Do You Have a Pile of Shoes You Can’t Wear?

 

When you have an illness, sometimes you end up with a closet filled with shoes that were never bareable for more than 5 minutes on your feet. Now, instead of letting them pile up and feeling guilty about spending that money, you can donate your new or “gently worn” footwear to Shoes4Soles, a Nashville-based nonprofit that organizes the donations of footwear, which are used to aid the hurting worldwide. Soles4Souls has donated more than 3 million pairs of shoes since its inception (one pair of shoes every 28 seconds).

Send your new or gently worn shoes to one of their warehouse facilities. (Plus you’ll get a tax write off–for shoes! Who knew?)

 

Letter from the Editor

Dear Friends,

If you told me it would be over two weeks that my computer would be unable to send email for two weeks I would have laughed, and then gasped! At last email is working once again and I am in the processing of answering them. An email problem led to a computer problem, which sent it to my “computer doctor.” However, upon getting the computer back, I’d gotten into a bad “spam loop” with a company sending me about 30 emails per minute. So, with over 30,000 emails on my server, I could no longer log onto it. My ISP was quite slow to see the importance of helping me fix the problem.

As much as I see these as spiritual attacks, I also saw Lord fulfilling the scripture Proverbs 16:4: “The Lord works out everything for his own ends…”

Without the ability to communicate, I was able to let go of some of the stress and also begin working on my “mom book” which has been in my heart for awhile. I’d not been ready to write it, had the time, nor the experience. With my son entering Kindergarten in the fall, I was hopeful I could do the topic justice if many of you who are much more experienced helped me out.

And when God wants me to work on a book, it’s because it’s a place in my life He wants to work on me. Researching, writing and praying on the topic usually impact my heart and spiritual walk unlike anything else. So, we’ll see what happens! (If you are interested in being involved, keep reading!.)

Yesterday was my son’s last day of preschool. A potluck, photos, and celebrations. A playdate with a friend wasn’t able to happen, but we had the neighbor’s little boy come over and they swam in the kiddie pool and then played trains. They were playing and he came over and just gave me a BIG hug like “thank you!” (Pretty cool). When dad came home we had dinner and Josh got to use the special “Shining Star” plate, opened a present and then we watched the video of the graduation.

I have to run and pick him up from daycamp now and then we head on over to Little Gym. I’m feeling awful. I slept well, but woke up feeling like a truck had parked on me all night. I am aware of every bit of tissue in my back - it just aches. It’s the fibromyalgia part. And I am trying to figure out when I can have hand surgery since I ruptured a tendon and my left hand is now pretty deformed.

If this is all overwhelming, next time just slide on down to the next section of the newsletter, but I wanted to catch you up to date on life’s happenings. You can also get snippets of anything on my “Twitter” in the Sunroom (scroll down to the Twitter box on the right) When my email wasn’t working, this was how I kept in touch with what the newest update was.

Next Tuesday Josh and I fly up for a week in Oregon with my family. My husband will join us a for a few days during the weekend, but can’t get away from work for long. I will try to get this ezine out from Oregon if all of technology agrees with me!

Thanks for all your prayers,

 

 

Lisa Copen
Rest Ministries Director and Founder

PS: These are the kind of emails that got my through the TV interview… Thanks, Friends! I still have not seen the footage but will try to keep this in mind

“Good luck on your TV interview. Remember, we are hurting and it will more then likely bless others to see that you are in the same boat…like you said not some model who had been sick for a day or two. I don’t want anyone to be in pain, but it is so helpful when I can see someone who looks like me, not someone who is made up to look healthy. Don’t try to cover up who you are, that is what makes rest ministries the great help it is! Thanks for all you do! Susie E.”

 

Invisible Illness Week Being Planned

In case you are wondering… we are starting to update the web site and pull some things together for National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week. We will be having our “chat seminars” this year as telephone seminars, where you can call in and listen and participate. Lisa will be ordering updated brochures and other items in the next few weeks.

With everyone trying to save money, we want to be good stewards and not purchase a bunch of stuff no one is interested in, so watch for an upcoming survey to tell us what you would be interested in purchasing. We want to have items available that you want (brochures, pins, bumper stickers)!

 

In Honor of Dads

In honor of all the dads out there who live with illness, visit our page for dads with illness. And… are you a dad with a chronic illness? If so, Lisa is looking for a few men to interview for her (ironically) “moms with illness” book– She’ll be including a chapter on “Dads have illness too!” So go to our contact us page and choose “other” and tell us a bit about yourself and Lisa will be contacting you in the next few months.

