Tag: grace

You Were God’s Idea

- dannalundstrom

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Are you feeling condemned?  Maybe your awareness of you inadequacies has you keeping company with shame, anxiety, and depression.  Some days you are on the mountaintop and the next in the valley.  That is what our expectations do to us, friends.

Expectations are the executioners of embattled hearts.

They will always spotlight our shortcomings.  I have been a prisoner of that camp far too many times.  My heart is prone to forget what my head knows.  Romans 8:1 ~, therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.  

I am at a place that I know it is my brokenness, not my goodness that is my badge of honor and that has made all the difference.

However, do I forget this at times?  Yes!  Do I have to remember this and reapply it when The Lord is excavating yet another lump of coal out of my heart?  Absolutely!  C.S. Lewis captured a brilliant truth when he said, “people need reminding a lot more than they need instructing.”  I am forgetful, especially when it comes to myself.  

Grace isn’t just for the shiny people who occasionally make mistakes because the truth is, inside there are no shiny people.  Grace is for me, and it is for you; the sinful and struggling but always seeking.  

God recently reminded me that my self-condemnation is an insult to Him.  It is equal to me saying to Him; You got it wrong.  You made a mistake.  Let us not be deceived; The Lord makes no mistakes, and He works with imperfect, not impeccable people.  May your heart find a glimpse of freedom here this Friday, friend.  You were God’s idea; He makes no errors, and He says you are enough!

 

 

Not Your Faults but His Forgivness

- dannalundstrom


Psst! You do not have to be perfect today, tomorrow or ever. It isn’t even possible. The more you recognize your shortcomings, the more you are growing in the grace of your Savior. Your freedom has nothing to do with your faults, but everything to do with His forgiveness!! May you find rest in that today, friends.

You Are Enough

- dannalundstrom

Most days I do not have adequate time or energy to get it all done. The enemy tells me I am not enough. Living within the realm of infallible grace assures me that even on my worst days; I am always enough. You are, too, friend! Ephesians 2:8-9~ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

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.

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.

Heart Reformations

- dannalundstrom

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My success rate with New Year resolutions is 0%; therefore, I am not a fan!   I have been “planning” consistent commitment to exercise for more than half my life.   That goal was just a picture absent of prayer that bred exhausted expectations void of any rewarding realizations.   Healthy resolutions will not prosper without heart reformations.   I do not need a new year to be a new me, and neither do you.   We can be made new any day, any month and any year when it is not about us who corrects our habits, but He who changes our heart.   Progress only thrives in the shadows of prayer, and growth is granted under the wings of grace.   Without turning over control from self to Savior resolutions become rejections and dates breed despair.   Results come from my Provider, not my power and by His appointments not my agenda.   1 John 4:4…for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

Let It Be You, Jesus

- dannalundstrom

 

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Jesus let it be your heart not headlines that capture us.  Some days discouragement seems the easier option.  Remind us you are in the business of deliverance despite destruction.  Your mercy and grace reach the biggest of mess ups, the deepest of deceptions and the grandest of griefs.  I ask you to encourage us in our brokenness today, Father.  Amen.

The Power of Thorns

- dannalundstrom 1 Comment

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What “thorns” are you living with today?   We all have at least one.   The thing we pray and pray that God will take away.   Sometimes He does, and sometimes He does not.   Maybe it is a chronic illness, a prodigal child, a broken relationship, a deep loss, addiction, or simply life did not turn out as we planned on many fronts.   Even the Apostle Paul lived with a “thorn” in his side.   He prayed to The Lord for the thorn to be removed, but He did not.

Paul demonstrates for us in 2 Corinthians 12 that it is possible to live with a “thorn” in our sides and still reflect the character of a loving God.   Whatever “thorn” you are living with today, maybe there are many, there is power in your “thorn.”   They afford us access to greater amounts of grace.   “Thorns” are the seeds that grow virtue, build character, perseverance, humility, empathy and so much more.  

We may never understand why God removes some “thorns” from our lives and not others.   Psalm 131:1 says, I do not concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp.   Asking why is futile. Resting in what is for now, is faith.

Father, I confess the “thorns” in my side sometimes steer me down a path of unbelief and away from you. Enable me to remember and practice their power that leads me down a path towards You.   Help us all remember today that the condition of our heart is always more important than the conditions of our life. Amen.