Your Sick Literary Character is…
Marianne Dashwood.
Your style of sickness and healing can be found in Jane's Austen's character, Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility.
After Marianne contracted a life-threatening fever, she was nursed back to health by her sister, Elinor, and Colonel Brandon.
Scholars argue over what caused Marianne's illness. Can you relate? Do you live with an undiagnosed illness or a rare disease that routinely confuses the best of doctors?
What is unarguable is that Marianne was changed by her illness. Always the romantic, Marianne loved beautiful things and beautiful people. After her illness, she was able to find beauty in unexpected places, places she missed before, like the steadfast, honorable character of Colonel Brandon.
How has your illness changed you?
Scripture tells us, "Even in times of trouble we have a joyful confidence, knowing that our pressures will develop in us patient endurance. And patient endurance will refine our character, and proven character leads us back to hope. And this hope is not a disappointing fantasy, because we can now experience the endless love of God cascading into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who lives in us!" - Romans 5:3-5 (TPT)
Sometimes, God uses illness to develop your character so that you can more deeply appreciate His endless love for you.
3 Things to Learn from Your Sick Literary Character
1. Include beauty in your healing environment.
Your healing environment will be best when it includes a cozy blanket, warm sunshine, and flowers. Pick a few books to read for pleasure and have them stacked nearby, or grab an audiobook and some earbuds.
Like Marianne, a little rest in the sunshine will lift your spirits while also giving your body some well-needed Vitamin D.
2. Lean into your best friends.
This may be hard if you haven't done it before, but lean into your closest friends by allowing them to help in meaningful ways. Let them cook you a meal, bring you hot coffee, listen to your fears and worries, and most importantly, let them pray over you.
Social visits are both encouraging and draining. While they are worth every bit of energy it takes to keep up a conversation, consider placing boundaries on your visits. You may choose to limit vistors to just your best friends and maybe only one or two at a time.
Another idea is to limit the length of the visit. You could ask a friend to visit "for just an hour." This sets a resonable expectation while also giving you the social support you need.
3. Find a community to be understood.
Even the best of friends may not understand what it's like to be chronically sick or to live in a body that feels unfamiliar from all the ways it has changed. God intended us to be known and one of the best ways to do that is to find community with others who have been through similar trials.
That's why I began the private Living Faithfully with Rare and Chronic Illness group. I'd love to see you there where you can meet others who are walking a similar path with Jesus. I invite you to join us... it's FREE so give it a try.
Who’s the book-loving, chronically ill girl behind all this? Let me introduce myself!
Hey, I’m Nicole O'Meara. I help Christian women living with chronic illness find hope and community.
I've been in your shoes, in fact, I still am.
I live with two rare diseases and one undiagnosed illness. My body is a scrapbook of scars that tell a story of God's faithfulness through hard trials. Through my journey with illness, I have learned that hope is never inappropriate.
Now I want to help you find that same hope!
Extra Resources to Help You Find Hope!
1. Follow me on Instagram. I post mini-devos of encouragement regularly as well as an occasional photo of my aussiedoodle. 🐶
2. Read this post from my blog. I didn't come up with the motto: hope is never inappropriate. That one comes from Captain Al. I'll tell you all about him and why you too can say, "Hope is never inappropriate."
3. Join my FREE Facebook group: Living Faithfully with Rare & Chronic Illness. It's all about community. My FREE Facebook group is a for Christian women just like you. It's a hope-filled, faith-based community where we focus on what God is doing in us, not what our illness has taken from us. Come be known.