November 22, 2008
Tedd Ostrem - Saturday, November 22, 2008
It has been a hectic two days. Lois was discharged from hospital yesterday afternoon. We began the process of getting the meds and rehab equipment in place. At the end of the day we were a weary twosome. This morning we began the two-a-day exercises, on the machine to stretch the knee (2x), had the home health nurse visit, set up the PT appointment and rested. Lois is doing very well in her rehab/recovery. She is very determined to do whatever it takes to get her back on her feet as soon as possible. We are so grateful for continued healing during this time. It is day +40 and praising our LORD God for His grace and strength.
Psalm 18:2
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
November 20, 2008
Tedd Ostrem - Thursday, November 20, 2008
Isaiah 40:29-31
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Rehab is going well. Lois is a real fighter and is working hard to get "back on her feet". If all goes well as today Lois will come home to continue rehab and recuperation. The body is a amazing as it heals and mends. We are truly "fearfully and wonderfully made." We can feel your prayers lifting us up. Thank you.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Rehab is going well. Lois is a real fighter and is working hard to get "back on her feet". If all goes well as today Lois will come home to continue rehab and recuperation. The body is a amazing as it heals and mends. We are truly "fearfully and wonderfully made." We can feel your prayers lifting us up. Thank you.
November 19, 2008
Tedd Ostrem - Wednesday, November 19, 2008
After so many weeks of being the patient it is different being on the care giver side. Lois continues to recover from knee surgery today. She had rehab therapy twice today. She walked about 25-30 feet this afternoon. Everyone says she is doing very well considering she had surgery yesterday. Pain management is always critical in these days. Thank God for the meds! My role is limited but I still can encourage. If all goes well Lois will come home on Friday. Grateful to God for the continued strength and healing for Lois and myself.
November 18, 2008
Tedd Ostrem - Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
We give thanks this night for a safe and successful surgery for Lois today. She is recovering with good pain management and resting peacefully. Thank you for your prayers again in this unusual season of our lives. Our circumstances are not of our own choosing yet God and you hold us up in this time. So we rejoice, pray and give thanks this day for God's grace and mercy this day.
Pastor Tedd and Lois
We give thanks this night for a safe and successful surgery for Lois today. She is recovering with good pain management and resting peacefully. Thank you for your prayers again in this unusual season of our lives. Our circumstances are not of our own choosing yet God and you hold us up in this time. So we rejoice, pray and give thanks this day for God's grace and mercy this day.
Pastor Tedd and Lois
November 17, 2008
Tedd Ostrem - Monday, November 17, 2008
It has been a day of remembering and giving thanks for our family. We spent time together to laugh and recall the good times we have had as a family. God has a way of healing the loss with the presence of those we love gathered around us.
Tomorrow Lois will have total knee replacement surgery. Pray for a safe surgery and a smooth rehab. Lois and I will be recuperating together.
Tomorrow Lois will have total knee replacement surgery. Pray for a safe surgery and a smooth rehab. Lois and I will be recuperating together.
November 16, 2008
Tedd Ostrem - Sunday, November 16, 2008
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. John 14:1
Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of our daughter, Lindsay's death. It is hard to believe it has been five years and we miss her very much. We are leaning on and trusting in Jesus during times like this. At the time of her death someone shared a quote from John Claypool who had lost a daughter. It helped us keep everything in perspective in the midst of the loss.
“Here, in a nutshell, is what it means to understand something as a gift and to handle it with gratitude, a perspective biblical religion puts around all of life. And I am here to testify that this is the only way down from the Mountain of Loss. I do not mean to say that such a perspective makes things easy, for it does not. But at least it makes things bearable when I remember that Lindsay was a gift, pure and simple, something I neither earned nor deserved nor had a right to. And when I remember that the appropriate response to a gift, even when it is taken away, is gratitude, then I am better able to try and thank God that I was ever given her in the first place.”
Quote from Tracks of a fellow struggler by John Claypool, pg. 82, Word Publisher, 1974. (We have edited the text by using Lindsay’s name to replace his daughter’s name in the original text.)
