Aging Well
Braving Illness

1. Realize that God has some good reason for letting you suffer through failing health at the end of life. Let God have His way in preparing you for heaven in His own wisdom. Perhaps God wants you to appreciate heaven more and knows that you need to experience more pain before your transition to eternal life. Or maybe He is testing your loyalty to Him for an important assignment in heaven. We cannot know, but we can trust. See Submit to God Together

2. Let others serve you when illness makes outside help necessary. Allow other Christians to store up treasure in heaven. Do not worry about inconveniencing them for legitimate needs. Earlier in life you helped others, and later on someone else will take care of those who help you now. See Serve One Another

3. Redirect your attention from your pain by helping someone. The more important the help to that person, the more you should be able to forget your own suffering. Work around your pain instead of letting it get the best of you. This is hard, so make sure you have others helping you do it. See Serve One Another

4. Invite others over occasionally for a visit, an activity or a meal. Don’t isolate yourself and let your illness diminish your life. This can take your mind off of your misery and help you focus on someone else. Perhaps there is some kind of recreation you really enjoy that needs the involvement of others (playing cards, a hobby, watching game shows, etc.). Find people with similar interests and get together weekly. See Be Hospitable with One Another

5. Find a few people who know how to place courage in you for persevering in spite of your illness. Make sure those people know how important they are for your coping with travail. Visit with them once every week or two either in person or, if that is impossible, electronically. See Encourage One Another

6. Let others hurt with you through empathy, and find others in pain for you to join in their hurt. Since God hurts with us when we suffer, when we hurt with others, we act like God and give Him costly worship. See Hurt with One Another

7. Let others comfort you with their presence and prayers. This is their duty before the throne of God. Do not push others out of your life for fear that you will overburden them. Just be sensitive to their needs and time restrictions. See Comfort One Another

8. If your faith begins to falter because of your pain and suffering, ask your closest Christian friends and relatives to help restore your faith. Then they can discuss with you the truths of Scripture and remind you that God greatly loves you, that in heaven there will be no pain, and anything else that will strengthen your belief. See Restore One Another in the Faith

9. Displace your attention to another part of the world in prayer at least daily. Adopt some missionaries and pray for them regularly. Take their situations and the people they are trying to reach to God with requests. Perhaps find a needy child who needs continual prayer, locally or someone a missionary is helping. Use the Internet to find these people and perhaps to make an email friend for correspondence. See Uphold the Gospel Messengers in Joint Prayer

10. Depend on God to carry you through your illness either by healing or through death and transition to heaven. This will show the world that the good news of Jesus Christ encompasses more than this temporary world. How you handle illness in God’s strength may be the most powerful witness to someone you know who needs Christ. See Proclaim the Gospel and Be Light to the World Together

11. Have a daily ministry of prayer for your closest Christian friends and relatives and others who are very important to you. Build on to this list as other needs come to mind. Write down things for prayer that you can gather from news reports. Pray for the salvation of your favorite actors and actresses, sports personalities, etc. And don’t forget the leaders of our country, whether or not you agree with their politics. Prayer for others should take over your life more and more. See Pray for One Another

12. Don’t let another Christian with similar illness and pain go through it alone. And do not go through your own struggle alone. We find victory together. Scripture makes that very clear. Find others with illness and visit often, offering comfort and encouragement. See Endure Trouble and Hardship Together

13. Find other Christians who are suffering physically and together commit to sticking by one another for the full race of the faith. Know that in heaven you can dance and rejoice together totally free of pain. Others will be happy for you, but only those who have endured your kind of suffering will fully understand the wonderful gift of everlasting life in heaven without the familiar torment. See Run the Full Race Together

14. Take responsibility to keep hope alive and strong in those with serious illnesses like yours. Carry each other along the path of suffering by continually reminding one another of the hope you have in Christ. Keep the Day of Resurrection in the front of everyone’s mind. See Preserve One Another’s Hope

15. Watch out for others with serious illnesses and make sure they get what they need. You can do this by bringing other people you know into the search for what they need. Networking expands your ability to help others. In turn, their contacts might know how to get you something you need. Isolation prevents solutions. Working together brings resources. See Look Out for One Another’s Good

16. Be an advocate for anyone who is feeling overlooked or mistreated. Phone those with malice and ask them to be compassionate. Let bureaucrats know that your friend has friends who will mount an effort to help them get what they are entitled to. See Forbid Mistreatment of One Another