Tag: suffering

When The Pledges Become The Peace

- dannalundstrom

When we know the character of God and have experienced His faithfulness, it gives us the strength to continue standing in times of great fear and pain.

But sometimes the reality of brokenness penetrates the resolve of belief, and we feel the weight of our residency in a fallen world. 

It is in these times that the word of God is more crucial than ever.  It is only when we place our pain into the context of the promises that we can persevere.  Saints never rejoice for one another’s suffering but we can rejoice amidst it when the pledges of the Savior become the peace of His soldiers.

The Message of Our Thorns

- dannalundstrom

Friend, that “thorn” you are carrying, we all have them. For some of you, it may be an addiction, a prodigal child or a painful marriage. Maybe it is a chronic illness, loneliness, depression or rejection that is a constant reminder of your residency in a broken world. The Apostle Paul said 2 Corinthians 12 that his thorn was a messenger from Satan, that he begged The Lord to remove. God did not remove it, but He too purposed it as a remembrance of His sufficient grace. What are the messages of your thorns? Are you listening to Satan or your Savior? The enemy tells us our thorns deem us unlovable, unforgivable, inadequate, weak and hopeless. But God. He says “my grace is sufficient for you.” Although the “limps” we walk with in this life make us weak and wobble, in Him, we find strength and stability. Thorns might discredit us as unworthy and inadequate. However, Jesus credited us as worthy and adequate by His sacrifice on the cross wearing a crown of thorns. The reality is, both The Promiser and the persecutor speak to us through our trials. We have the freedom to choose who to listen to, and that choice will determine which one’s purpose will be realized in our life. Will we frame tribulation for our good and God’s ultimate glory or Satan’s gain and our unlimited gloom?

Remember and Rest,Friends 

- dannalundstrom

I started my first seminary class last night. I have to say I felt slightly displaced as one who thrives on application among the academics. It is no surprise that the things that stuck with me the most were the points that immediately spoke and applied to my heart. 

Our teacher told a story about a young boy who would always wear his underwear, otherwise know as under britches (lol), backward. His dad would always say, son, turn your under britches around. Time and again they would be on backward, so the dad finally asked the child, “why do you wear your under britches backward? The young boy replied, “Dad, I want to see the big picture.” The big picture was Spiderman and all his friends.  

I have been thinking about that, and how we have so much going on in our lives that we sometimes can get so bogged down in every detail that we miss the bigger picture.

The ultimate picture is this; there are so many things of this world that I see and do not understand. There is suffering, there are tragedies and illnesses that break my heart, and I am tempted to ask, why God? Why do you allow all this? I have been diligently practicing before I ever get to the why to remember the Who.

The bigger picture often alludes us, and we see the fallen, the evil, the travesties. Thankfully, though, we have a sovereign God who sees, knows and controls everything. It would strike us as insane that He would send His only son to die for someone else, but He did because He crafted the bigger plan far in advance. God promises His picture will prosper us (Jeremiah 29:11). He promises a bigger picture that will ultimately be for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28).

We must not get weighed down in all the little details of daily life, friends. If we pick apart ever issue we don’t agree with or understand, life will become very laborious quickly. I know it is tempting. We are passionate people who seek clarity, but we must not let our pursuits and passions overshadow our purpose. John 6:29 says, Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one He has sent.”

Will you believe in Him? Will you remember there is a bigger picture that requires faith to sustain us? It will take effort, and it will not be efficient, but effective, Yes! You will have to fight, but you will find freedom! You will forget and struggle to realize, but you will learn to surrender and rest.  

I am praying for you, as I ask for myself to resist the temptation to focus so much on the trees that I forget to there is a big, beautiful and mighty forest above and around all those trees.  
There is a loving God who has His hand on every minor and major detail of our lives. 

 Remember, friends. Remember and rest.

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!

