Author J Roe

Writing quirky characters on redemptive journeys

grief

Chronic Illness Tips to Help Us When We’re Shut-In

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Many of us feel desperate, searching for a shut-in’s guide to staying home. Maybe it would help us find the right path through the maze of COVID 19. Ironically, I feel as though the majority of my life has prepared me for this. I’ve lived home-bound off-and-on since high school due to complications involving debilitating chronic migraines and resulting depression and anxiety. I have found ways that help me continue to live a worthwhile life even when I can’t function as I would normally like to. Who knew there would be chronic illness tips to help us when we’re shut in?

Chronic Illness Tips to Help Us When We're Shut In - authorjroe.com - With so many of us suddenly working from home and quarantined, chronic illness has much to teach during this uncertain time. Click through for tips I've learned the hard way when you are living as a shut-in with a life you can't predict or schedule. #chronicillness #workingfromhome #shutin #quarantined

Celebrating and Grieving

I live in the USA in Alabama, one of the last states to receive the coronavirus test. We were therefore one of the last states to begin locking down. My children would not be going to school as planned while I was away with my sisters. We were at the beach, spreading the ashes of the sister we lost in a horrific accident. We were also celebrating the life of our youngest sister, who this past year survived breast cancer. Even with the signs of how quickly things were beginning to shut-down, we tried to keep our focus on healing and each other. We knew we might never get such an opportunity to be together like this again.

I’ve never in my life had such a view before. The wind and the waves played together on the shore making me smile. Though I thought I was familiar with sea-loving birds, I saw more than the pelicans and seagulls I remembered from my Galveston Island childhood. My writer’s mind is always eating up bits of information like this. I breathed in the scent of the salt air, the warmth of the sun, the thundering crash of the waves. The sight of my sisters playing in the surf will not be forgotten! I walked on the sand, letting my feet memorize the feel of the wet sand and lapping waves. Each of these details are making their way into different scenes in my fairy tale novels.

Taking things one-at-a-time

Each morning I prayed on the open balcony facing the gulf. I prayed for God to provide, even as I adjusted to the news that my husband was temporarily laid-off due to the crisis. I asked God to care for my sisters and I as we grieved. Though there are times I don’t understand what God is doing, He has always proved to be faithful. I choose to hold onto that knowledge, at peace that he has promised to never leave or forsake me. Those prayers by the beach were solace for me.

Chronic Illness Tips to Help Us

Returning home I began to realize what we needed to do in my family. Ocean breezes gone, I returned to the life I’m all too familiar with. I was thankful the migraines let up for me to enjoy my time on the shore. But even there chronic illness had covered my body in hives, a lingering allergic reaction to a migraine medication. Side note: Social distancing isn’t difficult when you look like you have chickenpox. So now I’m home trying to recover and help my family navigate staying home.

Something that may seem like common sense is all too easily forgotten in the pursuit of getting through each day while living on top of each other. Grace. We need it in abundance. When you live with a body that doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to, you need help from others. But you also need to be gracious in how you ask and receive that help. Having a chronic illness can make you an impatient, bitter person, robbed of all you wanted out of life. Becoming home-bound can have a similar affect. Or, you can choose to be grateful for each moment you have. You can thank God for things you used to take for granted–like toilet paper.

Chronic Illness Tips to Help Us When We're Shut In - authorjroe.com - With so many of us suddenly working from home and quarantined, chronic illness has much to teach during this uncertain time. Click through for tips I've learned the hard way when you are living as a shut-in with a life you can't predict or schedule. #chronicillness #workingfromhome #shutin #quarantined

Practice grace and be flexible

I need to practice this grace with my family. They are not used to staying home all the time. I’ve set up a routine that allows me to run my author business with the family at work or school. But now we are together–All. The. Time. My children are missing their friends, my husband is missing his occupation. They miss their sense of productivity and accomplishment at the end of each day. I need to help encourage them to find a new way to accomplish things. We have to use what we have available in our home.

Confessions? I need to fight my impatience to want to get back to writing my novel in silence. You know, without the sounds of chattering kids, the constant interruptions, and need for my input. Next week we’ll be adding distance learning on the computers for the kids till the end of the school year. That will take more adjusting for all of us. I don’t think I’m understating this if we are gracious and flexible, we can help love and cherish each other even now. And that’s the most important job we have.

