Encouraging a Friend or Family Member with Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn's

Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's are chronic illnesses. Every chronic illness drags depression alongside it to try and keep a good person down. You can help that friend or family member with Crohn's or ulcerative colitis by encouraging them every step of the way.

I believe in the power of one to change things and turn things around. One person. One prayer. One hope. One mustard seed of faith can make all the difference in the world for an ulcerative colitis or Crohn's patient. I've seen it happen.

The best way to encourage a friend or family member with ulcerative colitis or Crohn's is first to have faith. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen." Faith for an IBD patient means to see days of wholeness. In one's mind and heart to grasp hold of life, by faith, and proclaim that they will never let go. They will never give in to the disease that can so easily impair their life.

I am a spiritual person and encourage my friends with Crohn's and colitis to place their faith in God. He is the One who will pull them through. It is by His power that they will have good days. They will feel whole again. They will feel as if the chains of ulcerative colitis and Crohn's have been broken.

Faith is the essence of hope. Without hope, we are all miserable. We all hope. We hope that tomorrow will be a better day. We hope for a promotion.

We must encourage our friends and family with Crohn's and ulcerative colitis to hope. Hope for new day, a day with no sickness, a day with no diarrhea, a day with no pain. Hope for a normal day. Hope sometimes must come one day at the time. If the illness warrants it, hope comes one minute at the time. Regardless, take the time to hope.

Do not let your friend or family member give in to discouragement, depression, and despair. That is what will happen in the absence of faith and hope. Share an encouraging word. Develop a positive outlook and share it with those you know who have ulcerative colitis or Crohn's. Your one word of faith or hope may change their outlook on the whole day.

To be honest, many people who live with Crohn's or ulcerative colitis are surrounded by "doomsayers." Often, because they have dealt with a person who has a chronic illness, they have adopted a defeated attitude. As hard as it may be, that person needs to be corrected. Depending on who it is, spouse, parent, sibling, or friend, you may find the words to speak to them. If you cannot speak to them on behalf of the patient, then speak to the doctor. Doctors are great at addressing the issue.

Negative attitudes and demeanors are closely related to stress. Stress is not a cause of Crohn's or ulcerative colitis, but there is a significant correlation between flare-ups of these diseases and stress.

Eventually, you will make somebody mad. I know I have. The truth is, you have to speak up and address the issues of stress and negativity if you truly care about your friend or family member with Crohn's or ulcerative colitis. You cannot stand by and allow the environment to become negative, with people always looking for the worst, expecting the biggest calamity, and looking for the boogeyman of death behind every hospital curtain.

Death, depression, disillusionment, prophets of doom --- be gone! If you come to visit a Crohn's or colitis patient like you are marching to a funeral dirge, just march on by. They do not need your discouragement.

You be the spark to ignite a positive environment. Share positive poems, quotes, books by other Crohn's and colitis survivors. Read Scripture that offers hope and encourages the best possible outlook on life.

If someone comes around your dear friend or family member looking for calamity, you be the calamity they find. You be the one to turn their frown upside down. If they can't come in with hope, show them to the door.

Encourage IBD patients by fostering and helping maintain a positive environment, a positive outlook, and by sharing prayer.

Prayer lifts us up when we know we have hit rock bottom. Prayer will put a Crohn's or colitis patient in touch with the divine, helping him or her to raise their head above the natural and into the supernatural; helping them to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the hope in a God who loves them.

Pray for healing. He always heals, on this side of eternity or the other. If He chooses not to heal a Crohn's or colitis patient while they are on this earth then help them through the suffering. Help them keep a positive outlook.

The greatest way to encourage a friend or family member with Crohn's or ulcerative colitis is to remind them daily, IBD does not define who they are. Only an individual can define who they are. IBDs may cause suffering, but it isn't suffering that defines a person. It is how an individual endures suffering that makes them who they are.

Encourage, lift up, build up, and pray. Ulcerative colitis and Crohn's are difficult diseases, but with good healthcare, careful adherence to medication, and positive support these patients can live bright, positive lives and in so doing, have a tremendous positive influence on others.