Tag: hope

The Life Is Not the Last Chapter

- dannalundstrom

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I am as inadequate to the world as the world is to me, and when we learn that is as it was designed to be, that is GRACE.

Thankfully this life is not the last chapter.  As it is now is not how it will end.  For those who have resigned to their insufficiency and submitted to belief in a sufficient God the story ends differently.  Our temporary life concludes with an abolishment of pain, suffering, evil, fighting and discontent.  These things, the broken things, are all around us and seemingly more prolific every day.

Life isn’t fair, and on the surface of many circumstances God seems an unjust God.  That is the treasure of the Bible, however. God’s word warns us of it all, injustices of every kind.  Just as we have been apprised of the tragedies of this life so have we been promised a great trust in the next.  

The last chapter is ironically the beginning.  The beginning of a life free from a world imbued with pain and suffering.  We have this great hope, friends.  By grace for all those who have believed through faith and not of our own adequacy, (Ephesians 2:8), the crown is ours.  

The story has a beautiful ending free of tears and tragedies.  The story ends with a new beginning.  A beginning that has no ending and cast amidst perfect peace and triumphant joy.  Our hope is not here in this frail and fleeting place.  For that, we may all rejoice!

Embracing Change

- dannalundstrom

When our familiar becomes foreign, normal becomes new and usual becomes unknown; it feels as if a piece of our life is gone forever, and it is. Lost. It will never be as it was again. It is the dying of a part of us that is so deeply rooted and known that it is painful to imagine how life will look moving forward. It is a challenge to gently and fondly hold, and remember what was so that we may courageously embrace what is.

Overcoming the sting of circumstances we do not wish, nor would we choose does not mean we are happy. It does not mean we are complete, unbroken or perfect. It means we are at peace.

God tends to script our lives in such a way that eventually brings peace to our pain.

Peace does not evolve by chance. One must be available to the works of the Spirit to reap Its fruit. Looking when we do not see, believing when we do not understand, listening when we do not hear, and fighting for it all when we are weary. In the midst of staying faithful, little fountains of gratitude are born in the middle of all our grief. The light of gratitude ultimately overcomes the darkness of grief.

One secret to mastering this mystery is found in the book of Isaiah.

Isaiah 26:3~You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You.

Embracing every big and little re-direction is part of life. Some are happy, and some are sad. One glorious day, though, everything we knew, and everything we lost will be familiar again. Nothing eternal is lost forever. If you are facing a new normal, God is extending His hand. Don’t lose hope friends!

For all my family, I love you all so much!

Resurrection Living

- dannalundstrom

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After the crucifixion came the resurrection. After the resurrection, the birth of new hope, life and hearts. It marked the abolishment of fear, worry and death. The resurrection was a provision of grace that made it possible for the sin of all those who believe and repent to be wiped away; setting free any condemnation.

I was just asking myself this morning, do I live more from a place of crucifixion or resurrection? Often fear is a frequent but unwelcome guest. Sin is my shameful shadow and circumstances can hollow my heart of hope. This life can easily lead me down a path of crucifixion living.

Heavenly Father, may I never forget the crucifixion, but enable me to live the promises of the resurrection, not just during the Easter season, but through all seasons. Amen.

Good Company

- dannalundstrom

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If you are suffering today, remember the lives of Jesus, Naomi, Job… If you have been waiting a long time for something, remember Abraham, Sarah, Moses…You are never alone in your pause or your pain. We can not always choose our position, but absolutely our perspective! Be of good courage friends, and never loose hope.

Weary Hearts

- dannalundstrom

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For weary souls and feeble hearts, remember this today:

It isn’t in the midst of great times and a carefree life that God comes after hearts. Nor is it within the paramaters of easy that souls become dehydrated enough to thirst after Him, and the living water that only Jesus can offer.

No matter how much you are hurting, or whatever circumstances you are enduring, God is working much more in and through your pain and frustration than He ever could your happiness.

Fight to believe that, and speak that truth to yourself repeatedly until it gives you rest!

Hope in the Fire

- dannalundstrom

 

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And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.~Exodus 3:2
This is a beautiful illustration of the hope we all have in this life. When situations are searing our hearts, they do not have to saturate our souls. When circumstances are tough and trials are heavy; we may feel shaken, but we do not have to be shattered. Because the bush was burning, but not consumed, we can face the fires of our days with inextinguishable confidence and experience the beauty and affliction of the fire without forever being burned. ‪#‎preachingtoself‬

Turn Your Wait Into A Welcome

- dannalundstrom

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If you are waiting for something today; a job, test results, a cure, relief from circumstances… There is an abiding gift available to all those who are anxiously scanning the horizon with expectation. Turn your waiting into a welcome to saturate deeper into the affection of a Savior, who longs to give rest to the weary. He is not ashamed by your frustrated impatience. It is the very thing that draws Him to you. Don’t wait alone. I wait for the LORD; my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. ~Psalm 130:5

Fragmented Edges, Hopeful Hearts

- dannalundstrom

Carter had his first of three appointments with the vision doctor yesterday. We were there two hours; it felt like five. It was a long afternoon, and very taxing for him physically, and ultimately emotionally.

I think it is difficult in any situation to not form expectations in our heads. This holds true in happy scenarios and difficult ones. Our pictures, which are very often our own worst enemies, can be thieves of peace when they develop differently than how they looked from behind the lens of our vision.