Let go of what you can’t control

In order to establish a new normal to get through these times, I have to let go of what I can’t control and embrace what is good about now. That means setting soft writing and business goals that are easier to reach with the constant interruptions. It necessitates creating some fun family times. This won’t apply to all of you, but our family is full of avid readers. We are reading through a few series of books individually and now we will have time for lots of fun book discussions. Each family has some area where they shine and can enjoy interests together. Perhaps it’s fitting puzzles together, fitness, or baking treats.

Chronic Illness Tips to Help Us When We're Shut In - authorjroe.com - With so many of us suddenly working from home and quarantined, chronic illness has much to teach during this uncertain time. Click through for tips I've learned the hard way when you are living as a shut-in with a life you can't predict or schedule. #chronicillness #workingfromhome #shutin #quarantined

I’d like to be running around getting groceries or handing out meals for those in the high-risk group, but I am in the high-risk group, so that’s out for me. Some things we can’t control, but we can choose to find good things about spending time in our homes, call or text people we are concerned about. There is much to be grateful for if we just look for it and there are ways to get through this difficult time if we work together with those we are living with.

So, how are you doing with all of this? Are there things you can do with your routine that will help you love the people you are living with? Are there people you can check-in on that would appreciate hearing from you?

About JacQueline

Author of  The Journey series, a young adult fantasy retelling Rapunzel’s misadventures, and  Memoirs of a Headcase: Held by the God of Hope, which chronicles her battle with chronic pain and depression, JacQueline uses her writing to share stories of hope and joy. Any affiliate links used on this website will provide additional income to JacQueline to keep her writing healthy at no additional cost to you.

JacQueline currently lives in North Alabama with her karate husband and three book-crazy kids. All of her writing is from her own experience and based on her opinion. Do not substitute it for a professional therapist or health care worker.

JacQueline has been writing all her life and loves meeting others who think writing is living. As an author consultant, helping other writers on their journey gives her joy. Schedule your free author assessment to learn what steps you should take next now.

Photo credit: JacQueline Vaughn Roe and Kari Shea

Social Media Graphic Design: JacQueline Vaughn Roe

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Is the Cost of Living Worth the Pain?

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Do you think the cost of living isn't worth the pain of chronic illness? Spoonies like us can struggle with exhaustion and wonder how to live a life with limited abilities and energy. There's a way to schedule in fun and make room for living. Click through and let’s figure it out together! #chronic #illness #chronicillness #grief #loss #chronicmigraines #spoonie #spoonies #grieving #chronicpain #chronic #organizing #depression #mentalhealth #mentalillness #spoonielife #scheduling #plannerbabe

What is the Cost of Living?

I need to ask, Is the cost of living worth the pain? I know this question is a little frightening. We don’t want to talk about it, do we? Those who are risk-averse may understand what I’m about to share here. Many of us have past experience that tells us that life is costly, and those of us dealing with grief or any sort of health issues know that we are going to pay physically for every choice we make. And if we end up paying physically, there may be a financial cost as well.

It may seem better, easier to hide from the pain by not committing to things. I have done this and I have missed out on so much.

If you are bold, confident, and never struggle with indecision, you may be wondering what is wrong with everyone else. I know not everyone has the same issues, but you may be friends with or even be married to someone who does. Are you wondering, why are they so anxious? What is their deal? Just make a decision and move forward!

Do you think the cost of living isn't worth the pain of chronic illness? Spoonies like us can struggle with exhaustion and wonder how to live a life with limited abilities and energy. There's a way to schedule in fun and make room for living. Click through and let’s figure it out together! #chronic #illness #chronicillness #grief #loss #chronicmigraines #spoonie #spoonies #grieving #chronicpain #chronic #organizing #depression #mentalhealth #mentalillness #spoonielife #scheduling #plannerbabe

Honestly? Impulsively plunging into something that is necessary or even sounds fun can become terrifying. Many of us are convinced we have to weigh the options. We may do this for days, going back and forth. And then, when we’ve finally made the choice, we end up second-guessing. We fear we were selfish using our energy the way we chose. Did we do enough for others with what we had? Why can’t we just do all the things?

A Painful Lesson in Organization

I’ve shared before that this past year has been difficult for our family. Right now, we are approaching the one-year anniversary of losing my sister, for whom I was a caregiver, in freak accident. My health, which was hampered by debilitating migraines before her death, has deteriorated as I tried to avoid the pain of grief. But in the past few months I’ve been meeting with a grief counselor, journaling, and confronting the depression and anxiety that gives me worse migraines and leads me to want to quit living.

