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The Splendor of Struggle

- dannalundstrom

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Dear friend, whatever struggle is dominating your thoughts today is the very one that will swaddle you in strength.  It will clothe you with compassion, and it will honor you with humility.  Every painful circumstance becomes a purposeful square in the quilt you are sowing.  Embrace the opportunity in your obstacles.  Remember, when you are afraid you are available.  When you are confused, you are connected.  When you are waiting, you are watchful.  When desperate you are dependent, and when lonely you are looking.  In Jesus’s economy, weakness is the source from which all good and beautiful things grow.  May grace fill every season of growth and spring streams of joy along your journeys.

Forgivness

- dannalundstrom

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Growing in grace means everyday fragments of me are dying.  Parts of my heart, soul and deeply lodged pieces of me are dying only to be resurrected and made new.

The Lord pursues me with great persistence dressed in a patient countenance.  My current area of refinement has been a long process.  It is still ongoing. I am having to ask The Father for the obedience to surrender that part of me that is clinging on for life with a stubborn determination born of the sinful flesh that dwells within me.

Forgiveness.  It is brutal, and it is a painful death when the scars run deep over a broad span of time.  As I am struggling and wrestling with the Lord through this process, he was so kind to remind me; D’Anna, the first act of forgiveness was brutal.  It was bloody, and there was a literal death. (Matthew 27:32-55).  To deny anyone forgiveness is not to understand what my Son did for you on that day that secured your eternal victory.

When someone wounds you consistently for years, it is like death by a million paper cuts. Each cut chiseling away at your self-esteem, your confidence and strength.  I became a passive victim shackled by fear.  I convinced myself I was the crazy one.  I tried to fight back, but could not overcome.  By the grace of God through some tough circumstances, I was freed from that dynamic of dysfunction.

I have worked for the last six years to overcome the effects, and it has been hard work, but great counselors and friends have prayed, talked and walked with me through this, and it has made all the difference.  Above all, though, it has been Jesus.  He has chased me with an unrelenting faithfulness.  His love has astounded me.  He is so sweet to me, and I deserve none of it, but He lavishes me anyway.

Now, I have been brought to a time such as this where He is calling me to an act of obedience that I do not want to go through. It scares me. I have fallen on my face and prayed as Jesus did, Lord, if this cup may be taken from me, let it be; yet not as I will but as you will. (Matthew 26:39)

It is not often that we have full clarity for handling life’s situations.  However, I have it in regards to this one.  My lack of compliance would be to deny the greatest gift I have ever received.  Forgiveness, when there is no repentance or acknowledgment of wrongdoing, is hard because it is so incredibly costly for me, but Jesus’ death shows me that is right because He sacrificed the ultimate for me.  Therefore, I can do it for Him.

Each time I tell Jesus how unequipped I am for this job, he whispers to me, my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9) That is how I will do this.  I trust His grace will be sufficient for me when I cannot assimilate the courage or desire myself.

Forgiveness without repentance is a dying of self out a desire to obey My Savior, not the sinner.  It means I understand the debt that was paid for me while I was and still am a sinner, too.  It does not always mean we are in a relationship again. It does not mean that person/persons will be allowed access to break personal boundaries and bash my psyche. It means a freeing from the toxic control of my mind from another.  In the coming days as I prepare for this, I continue to trust that the Lord will strengthen me and uphold me with his victorious right hand. (Isaiah 41:10)  My heart is willing, but my flesh is weak. (Matthew 26:41)

Is there someone you need to forgive today?  I know it is hard, but it is holy.  If I can do this by God’s grace, you can, too.  We do not have to be staring at bars to be imprisoned.  I desire to be set free, and I pray for your release, also.

Now it Springs Up

- dannalundstrom
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These tulips were not there two days ago.  As I pulled into my driveway this morning, they were the first thing I noticed.  I was quick to see it is symbolic of why God is doing in my life; new growth, new things, and that only He is capable of taking situations that appear barren and hopeless, and quickly make them new.  Find hope in empty places, friends.  He is able!  Isaiah 43:18-19 sprung into my mind as I saw this new evidence of life this morning. ~ Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing.  Now it springs up.  Do you not perceive it?  I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.  So many things in our world look hopeless, but only if we depend on people or things of this world to revive them.

His Sufficient Grace

- dannalundstrom

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I am not bigger than my fear, worries, or anxieties. I am not strong.  I am quiet weak.  The desires of my flesh often make more noise than my desire for obedience to my Father.  On my best day I am a mess somewhere within; be it physically, mentally, emotionally or a combination of all.  Yet, my Father says, My grace is sufficient for you.

That is what I am learning in real time, my manna every day.  It is as if my life is a movie and I have hit play. God is calling me places I do not want to go.  He is asking me to do things I do not wish to do.  He is drawing me far from my place of comfort and safety; the familiar, the easy, the places that I can justify staying stuck.  But the whisper continues; my grace is sufficient for you.  The whisper is not pretentious, proud or pushy; but patient, persistent and peaceful. It is like the soft caress of a gentle wind that I want to turn my face into and feel the life-giving refreshment.

