A-Z Thanks for this Year's Thanksgiving

Lord, 

I come, amazed at Your blessings that overflow into our lives. I could spend hours just praising You, but to keep my list relatively short, I’ll walk through the alphabet. 

Thank You, Lord, for

• Answered prayer.
• Beautiful days. The beauty around me always points me to Your creative genius. Thank You for giving me eyes to see and appreciate the beauty around me.
• Charlie. He could so easily have died this month, but You gave Him back to me. Thank you.
• Doctors and nurses who made Charlie’s stay in the hospital so much easier. Thank You for the training and wisdom they have to help sick and injured people get well again.
• Electronic devices. Thank You that we were able to reach an ambulance quickly with my cell phone. Thank You that I was able to call family as I drove to the hospital with the blue tooth connection to my phone.
• Friends. Thank You for the way they rallied around us with their support.
• Grace. You have given us Your grace to meet this trial. Every day we need it, and every day it’s there.
• House. It keeps us warm in the winter and cool in the summer and gives us a place to call home.
• Internet. It was so easy to get online and let everyone know what was happening.
• Jogging. Thank You that Charlie has been physically active. We keep hearing that his recovery will be quicker because he paid attention to his health.
• Kia. Thank You for a reliable car that gets us where we need to go for all the appointments Charlie has these days.
• Linwood Baptist Church and the other churches that have prayed for us throughout our ministry, especially in these past few days.
• Mornings. Thank You that Charlie’s energy is pretty good in the morning and that most of his therapy sessions are happening in the morning.
• Nieces, nephews and the rest of our extended family who have been so supportive of us during this time.
• Opportunities. Thank You for every opportunity that comes our way. Help us to make the most of them.
• Peace. Thank You for the peace You give. It has carried me through many uncertain hours and days in the past and especially in recent days.
• Quiet. These days Charlie needs a lot of it. Thank you for quiet days between therapy days.
• Rest and recovery. Thank You that Charlie is able to rest and recover.
• Speech. We don’t think that much of our ability to talk until it’s taken away. Thank You that You are restoring Charlie’s speech.
• Therapists and therapy. What an amazing time in the history of our world that we have people who specialize in helping injured people heal. Thank You for this blessing. The therapists Charlie is seeing have been kind and helpful. Thank You for their attempts to understand what he is experiencing.
• Unknown. Thank You that I didn’t know Charlie’s stroke was coming. I would have been a nervous wreck all day and even the days, weeks and months leading up to it. Thank You that I don’t know the future, but that I trust You, the One who does. Thank You that You hold all my tomorrows in Your hand.
• Vascular doctors. Thank You, Lord, for doctors who are trained in the diagnosis of strokes and the prevention of it happening again. Yet we recognize that You are the One that gave him life, and You are the One that knows how long his life will be. Thank You that the doctors were there, but even more, thank You that You were there.
• Wellness. Thank You for keeping me well while we work through Charlie’s recovery.
• X-rays and other medical tests. Thank You that these medical devices enabled the doctors to see, understand, and treat his stroke relatively quickly.
• Your vast love for us.
• Zest for life. Thank You that even though Charlie could be enjoying heaven instead of being here on this earth, You have given him a zest for life and a desire to use his days for eternity. 

Lord, this list doesn't come close to all the things I have been considering in my list of praises to You for all You have done. With almost every letter, I could have listed multiple other things. But I give You thanks because Your blessings are innumerable.

Amen.


Photo: Charlie has always loved being physically active. 

November News

On Thursday, November 13, confusing questions battled for my attention as I drove to the hospital. Would Charlie survive the stroke, or would it kill him as it killed my grandfather? Would I arrive at the hospital only to be told, “I’m so sorry. We did all we could, but we couldn’t save him.” Would it handicap him so that our ministry would end? 

Swatting at the tears and determined to stay focused on my driving, I kept going. I told the Lord once again, as I have many times throughout our years of marriage, that Charlie is a gift that He gave to me, and He has the right to take him home whenever He chooses. (He doesn’t need my permission, but it helps my heart to say it.) I reaffirmed my trust in the Almighty who knows what the future holds.

