We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

3049994994_a6d277488c

Approaching Chronic Illness with Wisdom

CNN posted this article on what to say and what not to say when someone you love is suffering with chronic illness. Sometimes our best intentions cause more harm than good, and we need to approach people in pain with a great deal of wisdom and sensitivity.

From the article:

When people we care about are in pain, we want to offer words of encouragement, help ease their pain and motivate them to stay hopeful.

Unfortunately, our words of cheer can often be misinterpreted by those who live with chronic illness. Rather than feeling supported, our words can evoke the feeling of “she doesn’t understand my life at all.” This can permanently affect our relationships.

Image by chispita_666 Sourced via Flickr

 

Category:
Tags: ,

Related Reading

William Wilberforce and the Possibility of “Christian” Politics

William Wilberforce was a passionate Christian who entered politics for the sole purpose of ending the slave trade.  For more than thirty years he passionately  and courageous labored to get Parliament to outlaw the practice. His life’s dream was fulfilled a month before he died in 1833. It’s no surprise, therefore, that Wilberforce is frequently…

How To Fix The Church: The Kingdom of God (Part 4)

God has leveraged everything on the Church loving like Jesus loved, as outlined in our previous posts in this series. “By this the world will know you are my disciples,” Jesus said, “by your love” (Jn 13:35). By God’s own design, Christ-like love is supposed to be the proof that Jesus is real. In John…

Ignorance is Not Bliss

We’ve been talking a lot here lately about reason and truth and science and how that intersects with faith. It’s been ruffling a few feathers to say the least. It’s sometimes hard to stay engaged. It’s easier to just check out. But this is precisely what we must not do. Here’s a blog post from…

Sermon Clip: Extravagant Forgiveness, Extravagant Love

Greg Boyd had the wonderful opportunity to guest speak at a great church in Carlisle, PA called Carlisle BIC. He spoke on the topic of forgiveness and love. In this short clip, Greg describes how a prostitute was being judged by the Pharisees, but Jesus came to her rescue. You can listen to the full…

Sermon: The Salt and Light Revolution

What does it mean to be the salt and light? In Greg’s sermon last weekend, he explores how followers of Jesus can step out of the crowd in ways that bring these good things to the world around us. Visit the Woodland Hills website for this week’s sermon resources.

On Hacking Off Our Own Limbs

Nadia Bolz Weber posted this weekend on The Sarcastic Lutheran, and we thought you’d enjoy her thoughts on hacking off our own limbs for Jesus. Don’t worry, you won’t have the urge to find an axe after you read this. Or at least not a real axe. From the post: And here’s the thing…that story? The…