Happy Monday, y'all! Today I am so very excited to share with you an article from my very dear friend, Dani. This is Dani's first time on my blog and I love this article she has prepared for you today. This post is the second part of her article "Sick" and I would love for you to also read part one over at her amazing blog, Through Fire and Water. I will include a link to part one at the end of this post, so don't forget to check it out! And now, without further ado, here is Dani's article... Just about everyone out there has someone with a chronic illness in their life. This is for you. I hope it will help you understand your own personal sickie and figure out how to make them feel as good as they can. If you have a friend who is sick, help them! Pay attention when they’re having a hard time. Understand that something simple, like even talking, can wear them out. Be ready and willing to just sit with them, if that’s what it takes. When someone is sick, it can feel like you’re so cut off from the world. It feels like no one understands, often that no one cares. Being a sickie can throw a person into depression. They need a steady hand to support them, often literally. Let them know that you’re there for them. Honestly, a text or two on a regular basis can work wonders in making your sickie not feel so isolated. And if you can invent fun stuff for your sickie to do with you sometimes, you’ll probably quickly become their best friend. Just make sure that they’ll avoid feeling clutzy or stupid in the process. Make tea for them. Find something that they get excited over that they can spend hours on without hurting themselves. Tell them when they’ve done too much and make them stop. Sick isn’t pretty. I know we all know that inherently, but sometimes sickness gets almost ‘marketed’ as something romantic. SICKNESS IS NOT PRETTY. And no one knows it more than the person who is sick. The person who sees every little random bruise emerge on their skin. The person who watches their own eyes dull, who watches their hair thin and break – or has to cut it because it is too heavy for them to handle anymore. The person who watches the weight that they lose or gain helplessly. The person who runs their tongue constantly over broken teeth. You feel as if your own body is betraying you. You feel like no one wants you because of what the sickness has made you. Please remember that. Please make your sick friend feel loved. Be ready to cry with them, to sympathize with them. Be ready to encourage your friend over anything they do well, even if it’s getting out of bed and making it that day. WE FEEL WORTHLESS, HELPLESS. Please, please, do everything you can to prevent that! Especially for family members, make sure that your sickie is eating well, taking their medicine, and getting plenty of exercise and fresh air. If they’re struggling with something, step in and help them. Don’t allow them to eventually break down over the problem – intervene before that happens! But, for everyone, remember that when you are sick, no matter what kind, there is one Person who can help you infinitely. Jesus will be with you every step of the way, if you let Him. God told Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness”. If you acknowledge that you are weak, and ask Him for His help, His strength, He will give it. Sickness builds a reliance on God that we wouldn’t have under nearly any other situation. Sickness gives us a reason and a motivation to depend on God. Sickness is hard. But sickness is also the point where we are so stripped down that all we can cling to is grace. Praise God for sickness! Dani is an MK living in the wilds of Alaska. She is a musician who struggles with a currently unknown autoimmune disease as well as several mental disorders. Her severely limited diet inspired her to help people overcome the barriers of their various sicknesses, and she blogs about faith, food, and culture over at throughfireandwater.weebly.com. 3/29/2018 03:10:24 pm
This was so inspiring, Dani! You are so right, we must include our "sickie" and help them and encourage them everyday, we need to treat them how we want to be treated - no different from anyone else. Thank you for changing this world, Dani! =) Comments are closed.
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