Finding Purpose: Rediscovering Meaning in a Life with Chronic Illness
FINDING PURPOSE
WHAT IF PURPOSE LOOKS DIFFERENT THAN WE BELIEVE?
What if purpose isn’t defined by education, gifts or passion, by what we are able to do or by what we’ve lost due to chronic illness?
Instead, what if purpose simply draws us toward God? What if we are called to be instead of to do?
FINDING PURPOSE
A 10-chapter study inviting you to rethink your understanding of purpose, to release cultural definitions and to embrace God’s – a definition both rooted in timeless biblical truths and as refreshing as a gentle spring rain.
YOUR Biblical Purpose
Purpose is the reason something exists or was created. It is the reason we act or choose not to act and encompasses intentions and objectives.
How is God calling me?
When we seek God’s calling for our lives, our journey begins with love, with who we are in Christ, and who we were created to be.
Finding Your God-Given Purpose
Discovering our God-given purpose begins with trust, with learning to be present with God in each moment — less about why we were created and what we are created to do than about who we are created to be.
Lectio Divina
Lectio Divina is the ancient practice of slowly, contemplatively reading the words of Scripture, an invitation to encounter God through His Word, to pay close attention, and to be fully present.
Stewardship of Courage
The stewardship of courage begins with a deep faith in God, accessed by prayer, and lived out in patient waiting and hopeful trust.
Living Brave
Living Brave begins with faith, with living authentically from the inside out. It’s messy and gritty, and reveals how much we really trust God.
DISCOVERING HOPE: Beginning the Journey Toward Hope in Chronic Illness (Book 1)
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.
EMBRACING WORTH: Understanding Your Value in a Life with Chronic Illness (Book 3)
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.
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, and begin to dream together again – to thrive as one – in sickness and in health.
GRACE, TRUTH & TIME: Facilitating Thriving Small Groups
Heather MacLaren Johnson
With this incredible resource, you can learn to: lead through God's grace, create a space for spiritual growth and healing, empathize, listen and engage with those in pain, grow in prayer and compassion, foster hope and encouragement, and build small group communities that thrive.
Even More
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In His hand…
In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. (Job 12:10)
Purpose is woven
“Purpose is woven into the very fibers of your soul by the One with a plan and a purpose for every single part of His creation.” Cindee Snider Re
A heart at peace
A heart at peace gives life to the body. (Proverbs 14:30)
Path of Life
You make known to me the path of life; you fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. (Psalm 15:11)
Could illness
“Could illness and pain hold greater purpose than we we imagine?” Cindee Snider Re
earth is satisfied
…the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his word. (Psalm 104:13b)
Greater Purpose
We are called to no greater purpose than to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love others as we love ourselves. (Mark 12:30-31)
Purpose
“Purpose – Maybe it’s less about what we can do than about how much we can love. More about walking with others through pain than about seeking solutions for the pain. Maybe presence is our greatest purpose.” Cindee Snider Re
For I know the plans
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plan to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
Rejoice with those
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. (Romans12:15)
Abject circumstances
“Our circumstances might be abject, we might not think we can survive for one more day enslaved to illness, but God says, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.'(Exodus 33:14)” Cindee Snider Re
Biblical Purpose
“Our Biblical purpose aligns us with God, revealing who we are, why we’re here, and why we were created.” Cindee Snider Re
He first loved us
We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)
Understanding our circumstances
“Understanding how we view our circumstances can begin to change the way we react to them. Story, because it is relatable, memorable and often unobtrusive, can help us to see with new eyes.” Cindee Snider Re
Be still
Be still and know that I am God… (Psalm 46:10a)
A heart at rest
A heart at rest gives life to a body… (Proverbs 14:30) A heart at peace: life-giving, refreshing, necessary. The antithesis of stress, worry, and fear.
Love, especially
“Love, especially when it’s hard, is the marrow of faith and purpose.” Cindee Snider Re
Sustained loss
“Sustained loss can sometime see never-ending, like a bleak, eternal winter of the soul. Yet spring always returns. even on the heels of the longest, coldest winter, tender new growth emerges from the once frozen soil.” Cindee Snider Re
Love your neighbor
Love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:39b)
Prayer is a unique
“Prayer is a unique and personal experience, a place of communion and conversation with God. Sometimes we come with words, sometimes we simply come with the groanings of our heart.” Cindee Snider Re
Everything that has breath
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. (Psalm 150:6)
add a single hour
But who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? (Luke 12:25)
Refresh the weary
I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint. (Jeremiah 31:25)
Finding Purpose Testimonials
Purpose used to haunt me constantly. What if I could never again do the things I loved to do? What if chronic illness permanently ripped away and erased my old self? What if I can’t ever support myself? What future is there for someone like me? What I’ve discovered is that meaning is an inherent part of being alive. FINDING PURPOSE doesn’t have all the answers, but it is the first step on a journey that will change your life.
It sounds cliché, but God spoke to me through the pages of FINDING PURPOSE. As I read each chapter, I was called to go deeper in Christ and to seek God’s true purpose for my life — what a humbling gift to know that although I’m still facing health challenges, I am loved and called by God for a specific purpose.
FINDING PURPOSE will help you push through chronic illness as a defining destiny, gloriously refining you through the living Word of God. Cindee’s personal journey has redefined her life purpose: “to hold hope, seek beauty, chase light and dance with words, because that is how [she] experiences the presence of God, and speaks life into a broken, hurting world.”
FINDING PURPOSE brings to light the gift of our lives and of our calling.
Finding Purpose is one of the Chronic Joy THRIVE Series.
The companion resource for this series is Grace, Truth & Time.
For a list of all THRIVE books, visit our store.