{"id":1465,"date":"2014-12-04T17:30:11","date_gmt":"2014-12-04T17:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1465"},"modified":"2014-12-04T17:30:11","modified_gmt":"2014-12-04T17:30:11","slug":"chronic-illness-just-a-moment-of-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2014\/12\/chronic-illness-just-a-moment-of-peace.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: Just a Moment of Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Maureen<\/a>Wish you had just a moment of comfort in the midst of your tough day? Wish you had just a moment of peace?<\/p>\n

Life during this holiday season is packed with activity, and if you’re living with a chronic health condition and\/or severe pain, it’s more than doubly difficult to keep centered and optimistic.<\/p>\n

All the more reason to protect your need for at least one moment during the day when you’re quiet, breathing deeply, and allowing peace to flood your mind and soul. Sometimes, we might feel selfish to do this; there are so many demands on our talents and time. Or, we might have so many health challenges that we feel unworthy of peace, or that it is something that’s “out there,” out of reach because pain and sickness block it from us.<\/p>\n

But if we\u00a0consciously allow<\/em> \u00a0peace in, if we swing open the door to our hearts and step aside, out of the way, the Holy Spirit will bring us peace. Abundant, sure, and loving.<\/p>\n

Just a moment of peace? If we let the Spirit in, and if we let the Spirit move us, we’ll have more than a moment – we’ll have a lifetime!<\/p>\n

Joys!<\/p>\n

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

Wish you had just a moment of comfort in the midst of your tough day? Wish you had just a moment of peace? Life during this holiday season is packed with activity, and if you’re living with a chronic health condition and\/or severe pain, it’s more than doubly difficult to keep centered and optimistic. All…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,1242,4,1245,1247],"tags":[29,1381,124,172,1382],"class_list":["post-1465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement-in-life","category-food-for-thought","category-words-of-encouragemnent-and-info-for-all","category-positive","category-rising-above-tragedy","tag-chronic-illness","tag-having-peace","tag-holy-spirit","tag-peace","tag-taking-time-for-peace"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Illness: Just a Moment of Peace - 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\/12\/chronic-illness-just-a-moment-of-peace.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Illness: Just a Moment of Peace - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Wish you had just a moment of comfort in the midst of your tough day? 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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\/1465","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=1465"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1466,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1465\/revisions\/1466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}