Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Invisible Chronic Illness week

This week is National Invisible Chronic Illness week. What it means for me is that I get a daily email with an inspirational story, a lot of food for thought and awareness. Just about when I think "Ok, I'm going to feel sorry for myself (as I seldom, if ever do), I hear/see/read something that brings me back to how very fortunate I am.

Today's story is like that. It's about a woman with a myriad of diseases and is home-bound. I read her story and felt a twinge of guilt over having ever whined about HCV. My gosh, there are so many suffering people out there!

But this story ended with a comment that really made me think. I am quite sure you could apply this to any person; healthy or not. It's called "Healing words." This woman says:

Recently I’ve had a lot of reckless words spoken into my life and my health situation. Well-meaning family members, friends, and doctors have said things that to some degree, robbed me of hope, faith, and joy. It’s been a fierce battle in my heart to fight off the constant barrage of negativity their words created.

This is a great lesson for all of us. Before we share that “helpful” idea or something “the Lord laid on our heart” that our loved one “needs” to hear, let’s ask ourselves if we are planting seeds of hope and healing or if we are truly piercing them with the sword of our reckless words.

Hmm. I'm not thinking about what people are saying to me.

I'm gonna think: am I planting seeds of hope and healing? Am I?