Church connections are not always easy
Are there members of your church community who live with ongoing personal struggles? They might be suffering from an invisible illness, i.e. a life-changing health condition that is not obvious at first glance.
Their invisible illness could be:
Physical — affecting the way their body functions on the inside, which often results in things like pain, dizziness, extreme fatigue, nausea, and/or difficulties with concentration.
Mental — affecting the way they think about themselves, other people and the world around them, which sometimes makes it hard for them to control their moods and their actions.
Developmental — affecting the way their brain is wired, which impacts the ways they relate to people and, sometimes, their ability to learn.
Build a Bridge
Sometimes you try to help but get it wrong. Sometimes you keep your distance, afraid of saying or doing the wrong thing. The interviews below might help you to better understand:
- How church feels for a person living with an invisible health condition and for their family members.
- What sorts of conversation topics might be unhelpful for them when you chat at church.
- How you can reach out in sensitive, appropriate and meaningful ways.
The expression build a bridge is a way of “encouraging” someone to move on from their problems. Well, we’re not using the expression in its usual sense; Fruitful Today’s Build a Bridge project is about walking over the bridge with a grieving person, rather than standing back while they try to get over it alone.
I hope you enjoy these glimpses inside the minds of your chronically ill brothers and sisters in Christ!
Interviews about church and invisible illness
My prayer is that your church relationships will be strengthened through this series, whether you’re living with an invisible illness, or seeking to better support those in your church family who live with ongoing health conditions. Readers with invisible illness, I’ve prepared a special pep talk just for you. 🙂
If you find the interviews helpful, please share them among your church networks. Join me in raising awareness about Invisible Illness within our Christian communities.
Thank you, this is brilliant 🙂
….looking forward to reading the other stories too 🙂
Thanks, Jennifer. Me too!
Building the bridge is the best initiative I have ever come across, I just hope more churches, organizations, offices should come up with such program because people suffering from these invisible diseases face two problems, one is the physical discomfort and extreme pain and second is the apathy of the society, who does not believe that a healthy looking person could actually be so sick.
John Gatesby recently posted…Do I Have Postural Orthostatic Hypotension Syndrome(POTS)?
Thank you, John. It’s tricky for both the invisibly ill person and their friends/family, isn’t it?! The sick person doesn’t know how much to say / not say about their illness, for fear of coming across as someone who’s being over-dramatic or simply imagining their illness. Their friends/family may have no concept of invisible illnesses — how could they as they haven’t experienced it themselves? They tend to take quite some time to “get it”! Awareness raising initiatives like this one, although a drop in the ocean, can hopefully help to build bridges of understanding!
Kristy recently posted…Inspiration for carers: Jesus the Servant-King (Phil 2:8)