If you are a subscriber of my blog, thank you and welcome back! If you are new, thanks for stopping by! I hope all of you return.
The purpose of my blog is primarily to give people hope as they live daily with a chronic illness or with chronic pain. I live with three chronic illnesses: ulcerative colitis, endometriosis, and Lyme disease and its co-infections. I’ve written mostly about my journey with Lyme disease and endometriosis, as both can be very difficult to get diagnosed and even harder to get qualified and accurate treatment. See previous posts for more details about my journey.
It’s been a year and a half since I last did a post on this blog, and it was sporadic prior to that. That was primarily because I worked full time and was battling one of these illnesses on a regular basis.
So what’s changed?
In May 2018, my husband and I were blessed to be able to retire and pursue personal interests and ministries, travel (especially to see our grandkids), workout during the day, and sit down and read books by our favorite authors.
When people ask how we like retirement, our usual response is, “We’re still trying to figure it out.” Their response, “What’s to figure out? Just go enjoy yourself.” My husband and I are very active and are doing just that, but we are praying and asking God how He wants us to spend out retirement, so these years honor Him as much as our working years. Although retirement brings freedom, chronic illness remains, so much of our prayers are asking God for His wisdom on how and where we use our time. Going forward, I hope to share more about what retirement looks like and how chronic illness has impacted this time of our lives.
In my retirement, I hope to post on a regular basis. I will not only share what living with hope through chronic illness looks like on a daily basis, but I plan to share:
- tips and products that help you
- resource links and lists for chronic illness
- humorous episodes in my chronic illness journey
- how chronic illness impacts a marriage
- photos that bring hope and joy to my soul
I’m starting a new Facebook page Hope through chronic illness“. I will post there more frequently, sometimes with chronic illness memes, sometimes with a poll, sometimes with a giveaway! So please like my page to see more frequent posts. You can also follow me on Twitter @jackieconfalone, https://twitter.com/JackieConfalone.
I’d love to hear back from you in the comments. What do you want to know about living with chronic illness? What is your or your spouse’s/partner’s journey with chronic illness? What makes you laugh or cry? How has your faith helped you as you live daily with chronic illness?
I finish this post with one of my favorite Bible verses: “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.” (Psalm 16:8)
HOPE through chronic illness 