Our Story: Dealing With Chronic Illness in Your Marriage

Last Updated on August 22, 2024 by Alicia Michelle

Are you dealing with chronic illness in marriage? I'm sharing our chronic illness story here because I understand how difficult it can be to live with chronic illness.

Someone needs to read our story of chronic illness and marriage… and that someone might be you.

During hard times, Bible verses about joy are a true blessing. But knowing that others are also walking the difficult road of chronic illness can bring great hope too.

Here's our chronic illness story so that you can find the hope and encouragement you need as you learn to deal with chronic illness in your marriage.

Chronic Illness and Marriage: Our Story

Today I will walk into the ICU at our local hospital and visit my hero, my beloved husband. For the third day in a row, I will hold his hand, offer a smile and maybe give a shoulder massage–something to comfort him during this health scare.

We are both still reeling from the diagnosis (really? how can this be happening?) and fearful of walking the road of chronic illness.

But, as I stare into his beautiful blue eyes today, I'm wanting to tell him that I'm here for him. Always.

And as we pray quietly by his hospital bed (as we've done each day before I must leave him again), I'll pray that he understands that when I said “in sickness and in health” thirteen years ago I really meant it.

With trembling knees, I'll do my heartfelt best to tell him that we'll walk this unknown road of long term illness together.

How Chronic Illness Has Disrupted Our Marriage

I have a t-shirt that reads “My Husband, My Hero.” I wear it on days that he or I need a visual reminder that, yes, he is and always will be my champion, my best friend, my sweet confidante… the one God handpicked just for me out of every other person in the world.

I am wearing it today.

And like the other days before, the rhythmic pattern of the heart monitor, and the multitude of tubes and wires protruding from his arms and chest will remind me again that, yes, our little world has been greatly disrupted, and that things are far from normal.

An uninvited guest named chronic illness has pushed its way into the door of our lives, boldly taken up residence and rudely demanded that we adjust accordingly.

But today’s routine will be a little different. Today he is being released from the hospital. Today we will be handed the keys to our new life.

Our New Married Life with an Incurable Disease

Three short days ago we were given the news: along with miraculously being spared from some truly awful conditions (including coma and death), my husband was diagnosed with Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA), and with Type 1 (Juvenile) Diabetes.

It was a shocking diagnosis, to say the least, especially since my husband is in fairly good health.

So, along with nursing him out of his critical state, the hospital staff has spent the last few days introducing us to our new normal as a couple battling an incurable illness:

• Carb counts for everything that goes in his mouth.
• A diet that restricts (or severely limits) certain foods.
• Insulin injections four times a day.
• Blood glucose level monitoring six times a day.
• A slew of (regularly scheduled) appointments with various specialists.
• Classes on lifestyle management.
• A special medical identification bracelet to wear.
• The wonderfully tasty world of glucose tabs and gels.
• New guidelines for air travel.
• Health signs to watch for–daily. And the list goes on and on.

Today the at-home-care process will begin. And thus, so will a new chapter in our marriage.

In Sickness and In Health: Chronic Illness in Marriage

My Facebook post yesterday was simple: “…for better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish; ‘till death do us part.”

My heart still chokes just reading those words, knowing how heartfelt they were.

I didn’t expound on the “whys” I’d posted the traditional marriage vows. Those who were closest to us and knew our situation understood the reasons behind the post, and simply posted comments like “praying for you guys.”

This whole experience has highlighted for me two distinct ways couples approach their marriage relationship.

One way is to think of marriage as being glorified housemates: you share your thoughts and feelings together (and decide together how to run the home) but there still is a sense of independence… a feeling of “this is mine, and that is yours” so that when hard times come, that separation between “yours” and “mine” becomes more distinct.

It’s as if the two of you say you will work together as a team through it, but in reality, you approach it as if it’s still “your issue” or “my issue.”

In contrast, another way to approach chronic illness in marriage is to fully embrace the other’s issues, truly considering that their “issues” are truly your issues to tackle.

For example, there is no such thing as “his medical condition”; it becomes “both of your medical condition” because you are handling it together.

To me this is far more natural and God’s true intention for marriage. What good is marriage, unless you have truly agreed to embrace each other’s scars and ugliness as if they were your own, and have determined to work together as one mind to fully help one another?

Two Are Better Than One When Dealing with Chronic Illness in Marriage

Speaking from a practical sense, Ecclesiastes 4:9 describes this by saying, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.” 

Yes, our marriages are more successful when we tackle a difficult road like chronic illness together.

