My Nonprofit Reviews

I initially found Rest Ministries when I was in some yahoogroups and people would sometimes post the encouraging daily devotions. They're special, because they're written by and for people w/ chronic illness and/or pain. But RM does so much else--they have a great site for support and information, a Sunroom to meet others, in-person local support groups called HopeKeeper's and an emphasis on invisible illness. It's really helpful for people to know they're not alone and that we're dealing w/ similar issues even when we don't have the same illnesses; and to be able to educate our families, employers, church members and the public about how everyone's illness is different and not to judge others w/ an illness or disability. It's hard for people to understand the variability of an illness among different people--and how even the same person can feel very different from day to day and just because they can something one day doesn't mean they can the next. Or why it's hard to plan ahead and commit, since we never know how we're going to feel. Or that we can try to do certain things, but we have to save up energy, pace ourselves, rest a long time afterward and really pay for these decisions we have to make about how we "spend" our energy. I'm so blessed that I don't have as much pain as a lot of other people and that I'm also still able to do as much as I can physically. Lisa Copen, the founder and director, is so very affected by her RA and fibromyalgia, but she has been able to do so much w/ this ministry and has been able to work through her pain and fatigue to keep this ministry going. She has such a strong heart for helping others and ministering to the hurting, whether that pain is physical, emotional or spiritual.

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