I went into yesterday’s appointment knowing there were visual issues; I just didn’t realize the extent and multitude of them. It honestly felt like the air had been sucked out of my sails, as I was not prepared.

I know many of you moms know this and live this every day, when you hear a doctor tell your child something like, “I know you don’t much joy in your life right now, and it may be that way for a while,” that is heart breaking! Even harder, I am forty-two. I can reason and find gratitude amidst the grief. For a fifteen year old boy, that is an arduous task, further clouded by the effects of a head injury.

Sometime after we got home from Oregon, I found a white, small bag in my laundry room. I didn’t know what it was or where it came from. We had very little luggage, and I never saw it in Carter’s hospital room or in any of our bags. I have no idea how it got in my laundry room. When I opened it up, it smelled awful, and I immediately knew it was something that had been wet, and in that bag for a long time. Upon pulling it out, I felt my heart rise to the top of my throat, and sink with a hard painful plunge into the depths of my stomach.

It was the swimsuit Carter was wearing when his accident happened. It was shredded and frayed because it had been cut off his body. I cannot adequately describe the intense infusion of opposite emotions at that moment as I sunk to the cold, hard ground. It was like being pulled between intimidating agony and intense appreciation. I cried and then I rejoiced right there on the uninviting but accommodating laundry room floor.

My first thought was to throw that swimsuit away, but for a reason I then did not understand, I could not do it. I washed it, folded it and put it on my laundry room shelf. It is in a spot that I see it every time I go in that room, which is frequent. Now and then I pick it up and hold it close to me. Each time I do this, the frayed, rough edges that are image bearers of the sharp edges that grazed them catch my eye. I keep being drawn to their messy appearance that is a remnant of the trauma that ensued.

It occurred to me one day that those edges keep beckoning my attention because they represent something important. That battered swimsuit is a great representation of both tragedy and triumph. It makes me think of what Jesus’ robe must have looked like at the end of his journey which would also illustrate great despair, but not void of eternal hope.

Life is kind of like Carter’s fragmented swimsuit. Sometimes things cut us up, unravel our plans and leave us feeling weary and worn, but when we live in the shadows of a Savior, we are never without hope, and we are ensured an ultimate victory. That is great news that we continue to rest in daily!

We continue to covet your prayers for healing friends. I am grateful and encouraged by all of you. Thank you from the deepest places of my heart.

 

Dying to Self

- dannalundstrom

Living the Christian life is a constant, daily renewal of ourselves in so many ways.  One of those ways is dying to the desires of our flesh, so that we may seek and walk the path that Jesus has laid for us.  Sometimes this is hard, very hard.  The desires within us are not a bad thing, but it is us within the desires that is the problem.  When we hold on too tightly to a desire, it can easily preoccupy our mind in a way that gives more time and energy to the desire, and less focus to God.

This is something I have to remain aware of every morning when I wake up.  I have a lot of desires.  Most of them good, healthy desires, but certainly all of them could control me if I didn’t daily submit them to Jesus upon waking.  I have started a new habit ever morning.  Either before getting out of bed, or just upon waking, I thank Jesus for giving me another day, and then I ask him this:  Jesus please get me aligned and focused with you vertically before I begin interacting horizontally with the world.  Please help me to filter my words, actions, and thoughts through a  lens that is reflective of you.  Amen.

One desire I struggle with is to live close to my family.  They all live 3 states away, and this is very hard for me.  Holidays are especially hard.  When I think of all the get-together’s, birthdays, dinners, weddings, and much more that I miss, it makes me sad.  I could really dwell on this and be consumed by my sadness and my will to be closer if I didn’t re-submit it to God every morning.  It is a daily “dying to self” and believing that this is where my Heavenly Father, the one who loves me beyond all others; the one who desires what is best for me more than anyone;  and the one who protects me in ways I cannot understand and no one else can, would have me be.

 

It is not an easy thing!  It is hard for me to understand why?  It is difficult to comprehend why something that feels so wrong can be right.  Belief is hard work!  Sometimes it is the most difficult work I do every day.  If we can bathe ourselves in Jesus’s promises, however, and allow ourselves to believe in HIM, it all becomes a little easier, at least it does for me.  He does not promise us we will understand, but HE does promise us that HE works all things for the good of those who love HIM.

Ecclesiastes 11:5~  As you do not know the path of the wind, or how a baby is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the maker of all things.

Romans 8:28~  And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.

These types of promise are the only things that keep me at peace in a world where desires of my flesh run wild.  Giving my selfish needs to my loving Savior daily is the only way.  It is not always the easy way, but nowhere in the Kingdom, only in the world, does it say the right way will be the easy way this side of Eden.

Whatever desires you are struggling with, and my guess is there are many because I cannot believe you are that different from me, submit them.  Submit them daily, and sometimes that even means hourly.  Ask Jesus to help you to be content where he has you, and fight to believe he has you there because it is where you belong in his story, not yours.  I ask him every day, Jesus please help me to be content no matter what my zip code reads.  It took me a long time to get to a place where I could give him that desire, still have it, but leave him in charge of it and my happiness, not me!  It took me a long time, the desire is still there, but my desire to trust and believe My Father, and walk in his way,  is stronger as long as I keep giving it to Him!