Why Given Me A Thorn Blog Was Shut Down

Back in May I disabled this blog for several months as I prayed about what to do with it. I had just undergone a solid week of intensive counseling and realized my lifetime mindset, the focus of this blog, had been more about my thorns than about the Rose of Sharron, Jesus Christ. Yes, he has been my Lord since childhood, yet I was more prone to focus on the crashing waves and trying to live my life in a way that would glorify God through the pain, rather than with my eyes firmly set on Jesus Himself and let Him unfold His grace through a life lived for Him, regardless of circumstances. Perhaps this seems like a minor semantical change, but it is a profound heart shift in me!

Starting with the very first day in my week in ministry (and continuing to this day), as I experienced significant and unexpected physical healing in several areas, I was so overwhelmed with God's goodness that I didn't have a heart for this blog anymore. If fact, the "Given Me A Thorn" book title is no longer in my plans at all. Yes, I still plan to write address the times we ask for healing and it does not come (as is still my case in some significant areas), but my title, focus, and perspective has simply been changed by the reality that I am defined by Jesus not by my thorns.

Found on Facebook. Would dearly like to credit the artist if anyone can provide the source, please?
Reminds me of the Butterflies and Battle Boots article I wrote.

I am restoring public viewing of this blog as, within the past week, I have has three needs for public access to some of the health resources previously posted here. The "flavor" of this blog will remain focused on Christians and chronic illness, yet my tone will likely be much more in keeping with my current book title, Harvesting Hope From Heartache.

Please "like" my "Jennifer Saake, author" page at www.facebook.com/HarvestingHope for ongoing updates on all my writing news. :) I need a few thousand likes to demonstate "platform" to potential book publishers and currently only have a few hundred, so please help and pass the need along in your illness support circles!

Why I Wear Combat Boots

What NOT to Say

Here's a helpful article: 12 Things You Should Never Say to A Person With A Chronic Health Condition

{God} takes no pleasure in the strength of a horse or in human might. No, the Lord's delight is in those who fear Him, those who put their hope in His unfailing love. Psalm 147:10-11

Faces

"You don't look sick."

"You look so good today! You must be feeling better."

How do I reply? Do I say, "Thank you!" and leave it at that, knowing someone is trying to encourage me?
Do I reply with the more honest, "Thank you for the compliment, but no, I'm really not feeling well at all." or "I wish I felt as good as I look then!"

One of the drawbacks of an "invisible illness" is that looks can be deceiving. As God told Samuel in l Samuel 16:7, "The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” What you can see isn't always reality.

Most people see the "face" of a healthy-looking me, the vast majority of the time. They cannot see that I live with a ticking time-bomb called XMRV that can land me hard down in bed with the smallest provocation, or sometimes for no apparent reason at all. They can't see that I'm one step away from walking past a balloon and landing in the hospital for a latex allergy like I did this week. They can't see that I struggle every day to get out of bed and try to lead as normal of a life as possible, despite immobilizing fatigue and every-changing levels and kinds and cycles of pain or cognitive dysfunction and a variety of other symptoms ranging from the annoying or distracting to the downright unmanageable.

So today I though I would show you two different faces of me, the one most people see, and the one that better reflects how I typically feel, the one you usually don't see because when I get to the point where my inward struggles manifest themselves so outwardly, I'm buried away inside the protective bubble of my own home (or in this case, the hospital). Here I am, sick in both pictures, but you would only know if from one.

Added to say, as to how I can reply to those comments, my friend, Lisa Copen, has put together a bunch of great ideas on her website:

Helpful list of latex products and latex-free alternatives: Directory of Latex Free, Non Medical Products - UK

Latex-free event planning and alternatives. Including tips such as, "Teachers that use balloons for in class pressure experiments can try inserting a rubber balloon inside of a clear 18" plastic balloon just before class.  This will allow most experiments to be conducted without other modification".

"A quick google search turned up over 200 schools in the US alone that banned latex for the 2006-07 school year.  While my googling turned up lawsuits on both sides of the issue (parents with children that have a latex allergy suing to force a ban and parents who sue over being saddled with the sometimes very high additional costs involved when a ban is put in place at their child's school), as entertainers we should expect these numbers to continue to grow on a year-over-year basis.  "

Non-latex balloons and ideas.

I love this sign!

My more recent article on When Balloons Are Scary is at http://givenmeathorn.blogspot.com/2015/10/when-balloons-are-scary.html.