Chronic illness is hard, but there is hope.

Chronic illness • Posts, Books & More

Chronic illness is hard, but there is hope.

As we journey through diagnoses and treatment plans, loss and isolation, sadness and grief, we can also discover the gifts of laughter, joy, and hope along the way.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Corinthians 4:8-9)

Chronic Illness

YOU’RE INVITED TO STEP IN

 

Today, we invite you to step in, slip off your shoes, and stay awhile. Read. Explore. Discover.

Chronic Joy isn’t a place of quick fixes or savvy advice. We don’t offer pat answers or simple solutions. Instead, we invite you into community as together we learn, share, wrestle, pray, and lean into the precious truths of Scripture.

We’re so glad you’re here. Welcome!

Happy Bubbles

Blog Posts

You Cannot Take Me

While we may lose a lot at the hands of a chronic illness, there are still things it cannot take from us. We can even thrive in new ways.

READ MORE

Chronic Illness Cannot Take Me - a poem by Laurie Glass

Blessed In Dependence

We can either worry ourselves into despair or lean into the Lord’s help and care. For me, it’s a matter of admitting my desperate dependence on His strength and grace on both good days and bad.

READ MORE

God lovingly awaits our simple expression of faith
Happy Bubbles

Books We Love • Chronic Illness

Discovering Hope

DISCOVERING HOPE: Beginning the Journey Toward Hope in Chronic Illness

Cindee Snider Re

This 10-chapter study invites participants to experience radical hope and compassionate change in a life with chronic illness.

No matter how dark the days, how wild the storm, how deep the valley, or how long the winter, there is hope.

There is always hope.

LEARN MORE

Buy from Amazon

Finding Purpose

FINDING PURPOSE: Rediscovering Meaning in a Life with Chronic Illness

Cindee Snider Re

What if purpose looks different than we believe?

In this 10-chapter study, author Cindee Snider Re invites participants to release cultural and traditional definitions of purpose and, instead, embrace God's timeless definition. Rooted in His Word, His definition is as refreshing as a gentle spring rain.

LEARN MORE

Buy from Amazon

Embracing Worth

EMBRACING WORTH: Understanding Your Value in a Life with Chronic Illness

Cindee Snider Re

This 10-chapter study powerfully reminds us that our value isn’t found in what we can or cannot do but in Christ alone. Regardless of what we’ve lost through chronic illness, this isn’t the end of our story. Despite our circumstances, in the midst of the hard when we’re not sure we can take even one more breath, God is still good.

LEARN MORE

Buy from Amazon

I TAKE YOU IN SICKNESS & IN HEALTH: Marriage with Chronic Illness

Cindee Snider Re

Rejuvenate, revitalize, rekindle, and reconnect with this insightful and enriching 10-chapter study (designed just for couples) that offers you and your spouse a safe place to grieve, heal, grow, dream together, and thrive as one – in sickness and in health.

LEARN MORE

Buy from Amazon

A Book of Comfort for Those in Sickness

P.B. Power

Suffering need not be a dark experience. While illness brings time to think, the natural tendency of our thoughts may not be comforting. Sickness may end activities we once enjoyed and might make us dependent upon others. Feelings of pain, uselessness, or anxiety about the future may be very real. This book offers comfort for just those times.

Buy from Amazon

Broken Body, Healing Spirit

Mary C. Earle

For centuries, Christians have turned to the Benedictine practice of Lectio Divina (sacred reading) to pray the Scripture and deepen their experience of God’s presence in their lives. In this gentle book, Mary Earle (who has suffered from serious illness of her own) explores how this ancient practice can be used to “read the text of our illnesses,” and, in doing so, discover God’s presence and guidance even amid pain and suffering.

Buy from Amazon

100 Names of God

Chronic Illness: Walking by Faith

Esther Smith

Physical symptoms and limitations change all aspects of life, leading to losses and to unique challenges that are difficult to navigate. Discover encouragement and practical applications showing you how to release guilt and shame, ask for help, balance work and rest, and get through days of difficult symptoms.

