{"id":1282,"date":"2014-07-30T18:17:20","date_gmt":"2014-07-30T18:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1282"},"modified":"2014-07-13T18:32:41","modified_gmt":"2014-07-13T18:32:41","slug":"chronic-pain-help-for-the-directionally-challenged","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/07\/chronic-pain-help-for-the-directionally-challenged.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Pain: Help for the Directionally Challenged"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>It’s better. It’s worse. It moved. It’s stable. It’s sharp. It’s dull.<\/p>\n

It’s pain. And it\u00a0is<\/em> a pain,\u00a0your\u00a0<\/em>pain. Well, it’s affecting you, but you can’t say you actually possess it, because it seems to have a mind – and a direction – of it’s own. You’re working with your doctors on it, but you feel as if you’re on a choppy ocean rather than a smooth lake. And, your GPS is broken. You absolutely cannot figure out where your pain -and your life with it – is heading.<\/p>\n

It’s scary to not know what direction you’re heading in.<\/p>\n

It’s scary to think that this up-and-down-and-round-and-round will be with you for a long while. For life.<\/p>\n

Yet, it can also be more than okay. It can be blessed.<\/p>\n

For many years, I did not have a good sense of direction. I’d get lost easily, wandering down street after streeet, often finding myself ending up where I began. Even with a map, I’d get lost.<\/p>\n

Part of the reason for this was that, even when I knew<\/em> where I should go, I’d act the opposite. I’d turn right instead of left (in fact, I humorously used to say, “Oh, I should have turned the\u00a0other<\/em> left.”) Or, I’d argue that the map was outdated, or the landscape had changed. Or, I’d think, “I’m supposed to go 20 miles, and I think I’ve gone 20 miles,” only to find out I’d gone a mere 18.<\/p>\n

Yes, this was me for years, until I moved to a new city and had to learn navigation all over again. Only this time, Iwas really intent on getting it right, on finding the correct roads and traveling the correct distance. I understood that I didn’t know the way “all by myself,” that I needed guidance. And I looked upon finding new places as a way of exploring, about discovering new things about God’s wonderful world.<\/p>\n

At first, I got lost a little. But now, rarely. And it is the same with the chronic pain I’m aware of every single day: I try to put myself aside and lift up my cares to the Lord, trusting that he knows the direction, even if I’m clueless. He understands what I need, and he provides it.<\/p>\n

He’s better than any GPS system I or anyone else could devise!<\/p>\n

Directionally challenged? Not with the Lord, guiding each step.<\/p>\n

Joy and peace,<\/p>\n

Maureen<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s better. It’s worse. It moved. It’s stable. It’s sharp. It’s dull. It’s pain. And it\u00a0is a pain,\u00a0your\u00a0pain. Well, it’s affecting you, but you can’t say you actually possess it, because it seems to have a mind – and a direction – of it’s own. You’re working with your doctors on it, but you feel…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,43,4],"tags":[1166,44,1165,1164,183,1162,1163],"class_list":["post-1282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-encouragement-in-life","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","tag-believing-in-god","tag-chronic-pain","tag-faith-and-pain","tag-finding-direction-while-living-with-pain","tag-gods-love","tag-sharp-pain","tag-uncontrollable-pain"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Pain: Help for the Directionally Challenged - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/07\/chronic-pain-help-for-the-directionally-challenged.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Pain: Help for the Directionally Challenged - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It’s better. 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She expected to be writing scripts. God had other plans. A few years after her graduation, Maureen was diagnosed with a life-threatening case of organ-involved lupus. Her life turned upside down as she grappled with the effects of the illness and other health conditions that ensued. She was no stranger to serious health challenges; even as a child, Maureen had survived numerous bouts of pneumonia, flu, and other infections. But lupus made her take a fresh look at her life goals - and took herlifelong, strong Catholic Christian faith and writing in a direction she'd never imagined. Today, Maureen writes and speaks about walking with the Lord while living with chronic pain and illness. Her most recent book is \"Don't Panic!: How to Keep Going When the Going Gets Tough (Franciscan Media). She is also the author of, \"Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain & Illness\" (Image Books\/Randomhouse), \"Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy\" (Twenty-Third Publications), \"The First Year: Hypothyroidism, Second Edition\" (Perseus) and \"Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your LIfe.\" She writes the syndicated column, \"Living Well,\" for Catholic News Service, and has also written for Saint Anthony Messenger Magazine, Journey for Women Magazine, The Upper Room Magazine, LupusNow, and Arthritis Today. Maureen's health continues to be a challenge, however she feels honored to be able to bring her perspective, from experience and knowledge, to others. \"Good Days...Bad Days with Maureen Pratt\" is a new way for Maureen to reach people who carry the burden of illness and pain in their lives, or who care for someone who does. Through the blog, she hopes to bring issues of health, wellness, and spirit into focus and, especially, inspire others that, no matter what health challenges, illness, or hardships they endure, each person can find a good way to realize the wonderful potential God has placed within each heart and soul.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.maureenpratt.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/author\/mpratt"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/548"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1283,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1282\/revisions\/1283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}