Happy Father’s Day!

 

Take a Past Survey!

Take a past survey today! We will have another new one soon, but right now, any survey you participate in helps us write up some awesome press releases and spread the word about the awareness of chronic illness and how it’s much more than just the latest medical news.

 

Inspirational Quote from Helga Hopper

Whatever might have happened, not every thing is bad news. Jesus is on your side. You may be forced to spend a lot of time on your own, but utilize that time. I find it enables me to get a lot into the Word, and to pray for many people. I see all the people rushing as I used to do, and many are hurting.

I have learned to sit and watch people. As a lady walks past I say, “Thank you Lord that she can walk. I am sure she needs it more than I now do. Maybe she has family,” and I start praying for her needs, and I find that as I do that I can cope with any hurt in my heart. I am convinced there is no hurt in your heart that you cannot overcome as you reach out to the needs of others.”

Helga Hopper, Massive Stroke Survivor

 

Jolene Shares How Her Pain Ministry Came to Be

My name is Jolene. I am a mother of five children– three at home. Last year changed my life. I was diagnosed with Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome, a diagnosis of which there is no cure and is described as burning constant pain.

 

I woke up one morning with my foot swelled and down it went from there. I started researching all this on the internet, and of course didn’t realize that I was filling my mind with negative information. Yes awareness is good, but I didn’t realize how important encouragement, support, and prayer was until this happened.

 

I started getting really sick lost a lot of weight, ached all over, and couldn’t walk. Depression and severe anxiety set in. The first doctor I went to about the aching and not being able to walk sent me back to my primary physician and would not treat me for arthritis.

 

This led to a lot of frustration, and I ended up suffering a nervous breakdown, believing I would never walk again. I couldn’t even stand to take a shower. I started medications for the depression and the anxiety, as I couldn’t sleep due to the pain. I refused pain meds, as the Lord had brought me through alcohol and drug recovery going on eighteen years now.

 

Praise God for my family, my church family, and my pastor as they prayed and helped my husband take care of my children. I came home one month later much more emotionally able to handle the pain and the every day battle that chronic pain brings. I was led to a new rheumatologist who ran tests on me and came to the conclusion I have either rheumatoid arthritis or psoratic arthritis.

 

I had never met a kinder loving person, and later found out he is a cChristian. Within the last seven weeks I was started on meds for the rheumatoid arthritis, and am not –get this—WALKING! Without a cane, without a walker, I am able to take a shower now, cook, and wow. . . I just can’t express what I am able to do.

 

I do not take this lightly. God has given me back some of my life. I get up in the morning and I thank God for his grace and His healing. I take time now to smell the roses and enjoy the little things He has given to me and my family. I no longer worry about what other people are doing, I have no anger and no bitterness and I have decided to dedicate the rest of my life serving him totally through ministry with people in pain and emotional suffering.

 

Before all this happened I had a lot of emotional issues that were showing in my Christian walk. One was unforgiveness and bitterness. God has healed me emotionally in ways I cannot even express. I was brought to Rest Ministries and I praise god as He has given me Christian brothers and sisters who love and care for me, and I am able to minister with a clean heart as well.

 

My life is now more fulfilling as God has brought me new awareness of others and what they go through. I have good and bad days, but find time to laugh and enjoy life. God has also led me to start a web forum (it’s really God’s forum) its called Peace in Pain because I have found that no matter what I go through He is with me every step of the way and will never leave me.

 

One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

 

What more can I say?  This verse describes what He has done for me.

 

Visit Jolene’s web site ministry at www.peaceinpain.com

 

Share our video with your pastor

Would you like your pastor to understand the illness ministry is needed, growing, and even beneficial? See our 4-minute promotional video at YouTube and click on the envelope where it says “Share.” Or you can also send a person the link on our actual web page at http://www.admin-video.htm.

Now is a great and introduce the subject that National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week is September 8-14, 2008. Perhaps you and your pastor could brainstorm some ways to create more awareness in the church in order to better reaching out to people who are hurting silently.

For example, you could write an article for the church newsletter; share your testimony; kick off a HopeKeepers group; or have a resource table outside after church that week. For more ideas see “Minister to the Chronically Ill: 20 Ways in 20 Minutes” or “6 Ways a Church Can Show the Chronically Ill They Care.”