Tag: plans

Welcome, Lord

- dannalundstrom

Weary, friend, I know the road you are traveling feels lonely, exhausting and at times unbearable. Sometimes you are so ready for peace, and it feels like God is not answering your plea for help.

This week The Lord has been reminding me that often I am more disillusioned by the failure of my arrangements than the fruition of His answers. He is answering, but probably not within the parameters of the controlled, tidy box where I frame MY plans. His purpose is much higher than we can imagine, and God’s seemingly silent ambivalence does not mean absence, but very often action.

It is within the realm of our trials that the resurrection is awakening.

Remember, not to put your outcome in a box; God does not fit there. Keep looking up. Take the next right step and remain faithful.  As pilgrims, we must not get so busy wishing ourselves out of situations that we forget to welcome God into them.

I love this quote and hope it encourages you:

“The secret is Christ in me, not me in a different set of circumstances.”
Elisabeth Elliot, Keep a Quiet Heart

You are loved!♥️

Contentment

- dannalundstrom

Growing in grace is finding joy at the juncture of what is and what we desire to be. Contentment builds her home there.

Friend, what person, plan or situation do you need to surrender to God’s sovereignty today? We are all Picassos, painting pictures in our minds of the way it should be, our way, our dreams. When we cling to our perfectly polished plans, we leave no room for God’s purpose to define our lives.

Perhaps we spend so much time longing for our coveted desires that we cannot enjoy our current destinations.

Our desires are not wrong, but our demands are. May we lay down our brushes and clear our canvases so that we can hang our hope on faith rather than fiction.

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. (The Message)

You are loved!❤️

Open Hands, Designed Hearts

- dannalundstrom

fe3beed03d166e8c0267c2d1efcd2a07Good morning friend.  Never lose your hope but lighten your hold.  We were never meant to cling so tightly to our people, our ideas, our dreams, or our desires.  God has been teaching me this lesson over many years.  It has not been easy learning, and at times it is completely painful.  I will never master remembrance of this under the sun, but while excellence is not possible, evolution is.  Our desires are not wrong, but when they morph into demands, they become problematic.  Lay that which is monopolizing your thoughts, managing your mind and forestalling your freedom at the feet of Jesus.  He longs to give you rest, but until we get out of the way, He cannot work.  Psalm 37:4 says~ Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.  Do not misunderstand as I did for so long; those desires will be His desires chosen for us that he will knit into our hearts so sweetly and softly until we realize them as ours.  Father, may we all open our hands today, letting go of our “perfectly” painted portraits so we may walk guided by your ethereal authority, not our erroneous aspirations.

Rest Before You Run

- dannalundstrom

Sometimes I reach and run before I rest. Have you ever watched a relay team run? As one runner is getting close to the next member to pass off the baton, he starts running a little as he is reaching his hand to grab the baton to begin his leg of the race. If the runner is not careful to rest his hand a moment on the baton, he will miss it. Sometimes I am like a relay runner, I reach and begin running, but I do not rest my hand long enough to securely grab what is about to be handed to me. As I wait expectantly on The Lord to direct my steps, it is often tempting to begin running before He has given me the “baton.” I am prone to run ahead of Him, and when I do, my path is forged by my plan not His purpose. Why is rest so hard? As He controls our steps, so does He command our stops. I am much more comfortable with the steps, but am learning the value of a sovereign stop. When I am busy, I cannot hear clearly. My listening is distracted and directions, if I hear them, are not clear to me. I do nothing well that I have not first paused to fix my eyes and attention on first. If I do not rest my hand on what God is giving me long enough to confidently grab hold, I can not run my leg of the race and finish well. What are you running ahead of today? Where do you need to take a step back and rest quietly as you wait on the “baton?” God isn’t going to make us miss His race. The danger is that we will run ahead of Him and miss it ourselves. Remember today, friend, rest must always precede running.

A New Year an Old You?

- dannalundstrom 2 Comments

 

Indeed, it is the second day of 2016, and it seems as if everyone is talking about a new year, new you, new goals and even new happiness.  But you, you are lugging old crosses right across the old and into the “new” calendar.   There is illness still present that is old, not so new.   There are prodigal children and missing loved ones still pricking the old pain and seeming to prevent the new picture.   If only our hearts had zippers, so they didn’t have to be ripped out maybe the pain would be less, just maybe.

You cannot seem to shed the trials and a new year just feels like the continuation of past troubles.  Nothing new, nothing better, nothing changed, just the same struggles sabotaging your progress.

You look at others who seem to have it all, not a care in the world, and you feel discouraged.   Comparison is a free invitation for the thief to come in and send you further into distress.   Pain is not prejudiced but we forget that, feeling like only a few of the unlucky get chosen.

Friend, if you try and make one change in 2016, let it be your thinking.  Our thoughts are responsible for the stability of our souls.

We are only as healthy as how we think about our most challenging circumstance.

You may be lugging chronic challenges into a new year, but with significant obstacles come eternal opportunities to nurture a refined you.   It is not a date on a calendar that steers us in a fresh direction.  It is the desire of our hearts for a Savior that is the only one who can make all things new.  (Revelation 21:5)   Do not look at dates and set deadlines for out with the old and in with the new.   Our plans are perishable, but the will of the Lord stands forever.

There is nothing wrong with setting goals, but if it is our responsibility alone to obtain these objectives, we are creating a set up for disappointment.  

We must hold our ideas with free hands, not firm hearts.

