Birds of a Feather

Our sermon series at church this summer has been on the book of Proverbs – and this past Sunday it was specifically on how to stay wise.

It reminded me of a post I did a few days ago about keeping your ducks in a row.

One of the verses our pastor referenced was Proverbs 13:20 – Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. 

In the battle of Lyme disease and any chronic illness sometimes you find yourself in a flock of “naysayers”. People who don’t believe in your healthcare choices, your financial choices and don’t believe you are really THAT sick. People who are trying to be “helpful”, but really only being up in your business to tell you what to do instead.

Careful of people who are willing to tell you everything you are doing is wrong, instead of people who are willing to advocate on your behalf to find out how to do everything right.

No one is perfect and makes flawless decisions in chronic illness, but there is no one on this planet that knows exactly how you feel. Seek out someone that you know that has survived a chronic illness. Make sure they have a positive outlook on life and sit at their feet and learn how they conquered the mountain.

Birds of a feather flock together, so make sure you are surrounding yourself with people who want you to succeed and who have succeeded. People you want to be more like and seek to improve their outlook daily.

Its something you hadn’t expected to happen after you got sick, that someone or a group of someone’s would abandon you in your crisis. But it happens to all of us. People avoid hardship like the plague and in order to live in denial, they have to run for the hills when it gets tough. Others just have to recede to process through their fears of your sickness.

Anyway you slice it, someone is going to let you down. Prepare for it, expect it and heal through it. God can bring new friends and support your way. These new relationships will have stronger and longer roots too because they are built in crisis.

In order to acheive physical healing, your mental and emotional faculties must also be healing and improving. If you don’t have a “community” to draw from, find a local Lyme support group or go to counselling.

You gotta have someone cheering you on and believing you can and you will get through this. You will heal surrounded by people who have healed and who believe you will get better.

Don’t fly with the naysayers – they are just going to crash or fly into a giant 747 because they were all too busy complaining, festering, and worrying.