Charlie not only survived, but we arrived at the hospital in time for them to give him an injection of tPA, a “miracle drug” for stroke patients. He was released from the hospital four days later. He has now recovered almost all of his physical ability and strength, but his brain is still healing. Speaking, reading, and writing are still difficult.

The day he was released from the hospital, we were supposed to fly to Bolivia. Once again our ministry in Bolivia was put on hold, though the political situation in that country may have meant that our hosts would have asked us to stay home anyway. We are looking at trying again in July or August of next year.

Today we thank God.

• I was with Charlie when the stroke happened.
• The ambulance arrived quickly and the doctors expect Charlie to fully recover.
• Charlie was home for my birthday. He brought me the card he intended to give to me in Bolivia and said, “I’m so glad I get to give this to you today.”

Thank you for your prayers for us. Please keep them coming. Pray that:

• Peace would return to Bolivia and that the Christians there would shine as lights for God during this difficult time.
• Charlie would heal completely from the stroke and be able to return to a full schedule.
• Charlie's project for his doctoral studies would not be postponed too much because of this incident.
• We would be able to accompany the mission’s team from our church when they go to Jamaica in January. Charlie may not be ready to teach yet, but it looks like he will be able to go.
• Charlie would be ready to teach a module in the Philippines in March.
• Pray that future years would be even more fruitful than the past years have been.

Evidently, God still has work for us to do. Thank you for your prayers and support.

Photo: Charlie in the hospital

August - October

My dad passed away on August 8. If we had gone to Bolivia, we would have been out of the country when it happened. Instead, I had the privilege of sitting with him on his last night here on earth. His plans are always better than our own.

In September, Charlie took a trip to Belarus and Luxembourg, this time as a working vacation since these are not IPM ministries. Since we had to book the trip in June, I felt I should not go so that I could be near my dad. As it turned out, Dad was already in heaven by then, but our bank account agreed that it was better for me to stay home. Once again it was clear to both of us how much we prefer to travel and minister together.

Belarus is an atheistic country whose churches suffered greatly during the previous Soviet rule. Although they have relative freedom now, there is still much resistance to the gospel. The majority of the older pastors that Charlie met had stories to tell of being in prison. They are miles ahead of us in standing for the faith, but they desire to learn more. So Charlie taught them about stewardship and then preached on Sunday to an audience of over 700. He also taught college students at a secular university. He taught hermeneutics to a group of philology students, marriage to a group of sociology students, and the benefits of exercise and religion in fighting depression to a group of medical students. One student approached him saying, “I can’t believe in a god who allows evil in our world.” Charlie was able to spend quite a bit of time with him and poke some holes in his logic that will, hopefully, bring him closer to the Gospel. All in all, Charlie felt it was a beneficial trip.

From Belarus, he flew to Luxembourg to spend time with missionary friends there. He preached and taught there as well. The international church that Tim Heijermans pastored for many years is continuing to grow under the leadership of a European pastor. We were encouraged when they invited us to return to be part of their family retreat next year.

In addition to these countries, God is beginning to show us what is ahead in 2020. We are planning on several different countries, and we are hoping to spend more time visiting churches. Please let us know if you want us to come to your church.

Praise God with us for:

• ·         Orchestrating events so that we would be home when Dad went home to heaven.
• ·         Safety for Charlie in his trip to Europe.
• ·         Rescheduling our trip to Bolivia.

Please pray that God would:

• ·         Work in the Belarusian student’s life to bring him to saving faith.
• ·         Give us wisdom as we prepare for our trip to Bolivia in November.
• ·         Show us all the places where we should go in the coming year.

We are so thankful for the prayers of God's people for us. We would not want to do this work without those prayers.

A Battle with Alzheimer's

I wrote this about a year before my father's death, but it chronicles quite a few years previous to that. Part of the reason I took down the blog was because this was the primary thing on my mind most days. It was a journey for us that was hard, but one that I was not ready to make public, especially because my dad did not want people to know how bad it was for him. I respected his privacy. 

