Illness

Illness in ourselves or others we care for can force our world as we know it to come to a halt.  We are forced to cancel all of our outside activities.  It is amazing how well the world functions without us!  All of the extensive commitments we have crowded into our lives become secondary to our main focus--our family, friends, and ourselves.  We often pray to God to ask His help in ending the illness or to take away the pain and suffering.  It is when we have these life challenges that our faith becomes our strength and support. When illness strikes, we are forced to rest from our routine daily lives but enter into a time of stress as we go into uncertainty and lack of control.  Illness can be a friend sometimes because we learn to say no to outside requests that infringe on our sense of peace and focus.  We are forced to examine what is important in our lives.  Often we make positive, long-term changes in our lives because we have had the time to take a good look into what should be our priorities on a daily basis and learn what is most important to us as we take one day at a time.