Fixing Our Eyes On the Cross

- dannalundstrom 1 Comment


If we are not keeping our eyes on the cross, we are no better than a blind man driving home.
Three crosses stand high above our church, Shades Mountain Baptist Church. The cross in the middle stands the highest, and the two on each side beneath the shadow of the larger cross. The two lower crosses represent the crosses of the two thieves who were crucified with Jesus. The higher one, representing the cross of Jesus. These three crosses, the highest one, in particular, hold a special place in my heart.

In September 2005, my parents were in town visiting. The second day they were here, my mom and I dropped my children at pre-school and headed to Sam’s. We had just parked when she got a phone call. It was my dad. “He said something has happened, and I cannot see.”

Our Sam’s trip was averted, and we rushed back to my house to check on him. We would later end up in the emergency room to find out he had a stroke in his eye; this would be my dad’s second stroke. The first had affected one eye; the second stroke now leaving both eyes impaired.

As hours passed, and the story unfolded, we found out he was in the car driving down Columbiana Road when the stroke besieged him. Our church sits on Columbiana Road. Although my dad had very limited vision, He said he could see ONE thing. The high cross that stands guard at the top of Shades Mountain Baptist Church.

He went on to explain that he knew if he slowly proceeded toward the cross, he could find his way to my home because I lived just down the street. Miraculously he drove himself back to my house, the cross guiding him the whole way.

I was recently sharing this story with a friend who said to me, “I do not understand how he drove home blind.” It was at that moment that God spoke to my heart. The message was very straightforward,

“If we are not placing our eyes on the cross we are no better than a blind man driving home.”

Wow! I had chills, and I love how God used that conversation to embed His message into my heart.

We are all just driving home, friends. Where are we fixing our eyes? On the world, on our problems, on our pain, on our possessions, or on the cross?

Sometimes my vision gets distorted. There are many things the world has to offer to distract my eyes. My flesh wages war against my sight. The goal is not perfect vision, but progressive vision. We must always be advancing, focusing and refocusing towards that one thing that now or later will make all things clear and guide us without fail, even in darkness-The Cross.

I know your “drives” sometimes become treacherous. I know your vision often feels blurry. Mine too, but Keep returning your eyes to the cross. It is the only way to get you home.

Hebrews 12:1-2~ 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. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.  

You are loved, friend!

Just Come

- dannalundstrom 1 Comment

 0069d8ecc4767fe53a48202601a0dd48

The Lord allows nothing to be wasted in His economy, especially suffering.  What if everyone’s mission was to use every ounce of pain that has ever touched their life to bring hope to the life of someone walking a similar road.  From our grief, The Lord gives us gifts to be shared to help others.  It is the most beautiful thing when our greatest hurts intersect another person’s greatest needs.  Someone once said, we are all just walking each other Home.  What a wonderful gift, and the greatest pleasure of life, to walk alongside a fellow traveler and say, I know.  I am here.  I see you, but more importantly, Jesus sees you, and He loves you just as you are at this very moment.  There is no need to clean up, change clothes or comb your hair.  He welcomes you as you are.  Just come.

From Our Struggles We Find Our Strength

- dannalundstrom

It was June, the summer of 2005.  We were preparing to move from Hoover, Alabama to Vestavia Hills, Alabama.  Carter, my son,  was six and Macey, my daughter,  four.  This particular week, the kids and I were participating in Vacation Bible School.  I made a deal with them that if they learned our new address and phone number by the end of the week, on Friday after VBS we would get ice cream.  Every morning on the way to church and every afternoon on the way home we practiced in the car over and over again.

Friday morning came and along our drive I asked Macey, “what is our new phone number going to be?”  She answered with ease and efficiency.  Then I asked Carter, “what is our new address going to be?”  He too answered correctly and promptly.  A silence fell over the car until a little voice piped up from the backseat.  In the most curious of tones, Carter asked, “Hey mom, I was just wondering, what our new last name is going to be?”  After I caught my breath from laughing so hard, I explained that there are some things we are born into, and they never change because they were given to us.  I am not sure my answer made sense to him, but it seemed to satisfy his curiosity at the moment.

