Tag: endurance

God Is Looking For Endurance, Not Eloquence

- dannalundstrom

108196178-2I just don’t know what to do.

That really difficult situation that is ripping you apart, you don’t have to figure it out, friend.  The decision is not your responsibility, but The Lord’s.  Talk to Him.  Don’t worry about how you sound.  There are no style points for perfect prayers with The God.  A simple yet powerful calling of His name, Jesus, Father, Lord, Abba, how dear those words must be to His heart to hear His children calling His name.  He hears you.  He knows the posture and the passions of your heart.  God does not require eloquence, He recognizes endurance.  Ask Him to clearly show you what path to take.  He will answer. The answer may be scary, but once you walk in the shadow of His light, you will find an unexplainable peace insulating your heart.
Psalm 29:11~The Lord gives his people strength. The Lord blesses them with peace.

He is Soverign Over Us

- dannalundstrom 5 Comments

We all have circumstances in our lives that we wish were different, and this reality is one of the easiest places the enemy entangles us. You may be in an unstable marriage, parenting a prodigal child, facing addiction, disease or significant loss. Whatever the challenge you have been given may be, it may not have come from God’s hands, but it did go through His hands.  It is hard to live amidst our struggles and remain joyful when we traverse difficult paths. The great danger is that as we walk our routes, it is tempting to compare our journey to another’s. Comparison tricks us into thinking others have it easier or have been given favor. Comparison is a liar, and we believe her far too quickly. Observing others casts darkness into our lives, and it is easy to begin fantasizing about a more comfortable life.  We must recognize fantasy for what it is; a fraud who draws you into his web with unrealistic thoughts of “better things.” In the life of a believer, there ought to be nothing better than walking well in obedience the road our Master has assigned us. Perseverance is not possible if we are self-focused. It is impossible if we are contrasting our journey with someone else’s. It is when we fix our eyes on Jesus, insulate our hearts with His Word, and our desire to please our Savior overshadows that of pleasing our self, that we endure and our weeping is joined by worship, purpose enters our pain and joy joins our journey. Consider 1 Corinthians 7:17~And don’t be wishing you were someplace else or with someone else. Where you are right now is God’s place for you. Live and obey and love and believe right there. God, not your marital status, defines your life. Don’t think I’m being harder on you than on the others. I give this same counsel in all the churches. (The Message). I pray today, friend, that you and I believe in the plan of our good and faithful Provider as hard as it may be. He is in the midst of every heartache. Fight to be still and know that He is God, and He is good. When we live as though He is sovereign over us, His strength and peace will equip us as we travel. You are loved!

…And The Light Cannot Be Extinguisged

- dannalundstrom

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More and more the theme of my days seems to be an abundance of friends who are enduring hard times. Seasons that squeeze the wind out of the sails of souls, and disrupt the dance of beating hearts.  Last night I lit a fire, and as I sat praying and gazing at the fire I was drawn to the light.  It was as if I was being nudged to come closer and look with further scrutiny.  I went and sat on the hearth and was drawn into the sight of the fire.  I was so captivated by the bright light that I failed to notice until I got close, that surrounding the beautiful, brilliant flames was a lot of smoke.  The smoke, however, did not dim, disturb or diminish the multiple, flickering flames.  It occured to me that life is a lot like that fire.  Even though we do our best to build things just right and keep our light burning bright, there will always be smoke around.  It actually appears that the brighter we burn for Christ the heavier the smoke.  One fact for certain, if the fire is burning bright, the smoke cannot disturb its brilliance or perseverance without our permission that in times of chaos has to be guarded everyday.  Right to keep your lights burning, friends. You are loved!

The Trail of Life

- dannalundstrom

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Yesterday our family set out on what was supposed to be a short hike.  It turned into four-miles.  I realize for a lot of you that is short.  Not for me, especially in muddy, rocky, uphill terrain, with altitude as a contributing barrier.

As I was struggling through a large uphill span of our hike, I was noticing all the ways nature mimics life.  The trials of that riddled trail were a parable of life.  There are times in life when we are sucking air just to survive, and there are times we are enjoying the view.

Struggles are often long and appear as if they will never end.  Giving up or giving in becomes an attractive option.  Fears are frequent and real.  The bends and turns are prone to placing us in barren places rather than beautiful spaces.  We have this great hope, though, that a great joy awaits, so we pick ourselves up and continue walking.