As I have started to finally mourn, what I have discovered I hope will help others. One of the most incredible things in our lives is something I openly confess to you I am HORRIBLE AT. Organizing. I am a scattered, creative-type who finds people who know where to put things fascinating. Who are these demi-gods? But even in the midst of grieving, I have had big goals and great dreams, and I knew I needed to make room to try to reach them. That meant goal-setting, scheduling, etc. But anyone working through illness or grief or even just struggling with limited resources knows that the best-laid plans often get side-lined.

But what if we also make room for recovery, what if we make room for the movement of life–both inhaling and exhaling? What if we organize a silly week of fun, counting in the cost of living with limited abilities?

Do you think the cost of living isn't worth the pain of chronic illness? Spoonies like us can struggle with exhaustion and wonder how to live a life with limited abilities and energy. There's a way to schedule in fun and make room for living. Click through and let’s figure it out together! #chronic #illness #chronicillness #grief #loss #chronicmigraines #spoonie #spoonies #grieving #chronicpain #chronic #organizing #depression #mentalhealth #mentalillness #spoonielife #scheduling #plannerbabe

Taking what I know

Even though I knew it was going to cost me, I did two things recently. They were both career-oriented and still fun. They also left me drained and in serious pain for at least a week afterward.

Knowing my children would be home for fall break an entire week and that I would likely struggle to accomplish normal work, I decided to combine the idea of stay-cation with celebrating our favorite book series. As part of my job as an author, I am continually posting on social media about great books and sharing in newsletters with my readers about fun things to do with those books.

The Cost of Book Week

Each day of our Book Week I got up and fought my normal migraines. We did silly things like raking the yard as our own silly (and oddly competitive) version of quidditch to celebrate Harry Potter. We ate blue food all day to celebrate our love of Percy Jackson. One day we chased each other in an odd game of hide-and-seek cyborgs versus Lunars to celebrate The Lunar Chronicles. On my favorite day, we went for hike in a nature preserve to celebrate Rapunzel’s Journey series and had freshly baked bread for supper.

But there was one day I couldn’t even get dressed I was in so much pain. I wore my sunglasses most of the day and felt bummed I couldn’t go on the front lawn to play pirate-sword-fighting to celebrate The Ascendance Trilogy. My kids understood and were even prepared for this possibility. We ended up sword fighting inside during one small surge of energy.

And the week after? I was toast. In “American” that means I had nothing left. To recover, I had to take giant breaks from social media, writing, and business goals. Thinking back on the week, though, I’m glad that I paid the cost for living and making memories with the kids. It’s a bright spot in comparison to a difficult year.

Do you think the cost of living isn't worth the pain of chronic illness? Spoonies like us can struggle with exhaustion and wonder how to live a life with limited abilities and energy. There's a way to schedule in fun and make room for living. Click through and let’s figure it out together! #chronic #illness #chronicillness #grief #loss #chronicmigraines #spoonie #spoonies #grieving #chronicpain #chronic #organizing #depression #mentalhealth #mentalillness #spoonielife #scheduling #plannerbabe

Showing up

Similarly, I attended an online conference to help me grow as an author-entrepreneur. I completed 15 classes in three days and had a few meetings afterward to figure out how to best implement what I had learned. And, you guessed it, I was in horrific pain afterwards. It confirmed again that working from home is the only job I can manage right now, and if I don’t take breaks like I should, or if I push myself daily without having a rest day somewhere in between, the migraines get much worse.

So, why take the risk? Why push myself at all knowing the cost? Because I want to live my life and I feel that as long as I don’t do it always, I’m telling my illness “You’re not the boss of me!”

The Cost of Living is Worth the Pain

I’ve made choices like this since and I will keep doing so, but I am learning to cushion those choices with some grace. My hope is found in the gospels as it speaks over and over again of how Christ looked on the crowd with “compassion.” He saw them for who they were, sheep without a shepherd, and He knew what they were struggling with. In those passages, He makes room for them, feeding them, teaching them, sometimes even healing them. (see Mark 6:30-56).

I think that even now He sees me and He sees you with what we struggle against and what we struggle for. I love this quote:

Do you think the cost of living isn't worth the pain of chronic illness? Spoonies like us can struggle with exhaustion and wonder how to live a life with limited abilities and energy. There's a way to schedule in fun and make room for living. Click through and let’s figure it out together! #chronic #illness #chronicillness #grief #loss #chronicmigraines #spoonie #spoonies #grieving #chronicpain #chronic #organizing #depression #mentalhealth #mentalillness #spoonielife #scheduling #plannerbabe

What’s next for you?