Tomorrow is the fifth anniversary of our daughter, Lindsay's death. It is hard to believe it has been five years and we miss her very much. We are leaning on and trusting in Jesus during times like this. At the time of her death someone shared a quote from John Claypool who had lost a daughter. It helped us keep everything in perspective in the midst of the loss.
“Here, in a nutshell, is what it means to understand something as a gift and to handle it with gratitude, a perspective biblical religion puts around all of life. And I am here to testify that this is the only way down from the Mountain of Loss. I do not mean to say that such a perspective makes things easy, for it does not. But at least it makes things bearable when I remember that Lindsay was a gift, pure and simple, something I neither earned nor deserved nor had a right to. And when I remember that the appropriate response to a gift, even when it is taken away, is gratitude, then I am better able to try and thank God that I was ever given her in the first place.”
Quote from Tracks of a fellow struggler by John Claypool, pg. 82, Word Publisher, 1974. (We have edited the text by using Lindsay’s name to replace his daughter’s name in the original text.)
November 15, 2008 Day 33
Tedd Ostrem - Saturday, November 15, 2008
Day 33...one third the way to 100 days of recovery. Hard to believe but moving forward on the journey toward healing. In these early days of recovery and recuperation I continue to be, challenged, lifted up and encouraged by different devotional writers. I hope this speaks to you too.
Living The Dream...
*****************************************
The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.
~Sarah Ban Breathnach~
******************************************
Do not expect your dreams to come true simply by sitting and wishing that they would. Act on them! There can be no greater regret, than to get to the end of one's life, and wonder "what if?"...what if I had done this, or what if I had chosen that direction? What do you really stand to lose in trying? Today IS the first day of the rest of your life...get out there and live it to the fullest!
******************************************
ARISE [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you--rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!
~Isaiah 60:1 (Amp)~
But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth]. For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror; For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.
~James 1:22-24 (Amp)~
******************************************
© Copyright 2003-2008 by Guiding Light Ministries International. All rights reserved.
Living The Dream...
*****************************************
The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers. But above all, the world needs dreamers who do.
~Sarah Ban Breathnach~
******************************************
Do not expect your dreams to come true simply by sitting and wishing that they would. Act on them! There can be no greater regret, than to get to the end of one's life, and wonder "what if?"...what if I had done this, or what if I had chosen that direction? What do you really stand to lose in trying? Today IS the first day of the rest of your life...get out there and live it to the fullest!
******************************************
ARISE [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you--rise to a new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!
~Isaiah 60:1 (Amp)~
But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth]. For if anyone only listens to the Word without obeying it and being a doer of it, he is like a man who looks carefully at his [own] natural face in a mirror; For he thoughtfully observes himself, and then goes off and promptly forgets what he was like.
~James 1:22-24 (Amp)~
******************************************
© Copyright 2003-2008 by Guiding Light Ministries International. All rights reserved.
November 14, 2008 Day 32
Tedd Ostrem - Friday, November 14, 2008
"Devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God." 1 Chronicles 22:19A
This verse was part of my devotions this morning. It seems that the Word has a way of penetrating the day as it works on your life. As I recuperate, one of the challenges is to keep on track. It is easy to become self absorbed or paranoid about one's health status.
The verse called me back to the center from which healing comes...seeking the Lord.
This verse was part of my devotions this morning. It seems that the Word has a way of penetrating the day as it works on your life. As I recuperate, one of the challenges is to keep on track. It is easy to become self absorbed or paranoid about one's health status.
The verse called me back to the center from which healing comes...seeking the Lord.
November 13, 2008 Day 31
Tedd Ostrem - Thursday, November 13, 2008
One month ago today I received my stem cell transplant. The challenges and struggles of those first few days and hours have slipped away with time. Time has a way of filtering the good and the bad. The bad has been dimmed and the good magnified. My days are "slow and go" but better than the early days of transplant. My level of frustration at times is greater than my gratitude for what a gift I have received one month ago...the gift of life!