A few verses later, Ecclesiastes 4:12 states, “Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

This verse too makes me grateful for the marriage bond because in those moments when we are defeated and downtrodden, God designed it so that our spouse can steady his or her shoulders and defend both of us against attack.

I also love this verse because it reminds me that we don’t have to be that “strong cord” on our own in our marriages—that the foundation of our love (and of our lives!) is not each other, but something much, much bigger and completely trustworthy and unchanging.

That wonderful “third cord” is our loving Heavenly Father, and He will be the one ultimately empowering our marriage to stay strong through the storm of chronic illness.

Two of us “strands”(even if we are holding on tightly to each other) might snap in the harsh winds of life.

But as a strand of three—as the tiny threads wrapped together around God’s huge, thick cord of heavy rope–we are not easily broken. Hallelujah!

Do our actions show this? Do we really embrace—fully, totally and completely embrace—our spouse (and God) in this way?

How to Help A Spouse with Chronic Illness

One of my biggest struggles through this process has been how to help my husband with his chronic illness.

It is so difficult to see your beloved suffering and in both emotional and physical pain, and to feel like there’s little you can do for them.

So I have begun brainstorming practical ways that I can be involved in this burden for my sweet husband. Thankfully, I am learning that there is a lot I can do.

First and foremost, everything our family does needs to encourage a healthy lifestyle for him. My goal is to create a home environment that encourages him in this lifestyle and to not make things harder for him.

So at least for a long while, my food choices and activity levels will be very similar to his. It’s the absolute least I can do to embrace “my” part of “our” disease.

Physically, I can help him with making appointments, picking up prescriptions and gathering information from other health professionals.

I can help him with his food choices and have foods available to him in our home that will help his body heal. 

I can also research new recipes, talk to others who live with this condition, and give him the nutritional information about the food he eats.

Emotionally, I can give him a smile and a hug when he needs it.

I can do my best to maintain a simple yet pleasant home environment that refuels and encourages him on those rough days. I can just be there for him if he wants to talk or process things.

Spiritually, I can daily (or hourly, if need be) lift him up to our Father and intercede on his behalf. I can pray that his wife (yep, that's me!) will not be selfish or quick to complain. I can savor the blessings in this situation (and in our life in general) and then be an example of this to our children.

Wow… deep exhale. There really is so much that I can do for him. I can truly help him carry this terribly heavy burden. Just the thought of that makes my heart sing.

As I type this, I'm dedicating my own sinful heart to this new part of the calling I’ve been given as his wife.

A Resource to Help You Find Joy Through Chronic Illness

***Updated Jan 2022****

Eight years have now passed since I shared our first days of dealing with chronic illness in marriage (I've since started a podcast and spoke about our chronic illness journey in this episode and in this episode). 

I will say, however, that living with a spouse with chronic illness has lead us on a journey to experience true joy no matter the circumstances. We've had to face some tough questions about joy.

You see, life is difficult no matter what (there is always something we could be upset about) and the past four years have taught us how to keep our faith in God and to lean on God as our source of joy in difficult circumstances.

Therefore, I want to share with you some Bible verses about joy for chronic illness sufferers that speak of that godly joy.

But more than that, I want to teach you how to really understand Bible verses about joy. I want to teach you how to apply biblical truths about joy to your life so that you can live a happier, freer life as you continue to battle chronic illness.

I wrote a Bible study Journal and Guide on joy (the Joy Full 5Rs Bible Study™ Resources) so that others could discover how to keep faith in God during hard times and experience true joy during trials (even the ongoing trial of chronic pain).

It's an amazing 6-week joy Bible study that I know will bring blessing to you.

And because it's based on the easy-to-understand 5Rs Bible Study™ Method, each daily Bible study lesson takes under 10 minutes each day to complete.

Take the first step toward connecting with God by getting to the root of what it means to have real joy during this chronic illness trial.

Get your copy of the JoyFull 5Rs Bible Study™ Journal here. 

 

Other Posts to Help You During Difficult Times or When You're Facing Chronic Illness

• 3 Ways Acceptance with Joy Can Change Your Life Today
• 19 Bible Verses for Chronic Illness Sufferers
• 3 Ways Acceptance with Joy Can Change Your Life Today
• 3 Secrets to Trusting God During Difficult Times
• 4 Stories: Keeping Faith in God During Hard Times
• 28 Encouraging Bible Verses About Trials and Hard Times
• How Giving Thanks in Trials Can Change Your Life
• 3 Questions You Must Answer to Find Joy in Trials

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