As I sit here writing today I started thinking about all the things that have happened, and where I am headed for the future. There isn’t a day that goes by where somebody doesn’t ask me about what happened to me. Then what I usually do is give people the Readers Digest version of what is going on and I move on. This then started me thinking about how people lose there sense of meaning when something like an illness strikes them.

When you think about life before being struck by your illness then you tend to identify yourself with the things you did or who you were. What I mean by that is that in the workplace you could identify yourself by a job title or job description. In your home life you can identify with being mother, brother, or a son. At the same time you could also describe to people who we were through what we did like being educated to a high degree, traveling abroad, or even starting up your own business.

When you become sick and suffer from whatever illness it may be then, your sense of identity starts to become smudged. You start looking at who you are because you aren’t who you used to be. What I mean by this is that life as it used to be changes and you become “someone who suffers from CRPS”, or “someone who suffers from chronic pain”. As this happens then you become “cases” to some of the medical professionals, this isn’t saying that all medical professionals see you like this.

What this leaves lots of people doing is searching for their meaning within their pain. More often then not as people search they find that they don’t find what they are looking for. I went through a period where I was really having a hard time trying to focus on what my future was going to be like. As I went through that I just stood in my faith that God would provide all the answers. As I continue on this journey I find that He is slowly revealing the answers to me. I might not know all the answers yet but I don’t find myself searching for answers the way I used to.

Do you find yourself looking for answers? Do you feel stuck within your disability? I’m not trying to preach at anybody but I will anyway!! The answers are with God and I would really encourage people that suffer from CRPS or any other illness for that matter, to ask Him for those answers.