When I went to the ER I was told that shingles is caused by stress and sleep deprivation. In other words, I need to learn to live differently. Bad habits had built up over the years—I hurt myself.
Most of my stress has been from things I have no control over—like the death of Glenn’s brother that meant that we took over the care of two ladies with Alzheimer’s. Changes in church staff that took a toll on both of us. Etc. But I tend to internalize stress. Not only that but I tend to take on and internalize Glenn’s stress, too. I never really had trouble sleeping until recently—I’d be awake for hours—unable to stop the thoughts churning in my head. A clue, I think!
So, I’ve been working on being more aware of how I feel. Taking my stress to God—letting Him carry it and show me the way to go. And giving Glenn’s stress to Him, too. It stops the cycle of stress-upon-stress. And I can think clearly to be more help to Glenn, too.
And when you think about it—God knew about those stressers and He already had everything I need waiting for me. Why am I looking inside when I need to look up?