Wego Health recently asked people to participate in a blog carnival by posting about, “When were you were most proud of your work as a Health Activist?” Well, when I think of pride I think of Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” But reflecting back on years since I began Rest Ministries in 1997, I did want to participate in this blog carnival, because I am proud of so many of you.
I have been online with my organization’s website since 1997 when it first began. Since then I have had the opportunity to see how the patient community has grown exponentially over the years and how it went from large medical corporations serving those who live with chronic illness or pain to now –the most visited and active websites are from the patient community itself, encouraging and ministering to other patients who live with chronic illness and pain.
I feel honored to be a part of this patient community. Yes, I have had the chance to be honored for it by the Arthritis Foundation, as an affiliate of Joni and Friends International Disability ministry , as the “Our Bodies, Ourselves” 2009 Women’s Health Hero by Audience Choice, to name a few.
But one of the things that stand out as significant, however, is the chance I’ve had to be a part of the patient community as the founder of National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week. I began this week in 2002 as a sponsored event of Rest Ministries to bring a new awareness and education to the country as a whole that nearly one in two people live with a chronic condition that is likely invisible to those around them.
Through this week I have had the opportunity to interview via online, chat with, and interview via audio () over 200 special guests and leaders in the patient community online.
There have been many of you who have volunteered hours, your time, your fingertips to type, and your willingness to help out wherever needed.
It has been exciting to see how our participants who attend a one-week virtual conference are able to (1) actually attend because it requires no travel or sitting in uncomfortable chairs; (2) change their life! Many people have found a renewed sense of joy, refreshment, determination, and many have discovered that the Christian community in general actually is filled with many chronic real people who are suffering silently. We are not all healed from physical ailment here on this earth, despite what many churches were people’s opinions may say otherwise.
Working with some of the biggest health bloggers online, as well as patient speakers, doctors, attorneys, and motivational speakers, I have felt a great sense of joy in being able to be a part of something that brings so many people together regardless of their faith or their actual disease.
To be honest, right now I am not sure what form National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week will take in September of 2010. I only know that I am not able to physically, or emotionally for that matter, take on all of the work that involves the next two months in preparation. I am soon heading off for a women’s retreat style weekend where I hope to spend some time reflecting on the decisions I need to make regarding National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week.
But this annual event and outreach of Rest Ministries, that invites so many people who are living quietly with chronic illness that is invisible, and suffering with depression, to know they are not alone, is certainly one of the things I am most proud of being involved with –and most proud of the many people I have met along the way.
Lisa
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I have been online with my organization’s website since 1997 when it first began. Since then I have had the opportunity to see how the patient community has grown exponentially over the years and how it went from large medical corporations serving those who live with chronic illness or pain to now –the most visited and active websites are from the patient community itself, encouraging and ministering to other patients who live with chronic illness and pain.
I feel honored to be a part of this patient community. Yes, I have had the chance to be honored for it by the Arthritis Foundation, as an affiliate of Joni and Friends International Disability ministry , as the “Our Bodies, Ourselves” 2009 Women’s Health Hero by Audience Choice, to name a few.
But one of the things that stand out as significant, however, is the chance I’ve had to be a part of the patient community as the founder of National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week. I began this week in 2002 as a sponsored event of Rest Ministries to bring a new awareness and education to the country as a whole that nearly one in two people live with a chronic condition that is likely invisible to those around them.
Through this week I have had the opportunity to interview via online, chat with, and interview via audio () over 200 special guests and leaders in the patient community online.
There have been many of you who have volunteered hours, your time, your fingertips to type, and your willingness to help out wherever needed.
It has been exciting to see how our participants who attend a one-week virtual conference are able to (1) actually attend because it requires no travel or sitting in uncomfortable chairs; (2) change their life! Many people have found a renewed sense of joy, refreshment, determination, and many have discovered that the Christian community in general actually is filled with many chronic real people who are suffering silently. We are not all healed from physical ailment here on this earth, despite what many churches were people’s opinions may say otherwise.
Working with some of the biggest health bloggers online, as well as patient speakers, doctors, attorneys, and motivational speakers, I have felt a great sense of joy in being able to be a part of something that brings so many people together regardless of their faith or their actual disease.
To be honest, right now I am not sure what form National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week will take in September of 2010. I only know that I am not able to physically, or emotionally for that matter, take on all of the work that involves the next two months in preparation. I am soon heading off for a women’s retreat style weekend where I hope to spend some time reflecting on the decisions I need to make regarding National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week.
But this annual event and outreach of Rest Ministries, that invites so many people who are living quietly with chronic illness that is invisible, and suffering with depression, to know they are not alone, is certainly one of the things I am most proud of being involved with –and most proud of the many people I have met along the way.
Lisa