Wednesday, October 23rd
Another beautiful morning....Brrrrr the air is cold and when I looked outside this morning, there is snow on the ground. :-(
Yesterday, I took it easy and stayed around the house. I was having a tough time swallowing last night when eating supper. It took a long time for the food to go down. For awhile I thought I may have to cough it up but it finally made its way down. :-)
I was messing around with the phone and decided to take a couple of picture of myself. :-)
After a few shots...I was surprised at the difference in my appearance. I see myself in the mirror everyday but taking a picture sheds a whole new light on you and how you look to others.
I am usually the one behind the camera not in front :-)
After taking the pictures, I realized I look better when I smile. I used to be a happy-go-lucky person but haven't been smiling much lately...
Well, starting yesterday I am going to smile much more despite how I may look or feel... :-)
So thankful for all I can do...
Faithful Journey
By Emily Wojcik
from the Lupus Newsletter
For many people, religious faith is just another part of life, like school or work—something that defines us, but can, perhaps, be taken for granted. But recent research has shown that cultivating a sense of personal spirituality can be beneficial to health and well-being, particularly for those with chronic conditions like lupus.
Whether you attend a prayer group or meditate, cultivating a spiritual or faith-based practice can improve your physical and emotional well-being, studies suggest.
Rediscovering Faith
By the time Tanisha Agee-Bell graduated from high school in 1992, she hadn’t been active in her family’s church for several years. The granddaughter of a Baptist minister, the stay-at-home mother of five says it wasn’t until she began experiencing health issues in college—problems that baffled her doctors for years, until her lupus diagnosis in 2004—that she thought about returning to her spiritual community.
“I didn’t know how to handle my symptoms, because no one seemed to know what was wrong,” says Agee-Bell, 38, who was incorrectly diagnosed with cervical cancer, among other conditions. “And people began to ask me if I had prayed about it. I thought, ‘What does God care about me and my little problems?’”
Agee-Bell’s mother died from complications of lupus in 2003, and after her own lupus diagnosis the following year, Agee-Bell began looking for a prayer group to help her cope. “I surrounded myself with people who would pray with me, create a circle of healing, and they showed me I didn’t have to go through this alone,” she says.
Finding Support
Agee-Bell’s return to faith is not unusual. Research shows that spiritual practice can help improve quality of life for people who have chronic illnesses and that it can aid in pain management. A 2008 study from Johns Hopkins Community Physicians found that people with chronic illness who engaged in daily spiritual activities—such as prayer, yoga, and transcendental meditation—reported more energy and less depression than those who did not.
Such results aren’t surprising, says Paul DeBell, M.D., a psychiatrist and author of Decoding the Spiritual Messages of Everyday Life (Sterling Publishing, 2009). “Most people feel cut off from life when they’re diagnosed with a chronic illness, and they can become more private and withdrawn,” he says. “An illness that threatens our well-being can be seen as a tragedy, or it can be a wakeup call that we are more than our material bodies.”
It is her faith in God and the community she discovered through her church that has helped Donna Fubler manage her lupus for 23 years. A Seventh-day Adventist living in Bermuda, Fubler says the fellowship she experiences through her church is as important as her relationship with God.
“If you can find a group of people who need your help, it takes your mind off your own problems,” she says. Fubler’s congregation offers community service opportunities that, along with weekly worship and prayer, keep her focus off her own limitations.
Cultivating Mindfulness
Catherine Hayes, 46, a yoga instructor in Ontario, Canada, says meditation and yoga give her a spiritual well-being she couldn’t find through other avenues. Hayes says she was drawn to yoga from a very early age after discovering a book about it in the library. “I spent a lot of time meditating, sitting in the ‘lotus’ position,” she says.
With her lupus diagnosis at age 31 came the realization that she was no longer capable of spending eight hours a day teaching yoga classes. After nearly injuring herself, Hayes shifted her focus to the spiritual side of her practice—meditation and yoga nidra, also known as “yoga sleep.”
Such practice can help with physical symptoms as well as mental stress, says Hayes. “Even if you’re in pain, you can supersede that through meditation,” she says. “When you have lupus, your mind and body can feel disconnected. Meditation can help bring the two back together.”
While there are many ways to practice meditation, Hayes suggests starting by focusing on breathing—how long it takes to inhale and exhale. Then, “go through your whole body, asking: How are my feet? How are my legs?” And don’t fret about distraction. Most people get distracted an average of 35 times in 15 minutes, she says.
Continuing the Conversation
Like meditation, Agee-Bell says that for her, prayer is a way to relax and focus on her own body’s needs. “I don’t want to burden people with my problems, but I can freely talk to God about what’s going on with me, physically and emotionally, about hating my meds or being angry with my doctor,” she says.
Faith, says Agee-Bell, gives her strength. It “makes it so I’m not afraid of lupus or the other diseases I have,” she says. “If I didn’t have my faith, I would live in fear of everything—of dying, of not being here to watch my kids grow up. My faith provides comfort. It gives me freedom.”
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Today's Bible Study
Unwise Reactions to Criticism
Read | 1 Peter 2:23-24
No one likes personal criticism. Sometimes it seems that we go out of our way to help and encourage others, only to be met with a harsh word or accusation. Too often, when that happens, our protective shields immediately go up. But what do we do with the remark that has already been said? What is our normal, human response to criticism?
First, we might respond by repressing the matter. That is, we acknowledge there is a problem but don’t want to do anything about it. In such cases, we may answer, “Thank you for sharing your feelings. I understand what you are saying.” And yet we may not understand. We might feel grievously hurt by the comment but do not want to deal with the hardship of exploring or discussing it further.
Second, we may respond by suppressing the conflict. We may act as if nothing ever happened, completely ignoring the situation to the extent that we actually become unaware that anything is wrong. Far from being a cure, this only delays and exaggerates our eventual reaction to the problem.
Third, we might respond by blaming someone else. We can be quick to point the finger at others, while denying any personal responsibility in the matter.
Selfish tendencies serve only to alienate us further from those who have challenged us in the first place. True, a word of criticism can hurt, but there may be something within the remark that is worth examining. Are you strong enough to face criticism with humility and godly confidence?
Another gray day!
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