We are only as strong as our understanding of our dependence on a Savior outside of ourselves, our doctors, our pastors, counselors, self-help books and the list goes on.   If we are placing our hope in where instead of Who we will remain in a vortex of despair.

You will prosper from your pain.   If not now, someday soon.   If we do not believe that, (Romans 8:28), life becomes void of hope.   Hope is a beautiful burden.  Why not focus on the beautiful?   Isaiah 40:31 ~ but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

You are loved friend.

Give Me Presence Not Plans, Lord

- dannalundstrom 2 Comments

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We are a world of Martha’s, Lord.  May I serve with and be surrounded by hearts like Mary.  Let me not be captive to responsibilities but concerned by relationships.  May I be present with people and not preoccupied with plans because if today never matures into tomorrow, it will not be productivity but presence that mattered.  Amen.

Jesus Holds Our Little Lambs

- dannalundstrom 3 Comments

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Yesterday was a difficult day for me as a mom. Some days our hardest job is remembering that God does not get it wrong-ever! In no circumstance is this a harder fight than circumstances involving our children. My son suffered a traumatic brain injury last July. His cognitive recovery has been a struggle. School is a struggle. Life is a struggle.

His neuropsychologist and case manager spoke with me about considering placing him on a life skills tract as opposed to a diploma/college track at school. He is in the ninth grade. The doctor said his cognitive scores place him within the category of a life skills track. These were very tough words to digest. I tried to put my best armor on and let the words bounce off of me, but the tears were tougher, and they won out.

The emotions are still raw from that tragic day. I think they always will be. A sight, a sound, a smell, a memory; they can all trigger a rush of emotion that no amount of effort can contain. My son is forever changed. I am forever changed. Our family is forever changed. This is not all ominous news. Change chiseled from crisis forges character, perseverance, deeper faith and so much more. The fruits born out of frustration are often some of the sweetest.

My son is not a victim, and I refuse to be either. Once we take on that role we put limitations on ourselves. We also maximize our sufficiency and minimize the soverignty of our Savior. I am sad that the circumstances are as they are. I hurt, I ache and at times I worry about the future. In all my fleshly responses, a voice keeps echoing in my head, BUT GOD. That is my life preserver friends! Test scores are indicators, but they are not dictators. Doctor’s opinions are assessments, but they are not absolutes. I much prefer the infallible provisions of My Provider to the fallible predictions of man.

I don’t know at this time what our decision about our sons’ school track will be. I am not ready to make that decision, nor am I ready to confine him to the limitations of a label. Labels we put on things are typically stickers. Over time, they are prone to fall off. I choose not to rely on labels, I prefer to rest in the hope of providential plans.

Yesterday I heard this quote from my friend, Julie Sparkman, of Restore Ministries. During the third session of her bible study series, Unhitching From the Crazy Train, she said, “Getting under the yoke with Jesus does not give you a different life; it gives you a different way of doing life.” Those words spoke so poignantly to my heart.

No matter what obstacles you or I are confronting today friends, our hope does not rest in the what of our struggle. It resides in the Who of our surrender. That is great news! This truth is a rest for our weary souls. Will you fight to reside here with me? Jesus holds our little lambs.

Divine Interruptions

- dannalundstrom 1 Comment

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This has been on my mind a lot this week. We go about our lives planning our days and our family’s days. We set our sights on goals, and achievements which is a good thing, but sometimes we get lost in the pursuit of those goals and we loose living, really living because our plans overshadow our purpose. The problem with this is that so many of these goals are not eternal, and in the blink of an eye they can be snatched from us with no warning and no apology.

Like a thief that has broken into our sacred space, we are left feeling stripped, lost and defeated. Interruptions to our plans steal our joy and our purpose when we are so strongly married to an outcome that we perceive as success. It’s hard to accept that something that feels so wrong could be right when these unwelcome interruptions come along, but it is a fact of life we must fight to embrace because we are not in control and our picture of success that is based on anything of this world is an illusion.

I pray to fight harder and believe stronger that these interruptions, are divine redirections even when it feels counterintuitive. I pray to not let myself be so warped up in an outcome that an interruption or providential re-positioning cannot move or shake me, but rather peak curiosity laced excitement about where my future surrendered to THE one who paves my paths, and my family’s paths will lead. Mostly, belief is a hard fight. I pray to keep my fighting gloves always laced up and ready to fight for what I know to be true by faith, and not necessarily what appears to be true by sight.

My Plans, His Providences

- dannalundstrom

Isaiah 30:21

Whether you turn to the right or the left, you ears will hear a voice behind you, saying; “This is the way, walk in it.”

path

 

Yesterday was a rough day, today will be a good day. I was painfully reminded of this verse yesterday: Proverbs 16:9~ In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. As a mom we pray, research, investigate…what is best for our kids, and then we plan for them accordingly. I forgot in my planning, and subsequently “sealing of the deal” in my mind, nothing is ever permanent or guaranteed, (even when you have it in writing), except the will of God. When we hold our plans too tightly in our hands, it can really shake us when those paths are providentially re-directed. A potter works his masterpiece with skilled hands, applying just the right amount of pressure at the right time. If squeezed too hard, the clay begins to twist, or in potters language, torque.The key is knowing just the right amount of pressure to apply and when. If the potter grasps the piece too firmly with both hands and holds on tightly during the perfecting, molding process, it will not turn out as he planned. Life is a lot like that, too. We must hold all our plans loosely in our hands so that God can change, refine and perfect them with his accurate hands, not ours. I forget so easily when I forget I’m not in control.