{"id":1953,"date":"2016-02-03T17:12:03","date_gmt":"2016-02-03T17:12:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=1953"},"modified":"2016-02-03T17:12:03","modified_gmt":"2016-02-03T17:12:03","slug":"chronic-illness-all-the-bluster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2016\/02\/chronic-illness-all-the-bluster.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Illness: All the Bluster"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Image<\/a>
Image courtesy of bigjom\/FreeDigitalPhotos.net<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We had a mighty wind storm over the weekend. The palm trees outside my window were bent all the way to 10 o’clock, and at times, I thought they might snap off! Rain fell in buckets, too, but it was the wind that was particularly remarkable – and made me think of this blog’s subject.<\/p>\n

There are many times when we feel as if there’s a storm raging all around us. Perhaps family or work situations are in bad shape, or the physicality of living with a chronic illness has been so exhausting that daily living seems like a big battle. We might want to retreat at such times, curl up and close our eyes and wait for the storm to pass. And yet, one of the most helpful things we can do – something that I do – is to realize exactly what is happening, to\u00a0watch<\/em> the storm unfold, do what I must do about it, but all throughout, keep in touch with the calm, peaceful center within me that is keeping me completely safe, enveloped in God’s care and love.<\/p>\n

To get wrapped up in fear means that we don’t have much room in our thoughts and feelings for allowing God’s compassion to touch us. But with one eye on the storm and our hearts fixed on God’s love within, all the bluster in the world won’t roil us – and it, like all of life’s many storms, will eventually pass by.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We had a mighty wind storm over the weekend. The palm trees outside my window were bent all the way to 10 o’clock, and at times, I thought they might snap off! Rain fell in buckets, too, but it was the wind that was particularly remarkable – and made me think of this blog’s subject.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1422,360,43,1242,1047,578,379,1420,1245,1247,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronic-pain-and-illness","category-chronic-pain-and-the-holidays","category-determination","category-encouragement-in-life","category-food-for-thought","category-good","category-goodness","category-lupus-2","category-pain-2","category-positive","category-rising-above-tragedy","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Illness: All the Bluster - Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Acknowledging life's storms is important, focusing on God's love is crucial\" \/>\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\/2016\/02\/chronic-illness-all-the-bluster.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Illness: All the Bluster - 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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\/1953","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=1953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1954,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1953\/revisions\/1954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}