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Good Days...Bad Days With Maureen Pratt

In my book, “Beyond Pain: Job, Jesus, and Joy,” much of the section on Job involves Job himself – his life, his suffering and, eventually, his finding immense joy. But integral to telling Job’s story is also the subject of friendship with someone who is suffering, and this theme resonates with us today. What part…

Bible passages about the beauty and symbolic strength of human hair abound – and became rather difficult for me to read around the time that I began to develop full-blown lupus. One of the first symptoms indicating something was seriously wrong was that I lost my hair. Not in wisps and a few strands. In clumps…

What makes you smile? Oh, not a toothy grin, and not a sad melancholy expression. And, not life’s laugh tracks, the times we’re supposed to laugh just because everyone else is (and usually because of embarrassment, not joy). Rather, what makes your lips turn up in gentle pleasure, lifting your spirits, too, and giving your…

How often have you wanted to accomplish something, yet pain or illness prevented you from reaching your goal? How did you feel about that? Not good? Discouraged? Frustrated? Hopeless? Success means something different to each of us, but to many people with pain and illness that interferes with daily life, success can often be something…

  “I don’t need anyone to help me with my illness. I don’t need other people, and I don’t need God. I can do it all by  myself.” The woman speaking had come to one of my booksignings. She sat at the back of the group, arms folded, legs crossed. She seemed aloof, but at…

Chronic pain can often have us looking down for days. Looking down at life, other people who don’t seem to understand, doctors, even our dearest friends. Pain can get us down, too, to someplace that seems heavy, burdensome, and without positive possibilities. On Friday, September 21, I was reminded of what can happen when, no…

    If you can perform everydays tasks without pain, you might not fully understand the deep emotion that accompanies the title of this blog post. To you, I say, please read on. And to those who “get it,” well, you are well aware that it never hurts to take a moment to lift up a hearty “thank…

When I was newly diagnosed with lupus, people would often ask me, “What symptoms do you have?’ When I’d say, “Well, I get fatigued,” they might reply, “Oh, but, you take naps, so you must feel better after that,” or, “I get fatigued, too, but I don’t have lupus.” I quickly learned that, if I…

Lunch time. I walked into the kitchen and quickly assembled all the ingredients for a healthful meal – fresh mushrooms, zucchini, onions, a little olive oil, three egg whites (and, okay, one yolk), and seasonings of herbs garlic and pepper. Ah! I could almost taste the yummy and good-for-you lunch. But then, I had to…

As I’ve lived with serious illnesses for many years, people often ask me what helps keep me positive and determined to make the most of life. I always answer: Faith. Keeping faith foremost is not always the easiest thing to do. Sometimes, pain is so overwhelming that it clouds even the most basic thoughts. Sometimes,…
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