Outreach Support for Seriously Ill Persons and Their Families

The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail."

- Isaiah 58:11

Dearest Friend,

We at Consoling Grace would like offer you our support during this time of serious illness. And we would like to pray for you as well; for your family and for your caregivers; for healing of body and soul; for relief of pain and discomfort.

Consoling Grace has developed a Guide for Care and Support during Serious Illness. This Guide is practical, free-of-charge, easy to use, and available either here on this website for you to review, or in a PDF file for you to download and print, and if you choose, place in a binder for ease of home use.

The "Guide for Care and Support" has much of what you will need to help you weather the storms of serious illness, including: 'Print and Take' forms for keeping track of medications, insurance information, doctors appointments, and more.

Perhaps you have been newly diagnosed with a serious illness and this new medical world feels overwhelming. You may be wondering how to find out more about your illness, which questions to ask your doctor, and how to obtain the help you need. The Guide can help you.

Or maybe you've been receiving treatment for an illness for some time. You may be seeking practical help keeping track of a whole variety of issues, from insurance company billing, to medication forms, and caregiving assistance. The Guide contains excellent information and resources in each of those areas.

It might be that you have a limited life expectancy - or you are the caregiver for a loved one who doesn't have long to live. If this is the case, we are so sorry. Please know we will be keeping you and your family in our prayers. We hope the Guide can help you with how to better obtain pain control, with information about hospice and home care, and more.

And regardless of how long you have been ill, you will likely need information about a Living Will and Power of Attorney. You may find yourself in need of spiritual growth, and of prayers and reflections to help you make it through each day. "The Guide for Care and Support" can help you with that as well.

Simply double-click on the Guide for Care and Support in Serious Illness on the sidebar of this letter.

We at Consoling Grace hope that you will know in the words of Isaiah quoted at the top of this page, that 'the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong.'

Which of us, after all, would not like to be watered lovingly by the Heavenly Gardener, 'like a spring of water, whose waters never fail?'

The problem is that many of us feel parched on a regular basis, as if we simply don't have enough time or energy - or life's water - to make it through the day. Add to that a diagnosis of a serious nature, and daily life can begin to resemble nothing so much as a desert which we struggle through, thirsty all of the time.

For those of us who are used to being healthy, a sudden bout with serious illness can be devastating. And for those who haven't been blessed with good health - at least in awhile - the worsening of our health status or that of a loved one, can be extremely difficult, even heartrending.

Just keeping track of doctors appointments, medications, confusing terminology and everything else a serious illness entails can be daunting. Add to that cooking, cleaning, caregiving and so much more, and the plate becomes full to overflowing.

One inevitably wonders: Where should I turn? Who can help me?

At Consoling Grace, we hope and pray that we can be of some help - mainly through our "Guide for Care and Support during Serious Illness" and by connecting you to resources or organizations which might best serve your particular needs. Naturally, we'd also like to provide the information your family needs to make good physical, ethical, moral, and spiritual decisions .

Please refer to the sidebars to this letter for the "Guide for Care and Support" and for some links to other organizations that might be of assist. And please keep checking the Consoling Grace site on a regular basis, as we routinely add more information and improved resources.

In the meantime, please know that our thoughts and prayers are with you. May the God of all Consolation bless you in this time of duress. May the Lord 'guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places.' May you know that He walks alongside you, helping to bear the weight of your daily crosses - never abandoning you, even in your darkness nights - giving you the water you need.

May God bless and keep you; May he shed his light upon you.

In Christ,

Eileen

Eileen T. Geller, President
Consoling Grace

P.S. If you are from a faith community and are seeking assistance in forming and training your community outreach ministries to better serve those who are seriously ill, please refer to our Community Outreach or Educational Programs sections, or contact us. We'd be happy to assist you in creating or augmenting your ministry to seriously ill congregants and their families.