Now, however, it seems that this road our family took together of watching my dad struggle with the effects of Alzheimer's might be helpful for someone else, so I post this here. I loved my dad. I hated to see him suffer. Now he is in the presence of God, surrounded by the angels and his loved ones. I am quite sure that if this perspective could help another family who is dealing with Alzheimer's, he would want me to post this.

So with tears in my eyes and an ache in my heart, I share with you our journey. If you are watching a loved one go through this, you are not alone.

* * * * * * * * * * 

The Silent Thief

What in the world is wrong? He never used to be like this. He was the best preacher and teacher around. He stood strong for God. He knew right from wrong and would not waver. But now things were happening that confused me.

While Dad may not have been the best preacher in America, he was good. His family and his church learned from him. He studied well, and it showed. He had enough humor and stories to keep us intrigued, and enough depth to keep us studying and growing. Then we began to notice that he got off track more easily and his rabbit trails were becoming super highways. He had a hard time staying on task, and his sermons were not as "meaty" as they once were. What was happening?

Dad was also a wise counselor. As a pastor and missionary, Dad kept myriads of other people's secrets. He knew the value of a safe place to talk and receive counsel. When I was growing up, people came and went from his counseling office. We never knew what the problems were, and we knew better than to ask. Their secrets were safe with him. Then one day we noticed that sometimes private things were repeated at inopportune times. Mom had to remind him that the information he just spilled was private. What was wrong? This was not the dad we knew.

For me, that meant that I sought Mom's advice when Dad was not around. Dad could still give sound advice, and I wanted to hear it, but I was no longer sure that my concerns would not be repeated. I could no longer trust him to remember that something was private.

One day I realized that the debater and critical thinking side of him had disappeared as well. Dad comes from a family who expresses their opinions. It was not unusual for political and theological discussions to become noisy affairs at family gatherings. This carried over into our family as we were growing up. We were encouraged to research things thoroughly and to not accept the standard teaching without study and thought. We could not simply state an opinion without being able to back it up. Whether it was our political leanings or Biblical teaching, we learned to defend what we believed after studying various points of view. We also learned to say, "I guess I don't know about that. I need to study some more." But now when a debate would circle around at a family gathering, he withdrew and did not give his opinion.

This was definitely more than simple forgetfulness. A silent thief had entered our midst - Alzheimer's. We grieved. We realized that the dad we knew was slowly disappearing as Alzheimer's continued to nibble away at the remaining parts of his mind and abilities.

Later it stole a handyman. "It's nice to have a man around the house," he used to say when he would take time out to fix my car or help me with a carpentry project. I loved it. No matter what went wrong, he could figure it out and fix it. If he was around, I would not have to call a repair man. Then the day came when things that he used to fix were beyond him. Instead of volunteering to fix something, he would ask my husband to fix it for him.

When Alzheimer's robbed us of the head of the family, it took time for my mom to adjust. He had always been the one to set the tone for the family. He led in family devotions. He made sure that things ran smoothly. Decisions came quickly to him, and he could juggle many responsibilities at the same time. After we left the home, he still set the direction for family gatherings. Now my mom makes most of the decisions. While she asks him for his opinion, he usually just defers to whatever she thinks is best. Reluctantly, she has stepped into the role that he used to have.

It stole an adventurer. My dad grew up in a large family during the depression, fought in World War II, traveled the world and lived in several countries. His adventures were part of his everyday conversations. Now conversations center around he had for breakfast and who called on the phone. The world has closed around him, and his mind is no longer a storehouse of interesting stories and facts he learned in the past.

It jettisoned a storyteller. Familiar stories that he told helped to solidify our place in the family. He loved telling stories of how God answered prayer and kept him safe. He loved repeating familiar stories that helped his children understand his love for them. But now, when we repeat a story that he originally told us, it is not uncommon for him to say, "Really? That happened? That's something."