When we experience those moments where we catch our breath and enjoy the beauty around us, we appreciate them more because we know the effort and intention it took to get there.  The experience gives us a fresh supply of endurance for our trek knowing those encounters are just preludes to something greater.

The walk goes on.  We cycle through stages on a spectrum somewhere between worn and wonderful.  It is within the worn corners we grow in determination and perseverance.  In the wonderful places, we cultivate grateful hearts, and our eyes begin to see the fountains of grace poured into our pilgrimage.

Life is a necessary combination of both, the broken and beautiful so that we remain steadfast with our eye on the ultimate reward ahead-Home.

Yesterday for me, the grand reward was the sight of our car.  As we walk the path of our eternal home, though, knowing for certain the joy that awaits us is sustenance for the trails of our hike.

Keep walking friends.  If you believe the Bible to be true, there is unimaginable and everlasting gratification at the end of your journey.

Hebrews 12:1~Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.  And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

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The Sweetest Fruit

- dannalundstrom

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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 very afraid 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 fast and heavy, 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.

An Unbelieving Believer

- dannalundstrom 1 Comment

Life is about enjoying, but as Christians, more than we are comfortable admitting, it is often more about enduring…enduring the diagnosis, enduring the loss of a job, broken relationships, the addiction, the absence of a prodigal child or spouse who likely may never return home. Life is about enduring the daily news, which everyday seems to stir anxiety and summon fear. It’s about enduring the loss of a parent, a sibling and even a child.  The unthinkable, the horrific, the unfair, none of these are strangers to this life we inhabit, and all of them are cloaked around someone who often does not deserve such pain.

Jesus did not deserve such pain. 

Pain is not partial in this life, but perseverance is.  Perseverance is reserved only for those who are fueled by a joy that cannot be bought or manufactured, but given by a relationship with a God who is the only one that can sustain us through extinguishable trials.

This life is full of moments that bring us joy, but equally those that challenge the depth of our faith in a God whose perceived silence feels deafening in the darkest of circumstances.  It is those circumstances, the dark ones, the ones that threaten our identity as a believer, and reveal the fundamental theology that we are living off of.  Sometimes this revelation is not what we would expect, especially to “believers.”

“You are an unbelieving believer.”

These painful, piercing words were spoken to define  me three years ago, by someone who had my best interest at heart.  Like a ball of fire that wold burn my soul, they seared me to my core.  It made me mad, it made me cry, and for a short time, I did not like her. I did not like her until I realized she was absolutely right!

I was going through a hard time.  I was stumbling, struggling and sometimes stalling life down a very unstable road.  Worry, anxiety and fear were my friends.   They were the trinity that were ruling my life. I was an unbelieving believer, because I was not living off of the truths of the gospel.  I was living off of the fears of an opportunistic, fallen world that can easily overtake those who are not deeply anchored to the rock of life-Jesus.

If we believe God is sovereign, if we believe He works all things for the good, if we believe He will not abandon us…how is there room for excessive worry, anxiety and fear in our lives?  There was in mine three years ago, because saying you believe and even thinking you believe are not the same as living as you believe.

Belief is a very active, ongoing, moment to moment renewal to fight to live that which we say we know. It is not enough to know, we have to fight to really know.  It is not enough to hear, we have to fully engage to really hear.  It is not even enough to see, we have to seek to really see for ourselves, otherwise, how can we really believe?

It is not that we should strive to go through this life worry free, anxiety free and fear free.  That is not possible, I know!  The goal is to live this life reflecting the goodness, faithfulness and character of a God who is carrying us well through all those difficult times.

We are allowed to be afraid, Jesus was afraid to the point of what was described in Luke as sweating blood.  We are allowed to have worry and anxiety, but none of these things will have us if God completely has our hearts, our minds and our beliefs surrendered and anchored to  His promises.

A life of surrender looks a lot different, and it feels a lot different.  It feels light and free and it looks not always smooth, but definitely safe.

May we all fight the good fight of belief, even when it makes no sense.  May we fight to believe when we don’t want to, and worry and fear seem like a more appealing choice.  May we fight hardest when God seems quietest. May we all remember that although HE sometimes is seemingly silent, HE is never still. You never endure alone. Spend a little time with Jesus today and allow him to engage you in your endurance.  He will give you rest.