Helping others really helps ourselves.

My wife and I are currently volunteering at a christian organization that helps men after recovering from addictions.  I want to give back for the years when others were helping me.  I have always wanted to help others even when I was so sick myself.  One way I have been able to help others is to just listen to other people that have fibro/cfs.  With the internet we can chat, e-mail, answer questions in an online support group from our homes.  I have been doing this for over 17 years now.  I have learned so much from others and feel that I may have helped them cope with these illnesses.  It really does take one to understand a hidden illness like fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue.  As this blog states, I started my recovery from fibro/cfs in January 2011.  By the first week in September 2011 we were out volunteering at this ministry. 

We have known and helped support the director and his wife for many years through our church.  But to be able to help in a physical way is very rewarding.  God has used us in many ways over the years but then we were kind of sidelined when my fibro/cfs became incapacitating.  My wife took care of me for many years because I needed 24/7 care.  Now that my fibro/cfs is in recovery we are physically able to do more for God. 

As I started my recovery last year I was able to get my drivers license back after 16 years.  I left my wheelchair behind and got off most of the drugs that had been prescribed.  I had done support work through the Internet for many years and saw many people that appreciated my efforts.  Last fall we started a new phase in our service to others when we came to www.cvmutah.com to help.  We have grown and been blessed by our service to others and seeing these men develop and grow in the Lord is wonderful to be a part of this experience. 

We continue to come here in the mountains to help as needed.  We are currently serving a couple of weeks so the directors wife could go and visit here daughter and grandson.  My wife cooks and I help the men with vocational training and daily living learning.  We spent a day north of here helping to finish an auditorium and entry for a church.  I was able to install much of the drop ceiling during a long day.  We teach the men that are here about many vocational experiences through helping others.  Last fall we helped a man that had part of his home burn in a fire.  This ministry gives helping hands to many other christian groups along with individuals.  Through our labor we teach the men physical work that they will take with them the rest of their lives. 

We spend time in bible study each day with the men with a desire to teach them not to do things only for themselves but for others.  Learning how to do it "the right way" the way the boss (staff that have more experience) is tough for men to learn because they have lived their adult lives pleasing themselves.  We hope to teach that our way is not God's way.  By serving others we help ourselves grow and become useful.  Have you volunteered lately.  Even from your home you can serve others through the Internet.  Be the example that God wants you to be.

I have a website called www.recoveryfromfibro.com that has many articles that are beneficial to people with fibro/cfs or people that love them.  There is also a place to ask questions that may concern you about fibro/cfs and the recovery that I have had.  I also have a facebook page called http://www.facebook.com/#!/recoveryfromfibro that also has lots of info for fibro/cfs people.