{"id":530,"date":"2013-03-05T22:33:19","date_gmt":"2013-03-05T22:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/gooddaysbaddays\/?p=530"},"modified":"2013-03-04T23:08:25","modified_gmt":"2013-03-04T23:08:25","slug":"chronic-pain-why-isnt-everyone-cured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/2013\/03\/chronic-pain-why-isnt-everyone-cured.html","title":{"rendered":"Chronic Pain: Why Isn’t Everyone Cured?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When I heard the news story today about the Mississippi child who was born with HIV and now, 2 1\/2 years later, seems to be cured, I was very happy for researchers and others who have been working in the trenches to understand, treat and eventually erradicate HIV-AIDS.\u00a0 Of course, this one story is not conclusive, and much more work needs to be done. But it seems to be a step forward and must, I am sure, raise hopes even a little for anyone who is affected by this particular disease.<\/p>\n

The story also made me consider a bit more the notion of “cure” as it relates to people of faith who live with ongoing illness and pain of any kind. So many chronic conditions are incurable, that is, they might ebb and flow, but they will not go away. And yet, in the bible and throughout time, there have been people who have been cured of their affliction. Our Lord cured many, and so did the apostles. Many saints have been canonized in the Catholic church on the basis of miraculous cures worked in their name. I have met people (not many, but a few) who have professed to being cured through prayer, either individual or collective.<\/p>\n

What does this mean for those of us who still live with illness? Does it mean God refuses to cure us? Does it mean that we are not faithful enough? Or, does it mean something else?<\/p>\n

God being God, He can cure any of us at any time. I really do believe that. But I also believe that for some, He intends another path, a difficult path, but one graced with many blessings for the willing journeyer. Life with illness or pain is both a vocation and a ministry, and those engaged in it would probably not be able to do what they do for the Kingdom and for others if they didn’t have very real, ongoing health challenges. In this regard, then, life becomes not so much about waiting for the cure, as it is about being constantly about God’s work, whatever that may be.\u00a0 It is also about showing others that, no matter what their suffering might be, God is ever-present and ever-loving with and in spite of it all.<\/p>\n

Much like being friends only with like-minded people, it would be very easy to praise a God who cured everyone and let no one suffer. But it is deeper and more grace-filled to praise a God who gave us Jesus to suffer and die and rise again for us – and who shows us each day that it is possible to live, love, and grow in the spirit no matter what burdens we carry along the way.<\/p>\n

Blessings for the day,<\/p>\n

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

When I heard the news story today about the Mississippi child who was born with HIV and now, 2 1\/2 years later, seems to be cured, I was very happy for researchers and others who have been working in the trenches to understand, treat and eventually erradicate HIV-AIDS.\u00a0 Of course, this one story is not…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":548,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[222,45,437,149,86],"class_list":["post-530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-encouragement-in-life","tag-cure","tag-faith","tag-heal","tag-healing","tag-suffering"],"yoast_head":"\nChronic Pain: Why Isn't Everyone Cured? - 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\/2013\/03\/chronic-pain-why-isnt-everyone-cured.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronic Pain: Why Isn't Everyone Cured? 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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\/530","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=530"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":533,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/530\/revisions\/533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/gooddaysbaddays\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}