Tag: illness

What did you learn today?

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And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.  Titus 3:14

I learned today that it pays to take good notes.  When I had to replace a healthcare supplier within a few days (or lose my mind!), I was glad to find my notes from the research that I did at the beginning of receiving home infusions 7 months ago.  Perhaps back then I should have gone with that other company instead?  Oh well.  I got to work with their Patient Care Coordinator this time and she is wonderful!

I learned this past week how being off from work and  having less income has helped me to find inexpensive continuing education credits that I never knew existed before I got sick.  Looks like NINE of the TWELVE hours required will be FREE!  Yeah God!  I will be able to keep my occupational therapy license one more year!

OT, occupational therapy, occupational therapist, work, medical leave, disability, license, licensure, renewal

I learned this past month a deeper definition of true love as demonstrated in the life of my husband, Steve.  First some background:  we had to cancel a trip to see his family this past summer when his dad was in too much back pain to travel cross-country to our rendezvous point in Branson, Missouri.  His mom was disappointed that the celebration of her 80th birthday was postponed until Thanksgiving.  Then our trip to meet up with his family in Texas in November got cancelled when I landed in the Emergency Room five days before departure with severe back pain.   I wasn’t even able to go out to dinner with Steve on Thanksgiving (which means I missed celebrating our wedding anniversary on the same day!).  As you saw from my last blog, Steve’s response was simply that we were, “saving money left and right!”  Well, yes and well, no.  His parents are aging.  Visiting them at their home in California is complicated due to my extreme sensitivities.  Perhaps Steve will be making a visit early next year and when my health is more stable.  In the meantime he just continues to be a wonderful loving husband.  I am so grateful for his love and devotion.  Often he is my “Jesus with skin on.”

I learned this past year the meaning of the phrase Carpe diem.  Each little trip, each tender moment between Steve and I, each time the garden got watered or weeds got pulled were realizations of moments when I could do a little more.  The numerous moments that were quite opposite just made “seizing the day,” more special.  We have learned to be more spontaneous to enjoy the good graces of the Lord even when they last but an hour or two.  Carpe diem baby!

I learned these past 5 years of serious illness to call upon the Lord for everything.

Proverbs 3:5-6 New International Version (NIV)

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight.

Whether it’s finding the money for medical treatments or getting myself up to go to the bathroom when seizing, my Lord and Savior cares for the details of my life and gets it done.  He is there when I am awake in the middle of the night.  He provided that relic airplane for me to sit under on a sweltering summer day so my husband could fulfill a dream at Oshkosh.  My Jesus will be joining us in celebration when I become well again someday too.

And lastly, I have loved learning the value of writing Hope Beyond.  It’s not quite an online journal but a way of looking from the inside out.  I hope to point you, precious Gentle Reader, to more than the saga of my situation but to the glory that awaits both of us when we place our trust in the Lord, Jesus Christ.  As Steve and I say in our Christmas letter this year:

No matter what our perspective may be, the most important view at Christmas (or anytime) is the one that brings us closer to the person of Jesus Christ. We stand in awe of His sacrifice for us that brings unspeakable joy, knowing Him as Lord and Savior over all.  He loves His own more than words can say:  the best Christmas gift of all.

Going beyond our temporal learning to the eternal love of Christ can be our gift today, next month, next year, 5 years from now, and beyond.

Gentle Reader, what do you say that you have learned?  Please let me know, k?  JJ

lake, couple, Christian, Lake Winnebago, Oshkosh, marriage

 

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Gratitude for the little big things

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So it’s Thanksgiving and nothing went as we had hoped: our trip to Texas to be with my hubby’s family got cancelled after my recent ER visit with severe back pain, alternate plans never materialized, and we had to cancel dinner reservations for tonight due to seizure spikes for most of the afternoon. Today is our wedding anniversary too. When I apologized for wreaking havoc on my hubby’s holiday, his response was, “well we’re saving money left and right!” And now you see who I am so thankful for this holiday.

I love you Steve.  Happy anniversary!

And Godspeed Gentle Readerfb_img_1480031316027. :J

I miss you

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A Letter to My Former Self:

I miss you dear one:

Your silliness, creativity, spontaneity, occasional complaints.

You have left me here quite empty

With shards of who you once were hanging in a forgotten frame.

If only she would come back

All things would be right again with the world, no?

Yeah that is a definite nada

Since we can never retrace the exact steps that brought us here anyways.

“So what to do with my longing?” I ask.

That’s a tough question barely understanding the answer that has come,

For we will not be happy back there

This foolery we must shed to fully be present in the “now.”

For Christ alone provides the joy within

Not circumstances nor that driven by the shallowness of this life.

Better to place one’s heart in the Lord’s hands today

And consider the blessings that would have been missed had we gone another way.

I cannot get back what has been lost all these years

Better for me not to miss the opportunity before me this very hour,

 

Than to have myself facing the wrong way when my Savior comes to take me home.  JJ

ephesians 5, 5.17, ephesians, Lord, will, my life, let go, let God

Things come into focus

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The recipe just wouldn’t do:  this brew concocted for my veins

I winced in shock when I saw the potential for disaster next week

And made the call to express my concerns, my fears in shaky voice.

The Assistant was gracious, no complaints there but what about him

Whom had not been available yet directs my care via messaging

And has way too many details engaged to respond to my simple needs?

Just to stop the seizures and minimize the suffering is all I really want

But that is the golden coin just beyond my reach now matter how long

And how far, how often, how many, how little, how far-reaching the attempts have been.

You’d think after nearly 5 years since this hell on earth began in my tender frame

That one of these brilliant folk would have figured it out by now, but NO(!), longer I wait —

And believe me I have tried, have prayed, have laid down my sword along the way too.

Nothing of  note has come to pass although the hell is generally shorter and less robust

I still live in impending doom every day, still waiting for the spike that rocks my world

And consumes me as much as it frustrates; I hold on to the moments in time I have here or there.

Someday this suffering will be over, I am assured since it was not always here

My Lord, my Savior is coming back for me and His to make all things new and right

And that includes an end to my daily trials:  oh how sweet that day will be, maybe soon!

Until then Gentle Reader, say your truth whilst asking for what you need

Let those in the know hear you and stick with those who bother to care

And one day soon, the focus will be on something else than your strife, my dear, guaranteed, guaranteed.  JJ

Ecclesiastes, 3:11, beautiful, in His time, waiting on the Lord, patience, waiting, burdens, trials, God, Lord, Jesus, trust, Christian, answers

 

 

In the thick of things

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Just before the dawn breaks open the darkness

The night seems the blackest, the air the coolest.

But really what difference did it make to the day?

It was already breaking forth before anyone could see it.

Stumbling over rocks and brush and twisted debris

I would not think there was a way out of those woods . . .

Only the squirrels knew where the last canopy reached:

It was already marking the clearing before I could see it.

The shiny reflection on the pavement up ahead

When travelling along the road at high speeds

Suggests water on the horizon but alas, it is not to be

It was already stretching out forming a new illusion to see.

Things just aren’t what they seem along the darkest trails of our lives

Yet we pretend we know what is to come from the markings underfoot

Better to trust in the love of the One who sets us free to explore these

He is already there with adventures in-hand if we but open our hearts, widen our gaze, and keep walking ever nearer to Thee.

For He will never leave us, forsake us, forget us, deny us you see

Jesus loves us, precious in His sight and placed perfectly in the Father’s timely gifts

And the places He wants us to go will yield more good than that we ever could foresee

Oh how it will simply make more sense in the clearing someday under the sunshine beyond . . .

For now I am just going to keep walking.  Gentle Reader:  care to join me?  JJ

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