“Would appreciate prayer. I am in my 25th year of having my Invisible Chronic Illness and it is well beyond a joke. I’ve tried countless treatments yet still I go on. You may see me in church and think I am fine. I’m not. Today I am massively resentful as this illness has decimated my life in every which way possible. .
Please pray for healing; for acceptance; for me to surrender this to God and for progress with fundraising for a new drug that has had a 67% success rate with sufferers of this disease in another EU country in a double blind trial there.
Sorry for the rant but I am sick to death of this.
The responses were positive. It became clear that many in the church did not know I had this illness and others spoke of their own struggles.
How does the Anointing of the Sick work?
Last Saturday was our inter-church divorce group Away Day to a remote, ancient village. The weather was amazing – hot with one of those magical clear blue skies. I could go only for the afternoon session but it was great to reconnect with some of the people I had not seen for a while and talk to some I had never got to know because I was doing Chained No More when they were on the divorce course.
I stayed over in a hotel in the village. That was good but challenging at times as I was the only single person, it seemed, in a village crammed with tourists in couples or families. However, I managed. I sat in the churchyard and just enjoyed being somewhere remote with no access to the internet or phone! I also prayed. Then I watched The Hunger Games on TV in my room, which I loved.
I woke up at 3am and looked out onto the silent cobbled streets, half expecting to see ghosts. But all was quiet.
I’ve been continuing with my adventures in Scrabble. Online it’s going well; in the real world, pretty dire. Mind you, I have only played four games IRL in my entire adult life. I should not be this hard on myself!
The main reason I wanted to play is because of the people involved. I have known these people for about seven years, though not intimately. They are younger than me – about 20 years younger – grammar school educated and just nice, polite, interesting types. I tend to have a good time when I am with them. Now, of course, I want to play Scrabble well too. It’s going to be along haul!
Entering into a friend group can can make you feel like the new kid at school. It’s quite a vulnerable thing to put yourself through, especially with younger people. And I am using up some energy I have put into my church activities to do this Scrabble. But when you want to form new friendships you have to put in the effort. Once you are more established you can move in and out of the group. Missing my church stuff actually but I have a few things booked in there too over the coming weeks.
The fast continues, though I have fallen off the wagon at times. I have to log into FB to play Scrabble (that’s another story) and hence can not help seeing some posts. I felt compelled to respond to posts about two untimely deaths plus the illness of a church friend who is out in Peru.
However, being less welded to FB has led to greater happiness as one is not sucked into the hyped-up ‘Look at me and my great life’ vortex that Facebook can very often be. I have felt slightly on the outside at times but nothing major.
Ironically I have just been made an Admin for my church’s public Facebook page.