I wrote the Four Seasons of Healing: A Pathway for Those Living with Chronic Illness as a way for me to process my journey with psoriasis. In its current form it is a Bible study guide with twelve studies that correspond to the months of the year.
The study guide begins with winter, the dark season when I felt alone and lost with few options available to treat my psoriasis. Spring looks at the process of emotional and spiritual healing. Summer is the time to make connections and build community. In Fall I share how I learned to care and advocate for others even while I struggled with my own health.
Here is an excerpt from the Conclusion:
I look back on a lifetime with psoriatic disease and am in awe. As a school-age child applying messy treatments of my skin overnight I could not imagine where I would be today. My health blogging and advocacy efforts have taken me all over the country, including the halls of Congress and a conference room at the National Institutes of Health. In 2021 I was named Volunteer Leader of the Year by the National Psoriasis Foundation. The emotional and spiritual healing that God initiated in college led me to become an advocate for others.
I plan to post sections of the study guide in the blog while adding links to each one on this page. Please feel free to comment or provide feedback on the study guide as I hope to start writing a manuscript based on it soon.
PsoHoward 