So there are things ahead of us that we are called to. I know it will cost me, and it may cost you. We can also know if we choose the right things, the things that are worthwhile and matter we can pay for them with confidence. And maybe a little second-guessing. But mostly confidence.

JacQueline Vaughn Roe

About JacQueline

As the author of  The Journey series, a young adult fantasy retelling Rapunzel’s misadventures, JacQueline also wrote Memoirs of a Headcase: Held by the God of Hope, to share hope in the battle against chronic pain and depression. Currently she lives in North Alabama with her karate husband and three book-crazy kids. All opinions expressed on this website come from her own experience. Do not substitute it for professional therapy or medical advice. Any affiliate links used on this website will provide additional income to JacQueline’s family at no additional cost to you.

If you are a reader wanting to connect with JacQueline, you can get a free book here. Each month you will receive book recommendations and other booknerd fun.

Are you a writer or an author looking for help? JacQueline has been writing all her life and loves meeting others who think writing is living. As an author coach, helping other writers on their journey gives her joy. Schedule your free coaching call to learn what steps you should take next now.

photography: Chris Lawton, Timothy Eberly, and Eric Tompkins.

Graphic Design for Social Media: JacQueline Vaughn Roe. Contact her for help with graphic design or other author services.

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Can I Recover from Grief and Ambition?

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Parting

In our minds, a timer is ticking. It’s ticking off moments, letting us know how long we have to sort through things. We find ourselves rushing through tasks, meals, conversations to get to the next thing. We have planners and calendars stacked with appointments, meetings, chores. And always the clock is counting down. But what do we do with ambition when parting takes place? Can we recover from grief?

What do we do when the clock is broken? When we have lost someone we love and they are taken from us forever? All that is left seems to be an empty, breathtaking pain and we wonder, “How do we continue?”

Recover from Grief - authorjroe.com - Many of us are defined by our ambition, but what do we do with losing someone when we have chronic migraines or illness? Can we recover from grief? #grief #illness #chronicpain #chronicpaininspiration #chronicmigraines #chronic #chroniclife #spoonies #spoonie #spoonielife #ambition #grief #grieving #loss #comfort #healing #Jesus #God #JesusChrist

Recover from Grief: Waiting

I sit on the couch after breakfast most mornings with a journal, my Bible, and my favorite pens. I snuggle beneath a blanket and heating pads and ache. My head radiates pain from the daily debilitating migraines while my soul writhes from missing my sister.

It has been ten months since Joy was killed by a truck. Even before this fatal accident, she had a brain-injury and I was her caregiver. At some point in our lives, each member of my family was depended on to care for her most basic and intimate needs. It’s been ten months since I’ve brushed her hair, taken her for a walk, helped her get showered. After ten months, you would think that the timer would have reset, that grief would have resolved and I would have moved on. But only now as I receive therapy am I beginning to process her loss. And so, here I sit, staring in front of me, waiting and waiting and waiting for the emotions I buried to surface so we can at last deal with them.

Recover from Grief: Persevering

After living for years with a chronic illness, I thought I understood what it took to process difficult things. But, I bet you understand when I say that as soon as you think you have life figured out, you find out you don’t. Maybe something horrible happens and you have to scramble to learn a new way of living. Just a few years ago, I struggled with a depression so deep that even though I trust in Jesus Christ for my salvation, I despaired of life. I wanted to die and contemplated ending my life. A good Christian girl shouldn’t struggle like that, I believed. I felt like a failure, a horrible wife and mother and sister.

God met me in that deep, dark place, just like He is meeting me now. I even wrote a book about it. Here I am again, though, because as I am processing the loss of Joy, I am struggling with suicidal thoughts. But I have learned that I don’t have to, nor should I, try to fight this battle alone. As I said before, I am receiving counseling. I am also checking in with trusted friends and letting them know how I’m doing. They are lifting me up in prayer and it is amazing how this simple thing is so powerful. In those dark, bleak moments when I want to find a way out of this life to escape the pain, God reminds me He is with me through His people who love me.