As the disease progresses, we continue to find other things that are gone. So far, though, Alzheimer's has not stolen his connection with God. He is still a prayer warrior. He struggles now to put into words what he wants to pray for us, but he still prays. He still tells others of Jesus and asks if they are sure of their eternal destiny. It is still obvious that he knows and loves His Lord.

For now, he still knows his family, and I'm grateful for that. There are days when things are fuzzy and he cannot remember the names of his seven children or he will not recognize one of our voices on the phone. His grandchildren and great grandchildren are starting to fade from his memory. Even some of his friends from church whom he still sees every week have faded from his mind.

Alzheimer's saddens me. I am glad that there is no Alzheimer's in heaven. There my dad will be even better than the man I knew, and that makes me very glad.

Reviving the Blog

I closed down this blog for a while as it had been a long time since I had written. This week I decided to reopen it.

Since I last wrote, some of our circumstances are the same. Some have changed. Let me list some of those.

Many things stay the same. We are still living in Georgia. We are still working with IPM. We are still wanting to grow more in knowing and serving our Lord Jesus Christ.

However, there have been some changes. The biggest change in my life has been my father's passing on August 8 of this year. In the next few days, you may see some posts that I wrote surrounding those circumstances. During the year leading up to his death, Charlie continued to make trips as usual, but I cut back my travel in order to help my mother care for him. Now that he is gone, we are looking at the coming years and trying to determine our course for the future.

Charlie preaching at the closing of the VBS in Peru.

One other change. I have begun a new blog. Since writing is part of my ministry now, I thought it would be good to have a blog where I could write something short each day, (or at least most days). Since prayer is something that I want to encourage in both my own life and in other peoples' lives as well, it is a blog on prayer. In order to link the feeling of the two blogs, I have called it "Sojourning in Prayer."You will find it at https://sojourninginprayer.blogspot.com.


This blog will continue to be used to update people on our trips, but I want to keep it about our ministry. Occasionally, it may still include other insights, but for the most part, it will now focus on our travels.

Obituary for My Dad, Harold Lovestrand

Harold Lawrence Bernard Lovestrand worked for the fairest, yet the most merciful, boss possible. Throughout his years as a missionary, pastor, and in various supplemental jobs, other people signed his paychecks, but Harold knew that God was his real boss. On August 8, 2019, at 93 years of age, he received the promotion that earned him rights and privileges he never knew before: perfect health, wealth unimaginable, and the privilege of a face-to-face meeting with the One he served so well all his life.

When God radically changed his direction from funeral director to missionary after serving in World War II, he enrolled at Bob Jones College. There he learned, despite his shyness, to speak to strangers about his generous Boss. He chose a verse to live by: “To lead a life worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” Colossians 1:10 (RSV)

He lived to hear his Boss’s “Well done!” Every morning he consulted with Him for the day’s instructions through prayer and the reading of his Boss’ written instructions in the Bible. He was ready to go or stay depending on what God required. God’s assignments led him to Indonesia, Trinidad, and the Philippines as a missionary and to five different states in ministry as a pastor or Mission Coordinator for AMG International. He started a Bible school in Indonesia and an orphanage in the Philippines, both of which continue to carry on their ministries.

He taught his seven children to honor and serve God with all their being, demonstrating by his own example that it was worth it. He sought to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He prayed, preached, counseled, gave to others, supported missionaries, and worked as though his final evaluation was imminent. He helped build nine houses for missionaries in Indonesia. He authored three books. He and his wife fostered more than forty children. He introduced countless people to his Boss, often asking strangers, “If you were to die today, do you know where you would spend eternity?”

He will be missed by Muriel Lovestrand, his wife of almost 71 years, seven children and their families, 17 grandchildren, 9 great-grandchildren, and two brothers. His resonant bass voice will no longer sing at Center Grove Baptist Church in Rock Spring, GA, but his life’s devotion to his eternal Boss will be celebrated there on Friday, August 16, 2019,https://amginternational.org/product/home-of-hope-orphanage/. Please mention Harold’s name when you check out.

at 12:00 noon. Visitation will begin at 10:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to AMG International for the Home of Hope Orphanage: