A Bible for those with chronic illness!!

When this book arrived, He Cares: New Testament with Psalms and Proverbs, I admit it... I'm guilty of putting it aside with other mail. BUT once I picked it up and started flipping through it I couldn't believe it! It had "devotional reflections for those facing serious illness." And let's face it: if it's anything less than strep throat that you have-- it feels serious! This book is perfectly appropriate for those with chronic illness! Yipee!

I flipped through it to see who had written the many wonderful, heartfelt blurbs throughout the book--Lynn Eib.

Double Yahoo! We actually sell one of the books Lynn has written (Finding the Light in Cancer's Shadow: Hope, Humor and Healing after Treatment) and she is a Christian advocate for those who live with cancer as her full-time job. She's one of the gems in the area of chronic illness ministry.

Surely, it must be expensive... right? But no, $9.99!! In fact, the paperwork from the publisher actually said they wanted to price it appropriate for the people who would buy it (meaning: they actually acknowledged that people going through medical challenges don't have an extra money sitting around. . .)

I couldn't wait to call the publisher and order a whole case of the books! Here are just a few of the features you'll love!

Rest Ministries has a promotional video!

It was done by Christ Alive Ministries as a feature for their March event and shown to the community. We exhibited as well at the church when the program was aired. You can view the video here at our web site.

It looks like this (below)/ Just hit the arrow button to play.

 

I will soon be adding an "intro" to it, explaining in more depth about some of the specifics that our ministry offers, in order to better answer the questions of people and pastors, etc. But for now, it completely stands on its own! I hope you will watch it! Click "share" on the bar to quickly send it to others.

 

hopekeepers Magazine--Yes! We are all caught up and going to print soon. I am currently in touch with the designer and some advertisers and hope to have a firm date soon. Thank you for your patience while we took care of our debt. All subscriptions will be honored with 4 issues. We'll keep you posted on how it's going, but be assured that it's in the works and back on track!

You can reprint our articles on your own web site or wherever. I've been attempting to write more articles and "get them out there" on the internet in order to bring more people to our web site. Just Google "lisa copen" and you can see the variety of links we're collecting. You can find the articles on our web site, blog and more to reprint. To find them to reprint or syndicate on your own web site see our chronic illness articles web page.

Thanks to Faith Writers Magazine
which will once again be featuring one of our articles in their May ezine. This one will be "6 Reasons Not to Worry When You Have a Chronic Illness." This is an excellent way that we're able to remind others that many live with chronic illness. Be sure to visit their web site!

Ohio hopekeepers group hosted
hopekeepers event April 13th!

Alice Ervin, leader for New Hope Community Church in Miamisburg, OH organized an evening with their hopekeepers group sponsoring the showing of a DVD with Joni Eareckson Tada. Joni talked about "Hope is the Best Thing" that was recorded live at Shadow Mountain Community Church in El Cajon, CA. Alice created an announcement about the event that WFCJ FM (93.7) has been broadcasting and they also interviewed her!

There are now 5 hopekeepers groups in the Dayton/Cincinnati area. Alice says, "This is very exciting to me, as my passion is to get more groups started in our area. I really think God might be calling me to go to other churches to introduce the hk ministry. That would be so neat! It is my heart's desire. I just have to wait and see if it's God's will for me -- HE will make it happen if it is to be."

Please keep Alice, and her husband Dan, and all of their volunteers in your prayers that people will continue to be encouraged and given hope!

hopekeepers Leader Training
Others about Ministering to Ill

Marty Freer, hopekeepers leader of a community group in Houston, TX will be in Denver the first week of May and stay for four months to intern at Open Door Ministries in the inner city there."I will be working at the ministry called TRYAD and introducing, teaching hopekeepers to their staff and the disabled," says Marty. "I am very thrilled to be asked." TRYAD is a discipleship ministry to the disabled community, which focuses on evangelism and fellowship in the context of relationship building. Read more about this disability ministry here.

Rest Ministries will soon be
distributing our books with a distributor!

