3 Help to Cope With Problems

CHRONIC ILLNESS

Rose says: “I have a genetic disorder that causes me severe and constant pain. My quality of life has plummeted.” One of her greatest concerns was that she was sometimes unable to focus her mind on her study of the Bible and spiritual matters. But she was greatly helped by Jesus’ words recorded at Matthew 19:26: “With God all things are possible.” Rose learned that there is more than one way to study. Because her pain made reading nearly impossible at times, she began listening to recordings of the Bible and Bible literature.a “Without those options,” she says, “I don’t know how I would have maintained my spirituality.”

When Rose is saddened over being unable to do what she once could, she finds comfort in the words recorded at 2 Corinthians 8:12: “If the readiness is there first, it is especially acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what a person does not have.” Those words remind Rose that God is pleased with what she does, because she does all that she can within her limitations.

GRIEF

Delphine, mentioned earlier, recalls: “After my 18-year-old daughter died, the pain was so great that I did not believe that I would be able to continue living. Nothing would be the same.” She found great comfort, though, in the words of Psalm 94:19, wherein the psalmist said to God: “When anxieties overwhelmed me, you comforted and soothed me.” She says, “I prayed to Jehovah to help me find things to do that would help me soothe the pain.”

She threw herself into meaningful volunteer work. In time, she came to liken herself to a child’s crayon​—even the broken ones are still useful for coloring. Similarly, though she felt broken, she learned that she could still help others. She recalls: “I suddenly found that when I used Bible principles and Scriptural ways of thinking to comfort my students, that was Jehovah’s way of soothing and comforting me.” She made a list of Bible characters who went through periods of intense grief. “Without exception,” she found, “they were all people of prayer.” She also learned that “there can be no answers if your Bible is closed.”

Studying the Bible has taught Delphine something else​—to focus on the future, not the past. The hope mentioned at Acts 24:15 comforts her: “There is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” How sure is she that Jehovah will resurrect her daughter? Let Delphine answer: “I see my daughter in the future. Our next ‘date’ is already scheduled, as if it were on my Father’s calendar. I see us together in our garden as clearly as I saw and loved her the day she was born.”