Because of His grace, I can be obedient when it is hard.  I can walk into the face of my fears and tremble but not be overcome.  His grace makes me everything I cannot be on my own. Oh, the sweet victory of hard obedience sustained in the holy hands of grace.  His grace is sufficient for you, friends.

Whatever storms you are riding out, His grace enters, responding yes to every invitation.  Everything of this world will fail you at some point, but not The Father’s grace. It is sufficient for you, every part of you.  (2 Corinthians 12:9)

A Place of Belonging

- dannalundstrom

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There is no greater place than a place of belonging.  May we have eyes to see those around us that have no circle of acceptance; and the discernment to identify the times when we are searching for refuge in things that were never meant to be our safe sanctuary.  Jesus give us the grace to know where our true fountain of comfort and peace flows, our belonging place.  May we strip off the weight of busyness so we may notice who needs to be seen and refuel in our places of shelter.  Amen.

Only God

- dannalundstrom

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Along the walk of life, we accumulate a lot of things and people.  Holding them tight gives us a false sense of security because we believe they are needed to keep us safe, strong, secure, happy, whole and fill in the blank.

Growing in grace equips us to begin opening our hands to what we thought was necessary to our well-being because we discover only God embodies every single thing we need.

Pursuing Perfection is to Deny Jesus

- dannalundstrom

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Perfectionism.  We all chase it.  None of us will ever achieve it, but we often run ourselves into the ground trying.

Pursuing perfection is to deny what Jesus did for us.  

He died an excruciating death not only to save us from our sins but also to impart His perfect righteousness to us.  That means it is no secret we alone are inadequate.  It is inevitable that we will fail as a parent, friend, spouse…  Someone else will always do better that which we desire to do.

Why do we keep exhausting ourselves to obtain what has already been secured on our behalf?  God made no mistakes when He created you or me.  We all have different strengths and weaknesses.  We either believe in his plan and find peace or we deny His sovereignty and continue striving.

Father, I ask that you help your children embrace the gifts given to us.  When we accept who we were created to be and quit striving to be who we are not; we are free to find where our purpose intersects our passion, and it is then that we will impact the world; not in a perfect way but in your providential way.  Amen.

The Sweetest Fruit is Found In The Scariest Places

- dannalundstrom 2 Comments

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When I was a child, we had a ditch that ran alongside and behind our property. It was a ditch, but from the perspective of my childhood imagination, it was a rocky, dangerous ravine. The ditch, formidable as it was or was not, did have some steep, slippery spots. I would often fall and slide into the murky, water that sometimes housed water moccasins. Snakes terrified me, so I was hesitant to be too adventurous.

In the summertime, berries would grow on vines along that ditch. I distinctly remember that the biggest, most shiny and sweetest berries were in the most challenging spots to maneuver. I was a fearful child, so I didn’t venture to those places often, but when I did; oh to taste such sweet fruit! It could not compare to the berries growing in the flatter, less intimidating topography. Although I can remember being frightened to pursue those berries, I knew the reward that was waiting for me, so I would muster the courage from time to time. I can still hear how loud my heart would beat. I can feel how fast it would race as if it would break out of my chest. My breathing would be rapidly, and I would be sweating, but I would risk it all because I had experienced, and come to know the superior taste of the sweeter berries.

Life is a lot like the scary parts of that ditch, and the fruit experienced at its most precarious locations. We sometimes find ourselves in places where we risk falling, getting scraped and cut, and often that does happen. Life has a way of cutting us up, but God has a way of carving us from our slips and falls.

As I look back now, the sweetest and most nourishing fruit has been acquired in the most treacherous places. Sure, life is good when I am living on level land, but oh to taste the fruit of growth that only happens when we are in the ravenous ravines. It is here where we gain the sweetest rewards. Unlike capturing the berries, we may not immediately taste the sweetness of life’s valleys.

As I came to know the nature of those dangerous berries by taste, though, so I have come to know the character of God also through experience. If we are looking for God not just in the safe places but in the scary ones, too; if we know His faithfulness, we have confidence what joy awaits us. Experiencing God is what gives us the endurance and the strength to persevere through all the ditches we fall into throughout life. Also, knowing Him gives us the courage to get up and keep pursuing life, not from a position of safety but surrender. God enables us to walk victoriously through life’s intimidating places. Psalm 18:33 promises us this: He makes me as surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights.

The fruit found in our most perilous places yields the greatest growth and the sweetest victories. If you are walking a rocky road right now, be encouraged. Dirt roads are paved with fertile soil.

 

Rest

- dannalundstrom

Being a whole person can feel like being an overwhelmed person. Time is two sided. It can be swift, and it can be sluggish. On days when our to-do list, responsibilities, and commitments weigh heavy; time is more elusive than enjoyable.  May we be reminded to rest.  Busyness can be a form of escape.  Illuminate that in us which we are running from Lord.  Help us to pause long enough to respect the discomfort that dwells within our souls. We know being restless leads us to resolving and resolving to reaching for a remedy. This is dangerous behavior because it maximizes our sense of control and minimizes yours, God. With ourselves, our children, our spouses, and our families allow us to rest. For rest is not idleness; it is intelligence. Open our strained hands and slow our tired hearts, Father.  Remind us in each moment of panic, you are the Painter, and we are the children of Your picture.  May we abide in your authority, not our activity.  Amen.