Recover from Grief - authorjroe.com - Many of us are defined by our ambition, but what do we do with losing someone when we have chronic migraines or illness? Can we recover from grief? #grief #illness #chronicpain #chronicpaininspiration #chronicmigraines #chronic #chroniclife #spoonies #spoonie #spoonielife #ambition #grief #grieving #loss #comfort #healing #Jesus #God #JesusChrist

Recover from Grief: Loving and Affirming

The most amazing thing about this group of people is the way they accept where I am. The way they aren’t pushing me to produce something out of my grief. I do. I look at my 30,000-word manuscript “Life with Joy” and feel the pressure to make it into something beautiful, something that will make all the pain worthwhile. But I can’t. Every time I think I can try, it’s like I break a little more.

I won’t say no one has said that they don’t expect something beautiful to come out of all this sorrow. I’ve said it here before, I know that God uses these things for good. (see Romans 8:28) But let me be clear and painfully honest, I can’t see that right now. In this moment, the clock has stopped and I hang by a slender thread to the grace of God. No words reach the loss I feel and even though my head knows something wonderful is being worked out in the eternal realm, my temporal self cannot tolerate the stretch. I can’t get from here to there. For the first time in my life instead of pushing myself to make it happen, I’m going to accept where I am.

Ambition

So, ambition, back off, back down, back away. I can’t yet.

Maybe you are here with me in this rocky place where we cling to faith. We can’t see ahead or behind. Our lips recount blessings while crying over our loss. We use each moment of each day to continue to breathe.

And that’s enough. For now, my friend, it has to be enough.

JacQueline is the author of Memoirs of a Headcase: Held by the God of Hope as well as The Journey series, a young adult fantasy retelling Rapunzel’s misadventures. She uses her writing to share stories of hope and joy. JacQueline currently lives in North Alabama with her karate husband and three book-crazy kids. All of her writing is from her own experience and based on her opinion. It should never be substituted for a professional therapist.

A special “thank you” to Sheryl Chan for offering the link-up for those suffering from chronic illness.

Photo Credit: Dylan Nolte, Kinga Chicewicz, Nathan Dumlao.

Graphic Design for Social Media: JacQueline Vaughn Roe, contact here to receive help with your social media images.

Recover from Grief - authorjroe.com - Many of us are defined by our ambition, but what do we do with losing someone when we have chronic migraines or illness? Can we recover from grief? #grief #illness #chronicpain #chronicpaininspiration #chronicmigraines #chronic #chroniclife #spoonies #spoonie #spoonielife #ambition #grief #grieving #loss #comfort #healing #Jesus #God #JesusChrist
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Planning for Joy

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I want to get to the good part of this story, the part where I share with you how everything got better. But even as I sit here in pain, I know the struggle isn’t over. We should know this by now, shouldn’t we? As long as we are alive, it’s going be a battle. For some of us, it’s a difficult job that perhaps doesn’t pay enough or maybe the loss of a loved one. For others, it’s our marriage or perhaps our singleness that is hard to live with. There are the less dramatic issues of the lack of motivation and dealing with squabbling children. Still, others like me wrestle with bodies that don’t work right. What do we do with these issues? How do we move forward in order to embrace a life full of joy in the midst of heartbreak, grief, and pain?

Inspire and Educate

Yesterday morning I stood onstage ready to share with a few hundred squirming students. I was there to inspire and educate, but they were the ones inspiring me. As they sat on their cafeteria stools staring up at me, I remembered myself at their age. I would look at the guest author who had come to speak to us and I imagined what I would do when I finally grew up. I would be a writer, an author, someone who created worlds with her words. Oh, the places I would transport my readers! Oh, the adventures they would take with my characters! The young me imagined the shape that my life would take and it was breathtaking.

But the young me never imagined a life of debilitating chronic migraines. I bet your younger you didn’t, perhaps couldn’t imagine the difficulties you would face one day. As I stared into the little faces full of expectant hope, I wanted to share some of the hard truth I’d learned, but I wanted to do it in a way that encouraged them to keep dreaming and keep striving.

Story Seeds

I held up my fingers and asked the students to imitate me. “This is a story seed,” I began, and I told them how important a seed was. It contained all the excitement of a new life inside it, but it was going to take work to bring that life into being. We talked about the obstacles and barriers. We talked about unexpected surprises. It was time to introduce them to Rapunzel and we discussed her fairytale.

I selected three students to play Rapunzel, the witch, and the man who befriends Rapunzel. (You would have loved the little girl I selected from the audience to be the witch. She had a wicked laugh!). The witch had a little too much fun “throwing” the man out the window, cutting off Rapunzel’s hair and casting her out into the unknown to travel “Beyond the Tower.” The kids loved that part!

