Jane VanOsdol

Join Jane VanOsdol and Mary Kane as they welcome their guests Laura Hulce and Carol Jewell to discuss how to pray for families suffering through a job loss. Carol and Laura discuss the hardships that families go through as they grapple with this challenge and offer practical suggestions on how to pray for and support these families.

Mary Kane

[display_podcast]

Jane VanOsdol

The Lord of Hosts or Yahweh Sabaoth. What battles do you need the Lord to fight for you? At times, life can feel overwhelming. We may be going about what seems to be an ordinary day when WHAM! we get sidelined by a person, event, accident or situation we never saw coming. Or, it may be that we are in the middle of an ongoing battle with no end in sight.

Have you even been panicked or exhausted or ready to surrender? “How am I ever going to make it through this?” may be the thought that keeps running through your mind. Well, I found myself there in mid-June. One night at 10:10 p.m. as I was just getting into bed, my phone rang. I picked it up and my son’s girlfriend, obviously distraught, was trying to tell me something. I pieced together the following words: “Jesse,” “fire” and “burned.” Horrified, I realized she was telling me that my son had been burned at a bonfire, and they had called an ambulance.

I don’t know that I can even describe my feelings at that moment. I was so upset I had to force myself to try to think about what to do. My husband immediately took off to the friend’s house while I called my daughter and waited on her to drive home so that we could go together to the hospital.

About 15 minutes later, I heard the wail of sirens rush past my house, and a wave of nausea and grief hit me as I realized my son was in there, and I had no idea what shape he was in, even if he would live or die. Amber and I arrived at the hospital an hour later, and my husband prepared us for what we would see when we went back to be with Jesse. The sight of a person who has been burned in a fire is terrible, and I prayed for strength to be strong for him.

What battle are you facing right now that you need the Lord’s strength for? You may be outmanned, outgunned and overwhelmed, but you need to remember that the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel (the words that David used against Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:45) is leading your battle when you call on Him. Our strength and skills may be insufficient to meet the situation or person facing us, but the situation or person is NOT bigger than God.

For the next week that Jesse was in the hospital, I relied on God’s strength to carry me through many heartrending days of painful treatments. I didn’t have the physical or emotional reserves I felt I needed, but God did, and He did not fail me.

I encourage you to call on God to lead you into your battle, whatever it may be. May your prayer be what David’s was as he charged onto the battlefield, “ You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (1 Samuel 17:45). Pray on!

Update on June 29, 2010

Jesse had his outpatient appointment yesterday at the Riley Clinic, and we received more good news. They took off all the wraps and the burns are healed and the new skin is in! Now he just has to wear elastic wraps to support and protect the new skin. He has also been cleared to leave for Orlando and start school on his original date of July 15. They are setting up an appointment for him in Orlando in about 6 weeks with a burn clinic there. We are all so thankful. Praise God for this wonderful news and for all your prayers for him!

After the clinic visit, we went back up to the burn ward so that he could visit with his nurses who took care of him and give them the good news. That was a happy, emotional time for us. During the treatments there, the treatment that was the hardest was the debriding baths to clean off the burned skin. That was one of the things you all prayed about. During one of these sessions last week,  I was praying for some words of hope to give him to endure them when I looked up at the walls. On the walls were the handprints and names of all the children before him who had been through this same procedure. That day I said to him, “Jesse, look up at the names and the handprints. Look at how tiny some of these little hands are. They survived this, and you can too.” He looked up at them and whispered, “God bless every one of them.”

Jesse revisting the debriding room.

Well, yesterday Jesse added his handprint to the wall. I’ll let these pictures tell the story themselves.

Update on June 23, 2010

JESSE IS HOME!! Jesse had a miraculous turnaround last night, was walking today and was released from the hospital to outpatient care. We are all so happy to have him back. Thanks to all for your prayers. You have all played a major part in his quick healing. He is stunned by all the people around the country/world who were praying for him. I will have him leave an update once he gets a little time to recuperate. Praise God!

Jesse happy to be home with Amber!

Update on June 22, 2010

Jesse’s burns are healing. He is wrapped in a special wrap, which slowly releases silver on his burns. Silver is a natural antibiotic. These wraps can be left on for a week at a time, so he does not have to do the daily painful washes. He is working on walking again. New “skin buds” are forming on his legs and the nerves are all close to the surface, making walking very painful. As soon as he can walk, he will be allowed to go home.

Thanks for all your prayers! Jesse is so grateful to everyone.

Jesse VanOsdol

Jane’s 18-year-old son Jesse was burned in a fire on Wednesday evening. He has second and third degree burns on 15% of his body–both legs below the knees, his left arm and a small spot on his back.

Please pray against any infection, that swelling will go down, that he won’t need skin graft surgery and for strength during daily bandage changes. Right now he is unable to walk do the swelling and pain. Thank you so much!

“We went through fire and through water; But You brought us out to rich fulfillment” (Psalm 66:12).

Jesse VanOsdol

Please continue to pray for Jesse.

Please pray for Jane’s son who was injured in a terrible accident last night.

Join Jane as she welcomes Pastor Dave Rodriguez of Grace Community Church in Noblesville, Indiana to discuss the attentive life. In today’s busy world, it is imperative that we take the time to cultivate time with God and pay attention to Him in our everyday lives. Dave recaps some highlights from his popular sermon series on the Attentive Life. For information on the entire series, go to http://www.gracecc.org.

Dave Rodriguez

[display_podcast]