{"id":1749,"date":"2015-07-30T08:56:43","date_gmt":"2015-07-30T08:56:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1749"},"modified":"2015-07-26T19:06:22","modified_gmt":"2015-07-26T19:06:22","slug":"chronic-illness-recognizing-progress-however-small","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/chronic-illness-recognizing-progress-however-small.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: Recognizing Progress, However Small"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_843\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-843\" style=\"width: 199px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/09\/PixomarFreeDigitalPhotos.net_.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-843\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/350\/2013\/09\/PixomarFreeDigitalPhotos.net_-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"Image courtesy of Pixomar\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-843\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image courtesy of Pixomar\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>I remember the day when, months after I was diagnosed with lupus, I could pick up a drinking glass without feeling pain in my fingers. It wasn&#8217;t a huge, &#8220;Oh, I&#8217;m cured!&#8221; moment. After all, I still had lots and lots of other internal problems and complete baldness to deal with. But it was progress, small but also monumental.<\/p>\n<p>As I&#8217;ve continued living with lupus and other sometimes debilitating\/sometimes more tolerable conditions, I&#8217;ve become even more mindful of the small steps ahead, the &#8220;little&#8221; progress that can lift my spirits and signal hope. But sometimes, too, especially in the midst of a flare up, I can forget to recognize the mini-progress as I look at how much farther I have to go. Faith helps me be more attentive.<\/p>\n<p>When Jesus said, &#8220;I am with you always,&#8221; He meant every moment, waking or sleeping, moving or sitting. In small moments of progress and huge moments of pain. To be intent on recognizing the nuanced times when we move forward is a reflection of our love for the Lord and our desire to recognize Him, too, even in those &#8220;I can lift a drinking glass&#8221; moments.<\/p>\n<p>So, if you make small steps of progress, if you inch along snail-like, still know that Jesus is supporting you throughout &#8211; and revealing Himself as mightily as if He were coming down from a cloud in heaven!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Peace!<\/p>\n<p>Maureen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I remember the day when, months after I was diagnosed with lupus, I could pick up a drinking glass without feeling pain in my fingers. It wasn&#8217;t a huge, &#8220;Oh, I&#8217;m cured!&#8221; moment. After all, I still had lots and lots of other internal problems and complete baldness to deal with. But it was progress,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[383,379,1420,1245,1247,1246],"tags":[29,1818,1819,1820,1821],"class_list":["post-1749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heart-health","category-lupus-2","category-pain-2","category-positive","category-rising-above-tragedy","category-uplifting","tag-chronic-illness","tag-making-progress-in-illness","tag-seeing-god-in-small-things","tag-small-steps-ahead","tag-small-steps-forward"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Chronic Illness: Recognizing Progress, However Small - 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\/2015\/07\/chronic-illness-recognizing-progress-however-small.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Illness: Recognizing Progress, However Small - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I remember the day when, months after I was diagnosed with lupus, I could pick up a drinking glass without feeling pain in my fingers. It wasn&#8217;t a huge, &#8220;Oh, I&#8217;m cured!&#8221; moment. After all, I still had lots and lots of other internal problems and complete baldness to deal with. But it was progress,&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/chronic-illness-recognizing-progress-however-small.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-30T08:56:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-26T19:06:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/files\/2013\/09\/PixomarFreeDigitalPhotos.net_-199x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"mpratt\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chronic Illness: Recognizing Progress, However Small - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2015\/07\/chronic-illness-recognizing-progress-however-small.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chronic Illness: Recognizing Progress, However Small - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt","og_description":"I remember the day when, months after I was diagnosed with lupus, I could pick up a drinking glass without feeling pain in my fingers. 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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 &amp; 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\/1749","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=1749"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1750,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1749\/revisions\/1750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}