Where pain finds Hope
  • Home
  • Chronic Pain and Illness
  • Emotional pain and Loss
  • Our Ultimate Hope
  • Devotional
  • About

Chronic Pain and Illness

Finding Gratitude Even When We’re Suffering

11/16/2018

Comments

 
Picture
Philippians 4:6 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
This next week we will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day. And even though it is the day we set aside each year to think about what we’re grateful for, many of us have feel anything but being grateful.
 
I’m speaking to those of us who each day suffer with a chronic health condition. What can we possibly be thankful for when our lives are filled with pain and sickness?
 
  • Who enjoys waking to joints that are stiff and painful making getting out of bed difficult?
  • Who enjoys trying to sit down at breakfast when you’re so nauseous that you don’t think you can keep anything down?
  • Who enjoys seeing your family walk out the door and into the world when you are stuck at home?
  • Who enjoys taking the many medications you must take to treat the disease you battle every day only to have the side effects lash out at you?
  • Who enjoys your world being dominated by tests, doctor’s appointments and treatments?
 
No one.
 
But we can choose to look at life differently and with gratitude.
 
  • Though we awake to stiff and painful joints we can be grateful for being alive another day.
  • Though we may feel nauseous and have a hard time keeping food down, we can be grateful that there is food in our home to eat.
  • Though we watch our family go into the world each day without us, we can be grateful that we have a family and one that comes home to us at the end of the day.
  • Though we must live with the many side effects the medications we taje, we can be grateful for the treatment options we have unlike others who can’t afford to buy them.
  • Though our world is dominated by tests, doctor’s appointments and treatments, we can be grateful for the nurse who speaks to us kindly and for the doctor who is willing to treat us.
 
Yes, no one enjoys living with a chronic health condition, but we have just as much, and even more, to be grateful for. For those of us who suffer, finding something to be grateful for can seem out of reach. But there always is at least one small thing that we can and should be thankful for.
 
You may feel like you don’t even know where to begin to change your way of thinking, take a look at the article on takingcharge.csh.umn.edu, “10 Ways to be a More Thankful Person.” The article shows how feeling thankful can improve our health with the examples of as developing the habit of thanking yourself as you develop healthy habits, and savoring the good moments by stopping a few minutes to focus on the thing we can be grateful for so that when things are tough you have the memory to call to mind.
 
Things aren’t always going to head in the right direction. You will experience pain and suffering caused by your chronic health condition. But you don’t need to add negative feelings into the mix. It can add more sorrow than you need to carry. Yet, as you’ve seen in the article above, you can find something to be grateful for even when you’re suffering.
 
Take a look at the Bible verse above. It says to not be anxious about anything. It seems like an impossible task when all we can see is our life tumbling out of control with no way to stop it. But there is something we can do. We can pray. And as we pray we aren’t to just ask for our needs, but to tell God how grateful we are that we’re not in this alone. Remember that this coming week. Be thankful in all things.
Learn more
Picture
Comments

    Author

    Karen Dalske is a freelance writer, public speaker, is active in her church and writes her blogs out of her own experiences of pain, illness and loss.

    Archives

    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016

    Categories

    All
    Balance
    Bedridden
    Breathing
    Cancer
    Caregivers
    Chronic Pain
    Communication
    Conservation
    Depression
    Doctors
    Evaluating Symptoms
    Exercise
    Famine
    Finances
    Flare Up
    Flare-up
    Food
    Giving
    Guilt
    Hardship
    Injury
    Laughter
    Learning
    Mind
    Old Age
    Pain Scale
    Perseverance
    Prayer
    Relaxation
    Selfdestructive
    Sick Child
    Sickness
    Side Effects
    Sleep
    Support-groups
    Surgery
    Teeth
    Thankful
    Treatments
    Types Of Pain

    RSS Feed

Picture

Home

Chronic pain
and illness

Emotional pain
and loss

Our Ultimate
​Hope

Devotional

About/
​Contact

Photo used under Creative Commons from paulhami
  • Home
  • Chronic Pain and Illness
  • Emotional pain and Loss
  • Our Ultimate Hope
  • Devotional
  • About