ones…But then I stop and go back…Broken shells mean lots of tears…lots of pain…lots of struggle…But they are also valuable for teaching faith, courage, and strength. Broken shells inspire others and demonstrate the will to go on in a way that no perfect shell could ever do…

  9. My Beautiful Broken Shellby Carol Hamblett Adams • I watch the rolling surf toss new shells onto the shore, and I am reminded of the many times that I, too, have been tossed by the storms of life and worn down by the sands of time…But I am reminded that broken shells don’t stand alone…that even the smallest creatures depend on each other…Especially in our brokenness, we need the Lord…and we need one another.

  10. Refuse to be Definedby Your Illness • 2 Corinthians 4:16 “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” • Philippians 3:20-21 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.”

  11. Take Life One Day at a Time • Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” • Philippians 4:11-13 “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

  12. Be Sure to Remain Joyful • Proverbs 17:22 “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (ESV). • Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” • Acts 16:25 “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.”

  13. Surround Yourself With Supportive People • Your mate can be a big help. • Ephesians 5:28-29 “So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.” • Titus 2:3-5 “…the older women likewise,…that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.”

  14. Surround Yourself With Supportive People • Loving brethren can be a big help. • Philemon 3-7 “I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers,….For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother.” • 1 Corinthians 12:25-26 “…that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”

  15. Let Your Illness Teach You • 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”

  16. Let God’s Strength Show Through Your Illness • 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

  17. Let Your Illness Make You Better • James 1:2-4 “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

  18. Let Your Illness Make You Better • Romans 5:3-5 “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

  19. Let Your Illness Help You Focus on What Is More Important • Psalm 119:67 “Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word.” • Though God does not punish by giving illness, he can use such affliction to teach – Hebrews 12:11 “Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”

  20. Illness Can Make You Look Forward to Heaven • Philippians 1:21, 23 “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain….For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.” • 2 Corinthians 5:1 “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

  21. Illness Can Make You Look Forward to Heaven • Revelation 21:4 “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

More Related