Choices are daily. In Deuteronomy 30:15-19 the people are challenged to choose....
"See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
Today I choose life and gratitude for the gift of life I have been given. Life is a gift and God is the Giver. To God I am grateful for the past 31 days that may not have been without the miraculous power of the stem cell transplant. As I choose life, I choose to live life to its fullest as God desires and directs today. My frustration is mine and not God given. Frustration comes when I take my eyes off the Giver and focus on my own self. It is then I need to hear the call to "choose life" and the One, who is the Giver of Life...Jesus. Thanks be to Jesus, "the Way, the Truth and the Life."
Choices are daily. In Deuteronomy 30:15-19 the people are challenged to choose....
"See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."
Today I choose life and gratitude for the gift of life I have been given. Life is a gift and God is the Giver. To God I am grateful for the past 31 days that may not have been without the miraculous power of the stem cell transplant. As I choose life, I choose to live life to its fullest as God desires and directs today. My frustration is mine and not God given. Frustration comes when I take my eyes off the Giver and focus on my own self. It is then I need to hear the call to "choose life" and the One, who is the Giver of Life...Jesus. Thanks be to Jesus, "the Way, the Truth and the Life."
November 12, 2008 Day +30
Tedd Ostrem - Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Day +30
My brother-in-law sent me a list of “Perks” of reaching 50+…” to help with the healing process. He has had his share of health and family issues in the past couple years. We both like to laugh and many times at ourselves . Humor is good for us as it makes us laugh in spite of our circumstances. During this recovery process I have come to relate to the hidden truth in many of these humorous observations about aging…even being only “30 days old” it still applies.
Today I had to go to my clinic due to some concerns about side effects I have been experiencing in the past 2 days.There have been days I have had a choice….laugh or cry….I choose to laugh!
I hope this does not offend anyone in any way…it just made me laugh...I needed to laugh today.
Perks of reaching 50 or being over 60 and heading towards 70, or
being over 70 and heading towards 80.....well, you get the picture!
01. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.
02. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.
03. No one expects you to run--anywhere.
04. People call at 9 pm and ask, “Did I wake you?”
05. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.
06. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.
07. Things you buy now won't wear out.
08. You can eat supper at 4 pm.
09. You can live without sex but not your glasses.
10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.
11. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
12. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into
the room.
13. You sing along with elevator music.
14. Your eyes won't get much worse.
15. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.
16. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national
weather service.
17. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't
remember them either.
18. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.
19. You can't remember who sent you this list.
And ….
Never, under any circumstances,
take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night!
My brother-in-law sent me a list of “Perks” of reaching 50+…” to help with the healing process. He has had his share of health and family issues in the past couple years. We both like to laugh and many times at ourselves . Humor is good for us as it makes us laugh in spite of our circumstances. During this recovery process I have come to relate to the hidden truth in many of these humorous observations about aging…even being only “30 days old” it still applies.
Today I had to go to my clinic due to some concerns about side effects I have been experiencing in the past 2 days.There have been days I have had a choice….laugh or cry….I choose to laugh!
I hope this does not offend anyone in any way…it just made me laugh...I needed to laugh today.
Perks of reaching 50 or being over 60 and heading towards 70, or
being over 70 and heading towards 80.....well, you get the picture!
01. Kidnappers are not very interested in you.
02. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.
03. No one expects you to run--anywhere.
04. People call at 9 pm and ask, “Did I wake you?”
05. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.
06. There is nothing left to learn the hard way.
07. Things you buy now won't wear out.
08. You can eat supper at 4 pm.
09. You can live without sex but not your glasses.
10. You get into heated arguments about pension plans.
11. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.
12. You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into
the room.
13. You sing along with elevator music.
14. Your eyes won't get much worse.
15. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.
16. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national
weather service.
17. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't
remember them either.
18. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.
19. You can't remember who sent you this list.
And ….
Never, under any circumstances,
take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night!
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