Jesusluvsall's Blog

Living with autoimmune makes me think of Paul who prayed about whatever his chronic condition was and hearing from God, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. ” As we live with whatever the issue is, we face a daily hassle of coping, maintaining, adjusting etc. But how is God’s power made perfect in the weakness caused by autoimmune issues?

I can only share my experience of God helping me. There are days that I wake up still tired because of the battle going on inside of my own body. On those days my prayer time is simplified to something like, “God I need your strength fo this day” or “God I am so tired I need your power to show your love today.”

Having been through two serious problems with autoimmune from onset and being sick, through the process of diagnosis, to adjusting to life after diagnosis, I can see how easy it would be to give in to depression and anxiety.

With autoimmune, the problem is ALWAYS there. It is a constant companion we wish would go away. In the days of trying to find out what the problem is, there are doctors to see, tests to be performed on us, and living with the symptoms. After getting diagnosed, each day we need to be vigilant. Depression can set in.

I will never forget the day at church when an elderly woman told me, “You need to make a gratitude list each day.” I thought it was quaint of her and dismissed it while thanking her. Well I found out there is something to expressing gratitude in that when I actually started to thank God, my attitude changed. An example I shared some weeks ago of when I went out to my car in my apartment parking lot only to find it had a flat tire, I stopped and thanked God it happened at home and not on the road. That helped me to not go into the woe is me mode.

Prayer and time with God while listening to worship music are vital for me. A song that I listened to every day and in fact several times a day last year as I was going through the maze of seeing several doctors to find out what was wrong was It Is Well by Kristene DiMarco.

Living with autoimmune has made very real to me the words of Jesus when he said, “I am the vine and you are the branches apart from me you can do nothing.” I don’t do a good job of it every day but when I stop ask him to empower me to show his love, the day goes much better.