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    A Reluctant Journey: Finding God Through Chronic Pain
    A Reluctant Journey: Finding God Through Chronic Pain
    A Reluctant Journey: Finding God Through Chronic Pain
    Ebook67 pages2 hours

    A Reluctant Journey: Finding God Through Chronic Pain

    By Kristen Grathwol

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Where do you turn when pain doesnt diminish, and turns into a constant companion? What does it look like to lean on the Lord for strength when every day is a struggle? In A Reluctant Journey, Kristen Grathwol shares her past and present battles with the chronic pain of fibromyalgia. Weaving personal experience with reflections on Scripture, A Reluctant Journey shows how the cycle of chronic pain can lead to a spiritual cycle of trust and praise.

    In journal entries that lay bare the doubts and difficulties of chronic pain, along with the joy that comes from surrendering to the One who knows our deepest hurt, A Reluctant Journey explores five facets of this theme: trusting God, surrendering control, praising God in the midst of suffering, learning how to rest and grieve, and seeking community. When we trust God, we are freed from our desire to control, even to the point of embracing our trials. Even when God chooses not to change our circumstances, surrender brings joy and moves us to praise Him for His goodness and His plan in our lives. Yet God also knows our grief and wants us to bring Him our sorrows as well. Seeking God rescues us from the isolating power of pain and restores us to community.

    Starting this cycle is not a once-and-for-all decision, but a daily choice. An encouragement to those struggling with long-term trials, A Reluctant Journey offers a scriptural message of hope and healing for pain both physical and emotional.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWestBow Press
    Release dateAug 21, 2013
    ISBN9781490802695
    A Reluctant Journey: Finding God Through Chronic Pain
    Author

    Kristen Grathwol

    Kristen Grathwol is a graduate of James Madison University with a degree in biology and has struggled with fibromylagia for over a decade. A first-time author, she lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she works in medical publishing. In her free time she enjoys watching Shakespearean comedies and action movies.

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      Book preview

      A Reluctant Journey - Kristen Grathwol

      Copyright © 2013 Kristen Grathwol.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

      WestBow Press

      A Division of Thomas Nelson

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.westbowpress.com

      1-(866) 928-1240

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      ISBN: 978-1-4908-0268-8 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4908-0269-5 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2013912973

      WestBow Press rev. date: 8/13/2013

      Contents

      Preface

      Introduction

      Chapter 1 Trusting God

      Chapter 2 Surrendering Control

      Chapter 3 Praising God in the Midst of Suffering

      Chapter 4 Learning How to Rest and to Grieve

      Chapter 5 The Importance of Community

      Conclusion

      References

      Preface

      Writing this book has been quite a challenge for me. I never planned to be an author and the thought of sharing so much of my personal struggles with others scares me. So when I felt God’s calling to share my story, my first reaction was similar to Jonah from the Bible—I ran and tried to ignore it. But like Jonah I found that one cannot hide from God. Over and over again I heard the call to write, but I kept resisting because that would be way too personal and outside my comfort zone. Eventually I realized that this was not going to go away. I kept thinking about how God has poured so much into me over the years and that I don’t want it to stop there. So with some reluctance I finally made an attempt to put into words some of my story of over a decade with fibromyalgia.

      It wasn’t easy to read over my journal entries and remember the struggles. To put what I learned into words that made sense was even harder. I struggle to be transparent in my writing, so the first draft of this book was very formal and impersonal. Most of the feedback I got was "This is good Kristen, but I don’t see you in it." It was a difficult process for me to make the book more personal and it took several drafts and a lot of feedback. It took me longer than I thought to finish, but I kept going and now I am excited to share the finished product. I chose the title of this book, A Reluctant Journey, because my journey with fibromyalgia is one I would never choose for myself but would never take back now that I have come so far. My journey through writing this book was also a reluctant one, but I am glad I did. My experiences have drawn me closer to God and helped me weather so many storms over the years. I hope that sharing them will help others do the same.

      I learned through this process that writing a book takes a lot of help from others and I want to take some time to acknowledge a few who were instrumental in the process. First, I hope it is clear that God’s fingerprints are all over this story. He is the One who taught me and the One who prompted me to write. I say that it’s my story, but really it is His.

      My mom comes to mind next. Without her support I would have been tempted many times during the process to give up. She read every draft, always pushed me to do better, and put even more of myself into the story. My uncle Doug also read through several versions and encouraged me to finish the work. Thanks to you both for challenging me to go outside my comfort zone and showing me that I would still be safe.

      I also have to mention my friend Emily for her assistance in proofing. Emily also wrote the summary on the back cover. Thank you Emily! My family got me through the writing process but you are the one who got me through the publishing process!

      Thanks also to Dad, Kellie, and Dan for their creative title suggestions (even though I didn’t end up using any of them), for supporting me throughout the process, and for your insight into how your lives were also affected by my fibromyalgia.

      Finally, I want to thank my team at Westbow for giving me the opportunity to publish my book and for their invaluable assistance with the publishing process.

      Introduction

      One doctor’s appointment was all it took to change my life.

      I had experienced joint injuries and muscle pain for a couple of years. It started out gradually, but eventually I had a brace for just about every joint in my body. Tendonitis, another sprained ankle, and problems with my knee and wrists made life challenging. It reached the point where people started to tell me and my twin sister apart by who was wearing a brace—Wrist brace: that must be Kristen. There were times I was stuck in bed for days, and my only symptom was exhaustion. I just didn’t have the energy to get up. If I did get an actual cold, it would hang on for weeks. At first I

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