That means that you can walk into Borders or your favorite Christian bookstore and order our book if it's not on the shelf. In the past, our books have only been available via our web site and Amazon.com . We will barely break even by selling them this way, but at least people will be able to find our books and we'll gain more exposure to increase our outreach.

It's also about the only way we can get into any bookstores. So if you're church bookstore may be interested, be sure to keep us in mind. In the next few months they can order our books at wholesale prices through Ingram/Spring Arbor.

• New web site where you can share illness stories

The founder, Horace Andante, has had CFIDS since 1984 and has had a desire to provide a place where anyone who has experienced either a rare, chronic, or debilitating illness could just simple share their story online and read the accounts of others who have also had similar experiences. The website is not for the purpose of advocating treatments or for giving advice, but it sole purpose is to allow anyone who might be interested to share their own story online with others. See www.rareandchronicillness.com.

• Mental Health Ministry Resources Available

Nine video clips are now available to help you preview the resources of www.MentalHealthMinistries.net . This is a FABULOUS resource for your church, hopekeepers group, etc. Streaming video is available for the following resources:

• Coming Out of the Dark (0.56 min) – Our signature opening
  
• Creating Caring Congregations (2.45 min)
  
• Understanding Depression (2.29 min)
  
• Teenage Depression and Suicide (3.16 min)
  
• Overcoming Stigma: Finding Hope (2.59 min)
  
• Gifts of the Shadow (2.59 min)
  
• Addiction and Depression (2.21 min)
  
• Mental Illness and Families of Faith (2.58 min)
  

The above clips are taken from the Mental Health Mission Moments resource. MHMM is an ecumenical resource to help clergy and lay persons address mental health issues in the context of a worship service or with small groups. Each of the nine 2-3 minute DVD segments presents a mental health issue, puts a face to the issue, and ends with a message of hope. There is an accompanying Resource Guide with sermon starters, liturgical material, additional scriptural references and other resources to help educate congregations about mental illness.

 

According to Experimentalmedicine.org, "approximately 25 percent of Americans who consult their physician about a serious health problem are employing unconventional therapy, but only 70 percent of these patients inform their physician of such use."

Since herbal products are not regulated for their purity and potency, like conventional drugs, there can be severe adverse effectss and drug interactions. They can even be different from one batch to another. David Kroll, Ph.D., a pharmacologist and consultant to the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine (DCIM) says, "The single greatest resource for people who want credible herbal information is a health care practitioner who is uniquely trained in both conventional and alternative medicine. Those people are rare, but the DCIM has been established to train physicians accordingly and to offer a place for patients to turn today for this type of information and medical care."

Your own research should never replace a physician's advice, but here are some helpful web sites to learn more before downing your vitamins.

• Consumer Lab - find out tons of information on your vitamins and more. This lab tells you where to buy products, what to watch for and what to stop taking if it's recalled.
• Diet-and-Health - Have gout, insomnia, or acne? This site tells you what you may be defincint in and what to consider taking.
• http://www.experimentalmedicine.org
• Guide to Nutritional and Herbal Remedies
• An FDA Guide to Dietary Supplements
• Quack Watch - though some people may find this controversial, the owner brings up a lot of points worth considering during your research.
• Mayo Health - Look up herb, vitamin and other supplement information

* As with any health information you receive, check with your doctor before taking anything. No information provided by Rest Ministries is meant to be health advice.

U.S. Senators Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) together with Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro (D-CT) renewed their support for breast cancer patients by reintroducing The Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act. The bipartisan Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act would end the practice of "drive-through" mastectomies, where women are sometimes forced to leave the hospital sometimes just hours following their physically and emotionally difficult surgeries even if they and their doctors feel they are not ready to go home.This act would ensure women could stay in the hospital up to 48 hours following a mastectomy. The bill was reintroduced in 2007 with the support of 14 million signatures from Lifetime's online petition. You can sign the online petition here.

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  You are reading a page of hopenotes, the online supplement to hopekeepers Magazine.
  See the home page of hopenotes or Rest Ministries web site. Copyright 2007, Lisa Copen