We have had to ponder a similar question a lot together over the past two years.  His life was changed forever two years ago today, July 28, 2014 due to a traumatic brain injury.  All of our lives were changed.  Despite all the redirections, again I can tell Carter, some things will never change because they were given to us.  The One we did not earn that was given to us for free will never change.  Although our physical locations may change, and we change, our identity as a child of God will never change.

The moment we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are adopted into the family of God.  Our identity, as his beloved son, or beloved daughter can not be altered by circumstances.  He delights in us on our best days, and just as much on our worst days.  No amount of good works or model behavior can earn us His love.  They were imparted to us when we chose to believe.

Ephesians 2:8-10 ~God saved you by his grace when you believed.  And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.  For we are God’s masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

What a gift we have in Jesus.  I cannot even fully comprehend the depth of His sacrifice. He has been a faithful friend to us through the hardest of times.

It is not because we have Him that our lives are easy. It is because we have Him that our lives are changed for the better.  He brings purpose to our pain and consistency to circumstances that continually change.

Last night I was replaying the last two years in my head.  I never knew looking back on my past tears would bring so much abundance to my present years. Situations that seemed like the hardest of times were in many ways the sweetest of times in retrospect.

Suffering is the soil most fertile for growth and change is often God’s conduit for the cultivation of hearts. We can joyfully and fully embrace our struggles because we later find we have walked out of them having found our greatest strengths.  

We are all still works in progress in our family.  It is a cradle to the grave process, but we can rest in the assurance that it is as it should be.  Thank you Jesus for loving us in all our brokenness.  Remind us everyday to rest in what was given to us and will never change-You.  We love You Lord Jesus.

Walking The Trials of the Trails Home

- dannalundstrom 1 Comment

last_day

My heart is so heavy and my chest so tight tonight.  I do not know that the fires of our furnaces ever die.  I think they always simmer discretely somewhere deep within, only to be reignited by sharing in the pain of others.

I am grateful to have known suffering and, in turn, God’s mercy and love as He walks through it with us.  It is a beautiful thing to see God’s people rally around the hurting.  Prayer is a beautiful thing.  Tears are a beautiful thing because they shed the weight of our hearts so they will not implode just when it feels as if they may.  But God’s word, it is the most beautiful gift.  

When we believe the One who holds us in His hands was at the beginning and already knows the ending; it is a comfort that we cannot gain from any other source.  Having a Savior who lived a life of suffering so that He could identify with us in ours is a the balm for our bleeding hearts.  

No one can console others like travelers who have walked similar dirt roads.  Isn’t it a blessing that Jesus walked them all, and there is no path we travel that He does not understand.  

As my heart and mind keep churning, I opened my journal a minute ago to see immediately Psalm 46:10 ~ Be still and know that I am God, and that was it.  That was enough for today.  It was enough yesterday, and it will be enough forever.  

Keep praying with faith friends so that the hurting may be held up. God will bring great glory to His name through His work and His people.  All of you praying are part of God’s story.  Don’t you feel special?  What a privilege to go to the Lord on behalf of our brothers and sisters.  It is a beautiful thing, and you are all shining lights that contribute to this broken but beautiful life!  

May we all continue to walk with each other well on this journey home.  Home–that is where we are all traveling, because we are not there yet.

Broken Places are Where The Light Shines Through

- dannalundstrom 5 Comments

359519a96fcbb0dc74d1186c3f6fe9c1

The truth is in one way or another, everyone is defined by their wounds, but not everyone is dictated by them.   The importance is, do they refine you or undermine you?  Pain can be poised for abundant goodness, by the avenue we choose to unpack, process and purpose it.   No dirt road was ever singularly traveled.   Don’t be shackled by your story.  Define the fruit of its fire and set it free to sacredly chisel you, and sweetly comfort a friend.   It is from that which we cannot control or wrestle in our sturdiness that we find the true Source of our strength.   2 Corinthians 1:4~ He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others.  When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.   2 Corinthians 12:9~ Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.”   Be encouraged friends.   Broken places are where the light shines through.