Where Chronic Illness and Christian Living Meet
Hey Friend,
Fighting chronic illness can feel so isolating. You may feel ripped off and spiritually dry, but you are in the perfect position to fully surrender your circumstances to Christ, rely on Christ, and affirm that your identity in him never changes, regardless of your health. The gospel demonstrates that suffering is never wasted.
-Sondra, Creator of Shaped by the Struggle
Blog
Shaped by the Struggle Trailer
Shaped By the Struggle is where chronic illness and Christian living meet. Every Wednesday, we talk about chronic illness, our relationship with God, our faith, and our purpose in life.
You’re Not As Healthy As You Think You Are
You’re not as healthy as you think you are. That’s a presumptuous sentence for the start of a book, but if you’ve continued reading to sentence two even after reading sentence one, then you’re exactly the kind of person I want to be reading along. Because the...
Choosing to Cope
Pain is pain. It hurts. People hurt. People are allowed to hurt.
Stop telling people that if they grieve the pain they’re letting it win. It’s not about if you decide to feel the pain it’s about what you do with the pain. It’s about how you treat it and tend to it.
Stop for the One
Struggle Strategizer: Emily Rice If there is one thing I've learned in my life, it is that ONE person is worth it. If you stop ONE person from committing suicide… If you help ONE person start a business… If you give ONE person advice that changes their life… If you...
5 Mental Health Myths in the Church
There is nothing wrong with someone for struggling with mental health concerns. Whether someone battles anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or another mental health struggle they are loved and known by God....
How to Embrace the Crazy Days
Struggle Strategizer: You A few years ago, I woke up every morning wishing, I could hit snooze for just a few more minutes. I would wait until the very last, possible minute before jumping out of bed. I thought college heavily influenced this pattern, but I was wrong....
Struggling to Watch Other’s Suffer (Part 2)
Struggle Strategizer: Martha *Read Part 1 to learn more about the resurrection of Lazarus, and Mary’s experience. Martha was a busy body, and she liked to get things done. Mary and Martha were both hustlers, but they hustled in different ways (Luke 10:38-42). Martha...
A letter to the Girl who’s Struggling
Struggle Strategizer: You To the girl who feels misunderstood: Jesus sees you, hears you, knows you, and empathizes with you. He was misunderstood too. To the girl who feels that no one understands: He feels your pain, because he lives in you, and he created you. He...
Purpose in Pain
Struggle Strategizer: Mary, the mother of Jesus Are you ready and willing for God to work? Easter isn’t just a yearly celebration. Easter is a reminder that Jesus can bring what is dead back to life! Easter is a reminder that Jesus can bring purpose out of pain!...
To the Girl Fighting a Long Fight:
Struggle Strategizer: You It’s hard to be human. Right now the world is feeling that truth to its core. It’s terrifying and beautiful all at the same time. It’s terrifying because uncertainty is overpowering certainty, isolation is overpowering community, chaos is...
