Endearing Pain Life Lessons from MS Afflictions

Pain is universal. It comes in all shapes and sizes, but sooner or later it comes to us all. Colleen Peters hopes that what she has learned and written about while living with Multiple Sclerosis for more than a decade will reassure, challenge, and encourage those in pain to see that life can be rich in spite of, and at times because of, pain. ""Lovely, gentle, and honest, Endearing Pain invites the reader to walk with Colleen as she struggles to make sense not only of her pain and her body's progressive weakening, but also of faith, meaning, life, and love."" --Jamie Howison, Author of God's Mind in That Music; Priest; Saint Benedict's Table, Winnipeg ""I am so glad Colleen has made the effort--excruciating at times, no doubt--to produce this book. And I'm so glad you've picked it up to read."" --Bob Beasley, Vice President of International Ministry, Bible League Canada ""I strongly recommend this book to anyone living with chronic pain or disability, [or caring] for someone who fits this description. From reading this book in its various stages, as well as observing Colleen's life first-hand, I am struck by the fact that not only has Colleen been 'refined' by her suffering, but that she truly lives more fully in each moment than I do in a year."" --Bev Rutherford, Family Physician, Victoria, BC ""Peters has chronicled a decade of neuropathic pain due to multiple sclerosis. She has unique insights on its impact on her personality, self-image, family, and spiritual life. Like the psalmist, she expresses fears, disappointments, angst, and ultimately her assurance in God who has accompanied her throughout."" --Allan Ronald, Emeritus Professor of Internal Medicine, University of Manitoba ""In Endearing Pain, Peters reminds us that Christians through the centuries have understood something about suffering that our culture grasps only very dimly. Living with ugly things need not be ugly. In God's mysterious ways, they acquire beauty. One of this slim volume's special gifts is the use it makes of insights from other writers, introducing us to an array of them who've thought about the meaning of suffering."" --Harold Jantz, Editor; Journalist Colleen Peters and her husband, Len, have four adult children--two girls and twin boys. Colleen taught in a high school prior to raising a family, and as her children grew she returned to teaching on a part-time basis. Neurological anomalies surfaced in 2004, and after three years she was diagnosed with Progressive Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis, the condition that forced her to quit working outside of the home and with which she continues to live.