Buy from Amazon

Glorious Weakness: Discovering God in All We Lack

Glorious Weakness: Discovering God in All We Lack

Alia Joy

Weakness does not disqualify us from inclusion in the kingdom of God. Instead, it is our very invitation to enter. Anyone who has struggled with feeling inadequate, disillu-sioned, or just too broken can find hope. This message is an antidote to despair, helping readers reclaim how God is good, even when life is anything but.

Buy from Amazon

Hurting Yet Whole: Reconciling Body and Spirit in Chronic Pain and Illness

Liuan Huska

What do we do when our bodies don’t work the way they should? What is healing when one has a chronic illness? Can we still be whole when our bodies suffer? Liuan helps us redefine what it means to find healing and wholeness even amid ongoing pain.

Buy from Amazon

Peace in the Storm: Meditations on Chronic Pain and Illness

Maureen Pratt

Using a combination of Bible passages, her own observations and insights, and prayer, Pratt provides help on issues that include dealing with isolation, coping with medical expenses, and learning to say “No.” Written with unstinting honesty and humor, Peace in the Storm will help readers identify their own spiritual and physical needs.

Buy from Amazon

When There Is No Cure: How to Thrive While Living with the Pain and Suffering of Chronic Illness

Craig K. Svensson

How do you live well when the physical foundation of your life is crumbling? This is the challenge for millions who live with diseases for which there is no cure. These incurable ailments produce a life of constant pain, fatigue, numbness, dizziness, and other debilitating symptoms that create chronic suffering. Can you thrive in life while experiencing the suffering persistent sickness provokes? Drawing on his expertise as a pharmacist-scientist as well as a fellow sufferer of several incurable diseases, Svensson helps to steer readers through the twists and turns of life with chronic illness.

Buy from Amazon

Jesus is the Question: The 307 Questions Jesus Asked and the 3 He Answered

You Gotta Keep Dancin': In the Midst of Life's Hurts, You Can Choose Joy!

Tim Hansel

Life can be tough. Stress, disappointment, heartache, and hurt are all part of the human condition. While pain is unavoidable, misery is optional! No matter what your circumstances, you can choose to be joyful. In Hansel’s powerful account of God’s working in one man’s physical and emotional suffering, he and we discover the real meaning of joy.

Buy from Amazon

The Amazon buttons are affiliate links, which means if you click on the link and purchase the item, Chronic Joy will receive an affiliate commission.

Happy Bubbles
Happy Bubbles

Audio 

SHARING LIFE, DISCOVERING HOPE AND A FEW FUNNY MOMENTS

by Diane Bailey | The Consilium Lakeside

CHALLENGES AND JOYS OF LIVING WITH CHRONIC ILLNESS

by Our American Stories | Marriage On The Mind: Chronic Emotional/Physical Pain (Ep 1)

Video 

THE JOURNEY TOWARD JOY

Diamonds Conference – Pamela Piquette
(Psalm 23) 

Click here for the printable study guide.  Click here for the Q&A that followed.

Click here to see all the amazing speakers from Diamonds 2019.

SAYING “YES” TO GOD’S “NO” 

Diamonds Conference – Pamela Piquette
(2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

Click here for the printable study guide.  Click here for the Q&A that followed.

Love One Another – A Step of Faith
(Galatians 5:13b)

Bring your nothing. God wants to take our nothing and make it into something beautiful for His Kingdom. Let’s “…serve one another humbly in love.” (35 minute message followed by Q&A)

FREE PRINTABLE STUDY GUIDE

Happy Bubbles

THROUGH CHRIST, WE ARE STRONG

Joni Eareckson Tada

“I’ve got strength sent straight from heaven. Joy hard-fought-for and hard-won.” Click here to watch and be encouraged.

CHOOSING JOY IN SUFFERING

Vaneetha Rendall Risner

“Pain is what draws us to God.” Click here to watch.

6 STRUGGLES WE FACE IN SUFFERING AND HOW THE GOSPEL SPEAKS TO THEM

Sarah Walton and Kristen Wetherell

“Loneliness strips away the external comfort found in those around me, driving me to find comfort in Christ alone.” Click here to watch and glean Gospel comfort.

YOUR LABOR IS NOT IN VAIN

Esther Smith

“Any activity, no matter how small, that fills your day that you do with a reliance on God and for the glory of God is the work of the Lord.” Click here to watch Esther.

Happy Bubbles
Skip to content