Living Whole with Chronic Pain
May the God of peace sanctify you, making you whole ~ spirit, body & soul!
An organic community of Christians who encourage one another to LIVE whole and holistically for Christ in spite of chronic pain.
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We are so glad that you have found our little corner of the Internet. It has become a church home for many of us.
We hope you, also, will soon find this to be a safe place.
Our special community is a place where we offer loving encouragement to others who, like ourselves, desire to LIVE WHOLE in CHRIST and holistically in body in spite of chronic pain and illness. We are a network of friends who are on a common journey in life.
We are people who will really "get you”. We can promise to sincerely listen to you with our heart and then we will share our own stories all the while healing with you.
We can inspire you, pray with you, and hope for you!
Posted by Teresa Ortiz on May 16, 2012 at 2:51pm 0 Comments 2 Likes
Posted by Sheila M Sherlock on May 15, 2012 at 1:40pm 5 Comments 3 Likes
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Posted by Sheila M Sherlock on May 12, 2012 at 6:36am 0 Comments 2 Likes
Posted by Sheila M Sherlock on May 9, 2012 at 2:42pm 2 Comments 1 Like

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 KJV
Some moments, the fear takes over.
I wake startled - not sure if it was from my own cries for help or the rapid movement of my husband.
"Are you all right?" he says worriedly.
It takes me a moment to answer.
I've had another one of those dreams. Dreams where I feel trapped in some odd situation and find myself trying to call out for help - but the words seem to come. I struggle and struggle to say them until I can finally force some strained words out.
Last night - those words woke my husband.
I have a form of sleep apnea in which my brain forgets to breathe. Those times of not breathing tie into those nightmares. As I struggle to speak, I am actually struggling for air.
Last night, I couldn't shake the fear that came afterwards. What if one of these times I am not able to wake myself with my cries? What if I don't start breathing again?
Then all of the "what if's" in my life came flooding in. The ones about my husband, my mother. Heck, I even started worrying about the whole word, Iraq, Iran, Israel - everything seemed to tumble on my plate at once.
I realized suddenly that that is the place I would dwell in every day without God in my life. That frightened me even more. To live with all of those fears, moment by moment, was almost impossible to comprehend.
I knew immediately what I need to. I prayed. I recited Bible verses. I listened to music. I realized that I did not have to live inside of that fear. I ran to God.
Gratitude flooded my soul.
I know I will never be immune to the fears of this life. But God is good. He gives us much to hold in our hearts during the times when fear threatens to overwhelm us.
I recall another verse from 1 John 4:18.
Perfect love casts out fear.
And that is how God loves us. Perfectly.
For now - and forever.
Amen.
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Sheila M Sherlock commented on Sheila M Sherlock's blog post Reshaping Your Dreams from WebMD
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calliope liked Teresa Ortiz's blog post Psalm 33: When Fear Comes Knocking, Turn Up the Music© 2012 Created by Joy.