Since I had their attention, I shared some of my musings, my story seeds. Did Rapunzel know how to make more friends? How would she find a way to earn her bread after being locked away her whole life? What would she do if the witch didn’t leave her alone and kept tormenting her? I shared with them that Rapunzel almost gave up in that first book and that she, like all of us, had to figure out the answer to one of the most powerful questions in the entire universe.

Why? Why am I doing this?

This is a question I have to answer before I go to bed at night or when the pain hits me in the morning, I won’t be able to find the strength in me to beat back the depression and scramble out of bed. But my husband needs me up and moving. My children need me loving them and making breakfast. And you know what? My reason “why” to get out of bed and fight against chronic pain is really the only thing that keeps me going.

I have struggled with “Why am I doing this?” in almost every aspect of my life, including writing Rapunzel’s story. My true “why” is because I have a relationship with the God who loves me. I want to joyfully live the life He has blessed me with, even though that life is painful. Right now, that means trudging through chronic pain and dealing with grief over the loss of my beloved sister. When everything else falls away and that’s all I have left, I pray He will help me find that His grace is sufficient. It’s not just a feeling, His joy truly is strength. (I’m still trying to understand Nehemiah 8:10.)

We must quiet ourselves

I found it to be true today. You see, I was supposed to look in those upturned faces a little over a month ago and share with them how to find their whys and not give up on their dreams when working for them seemed too hard. But on the day I was supposed to share with the students, I barely got out of bed. I tried everything I knew to do to get some relief so I could drive. But I still had to cancel. The teacher who had booked me to come in kindly said we could reschedule, but I felt afraid. I felt the guilt of having let down the teachers and students. I was scared to plan and fail again.

It feels like all of life is a risk, doesn’t it? No matter where we turn, we have decisions we have to make, and it is easy to become paralyzed by doubt and self-recrimination. I think this is when we must quiet ourselves, become aware of the negative thoughts buzzing in our minds. We need to take captive thoughts that are lies, the ones trying to keep us from worshipping God with our whole selves.

Giving back by never giving up

You know what I did? I got out my calendar. It felt like a huge risk, a great act of faith, but I rescheduled. That little act was weighty. I realize now I was planning for joy, making space for God to show up and make things possible. Dear friends were asked to pray. I made certain that I had the right medicine available. The day before was spent practicing and preparing to go make lots of new friends so I could share with them that we must never give up, never give in.

And, though I awoke in pain, the medicine helped this time. My family helped get me ready. I was able to drive. And I had so much fun! At last after months of being mostly house-bound, a shut-in, I was giving back by sharing a little of what I am learning so we will “never, never, never give in.” (Winston Churchill)

You are not alone

Have you noticed that I usually end my posts this way? Think through your life. What you are currently wrestling with? I may not know, but I believe I know the One who made you, who sees you, who longs to help you by being your “why”. He wants to be the reason you get out of bed in the morning and keep trying. He wants to be your everything. I have discovered that even as I am thrashing around in this life, reeling from the loss of my sister and in more pain than I can put a number to, He gives my life meaning and purpose. He fills me with joy–but it’s not a feeling. Peace comes as an assurance that harmony is being worked to restructure the cacophony.

I will say it every chance I get, every chance you will let me, dear one. He is not through with you, He is not through with me. He promises that once He has begun a good work in you, He will be faithful to complete it. (see Philippians 1:6) We can trust Him because He has proven Himself trustworthy.

The truth is this life is tiring no matter what you are dealing with, but we don’t have to deal with it alone. God has surrounded us with people who will help us along the way if we will only reach out. No matter where you are on this journey, please reach out. Let me or someone you trust know how we can pray for you. Feel free to follow me as I keep #searchingforjoy on Instagram and Facebook, as I keep reaching for excellence in writing on Twitter and my other Instagram account. You are not alone, we can do this together.

If you would like more information about Rapunzel’s misadventures, you can purchase her books on Amazon or Kobo. I’m excited to announce that the sequel, Amidst the Castles, will be published at the end of April. Contact me if you would like an advanced copy. If you would like to know more of my story of hope, you can purchase it on Amazon.

A special “thank you” to Sheryl Chan for April’s chance to “link-up” with other chronic illness warriors. It is an honor to be part of this community.

Photo credit: Giulia Bertelli, Greg Rakozy, and Alexander Possingham.

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