Tag: wounds

When You Are Ready, Run Friend

- dannalundstrom

c906e19c5f3fa56976c39a937f60729dTime heals all wounds; so it has been said, but whoever coined this was possibly confused by the challenge of wounds of the heart and soul. I am certain this is not true, but will submit that maybe it lessens their sting.

Healing is not just a passage of time but a process of purposed pain.

We cannot wait out deep wounds; rather we have to press into them when we are ready for renewal to begin. The mending of mangled hearts is hard work. It takes courage and the perseverance of a marathon, not a sprint. There are no short cuts. It is facing the fire and walking straight through.

As children of King Jesus, we can do this, though. We can enter the furnace with the confident assurance and walk into the affliction that has seared our souls. We are going to get burned up a little, but not consumed because we have a Father who is walking beside us and buffering our burns. Isaiah 43:2 ~When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.

I often got splinters as a child. I dreaded them with a heart-pounding fear because I knew those intruders would have to be removed to stop my pain. My parents would burn the end of a needle to sterilize it before dislodging the splinter. The process of removing the splinter was painful and often involved digging, twisting and pushing of the needle into tender parts of my flesh, but my parents had carefully prepared the process, not because it would prevent present pain but because it would preclude future infection.

The healing of our hearts is like this process. Jesus is removing our splinters to prepare us for His purpose. He carefully prepares the way, and it burns. He knows it is presently going to hurt, but more importantly He knows it is eternally going to heal.

No one can tell you how to mend the heaviness of your heart, nor can anyone give you a timetable. There is no instruction manual or twelve step program for personal pain. No one should tell you to disown your feelings through the process. It is important to remember, however, that feelings ARE indicators, but they are NOT inditers. The enemy will use them that way; to discourage, distract and derail your progress. When he begins charging you with weakness, insufficiency, or whatever his poison is, remember the importance of removing and replacing. It is not enough to eliminate incorrect thoughts; we also have to replace them with infallible truths from God’s word.

God bless you on your journey to heal, friend. It will be a bumpy road, but not bare of hope and hidden treasures that will encourage your heart. Isaiah 45:3 ~And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness–secret riches. I will do this so you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.

When you are ready friend, run to your pain, not away. It is when we face our giants that we win the war. You are loved!

The Sweetest Fruit is Found In The Scariest Places

- dannalundstrom 2 Comments

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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 frightened 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 rapidly, 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.

 

Scandalous Vulnerability

- dannalundstrom

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It is out of our bleeding that we are equipped to become blessings. God’s word says that it is in our suffering that we become qualified to be comforters of those who follow the beaten paths we have traveled~2 Corinthians 1:4.  No one precisely understands like someone who has worn our shoes. No one relates as one who has followed our journey. We acquire so much healing power along the broken roads we travel.

Trails of brokenness where expectations are shattered, wholeness is lost, and life intersects the realities of a fallen world are the very places we are made into the image of Christ. They are the moments HE becomes real to us. They are the hollow spaces that Jesus becomes a necessity and not a duty, a Savior and not a story book character.

Why do we try to conceal our wounds?  In our shame, we dress them up and disguise them, only holding our souls hostage.  In reality, they are beautiful stories that are filled with so many opportunities to help others, and in turn, heal us.  Our trials are signs that something threatened us, but we overcame.  They are painful, but in all their pain lies a power that only we possess to set free.  A power to heal and share that healing with a friend.  As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.~ Proverbs 27:17.

May we all use our wounds to bless not depress; encourage not discourage; connect not conceal; heal and not hide.  We all share a common brokenness in this life.  We can let that brokenness be ruled and concealed by toxic shame, or we can choose a different course. Many things can be taken from us in this life, but the power to choose our thoughts belongs to us alone, it just takes intentional discipline and sometimes an outright fight between the enemy that pursues us, and the Spirit that dwells within us.

The choice to choose to use our wounds to heal, free and connect takes courage and a great act of faith, not to mention vulnerability.  Scandalous vulnerability is a beautiful thing!  It says I am HIS, He has paid my debt, and I am free to be broken because Jesus made me whole.  It is in this place of sharing and connecting that we discover we are all more alike than different.  We find that we are not an anomaly, we are normal.  I pray for the grace to choose faith over fear and scandalous vulnerability over safety.  I am not saying it will be easy; it won’t but it will be eternal.  What is right is often painful, and what is painless is often not right.

Once I savored the freedom of Christ imparted righteousness, and consequential vulnerability, it was the setting free of a hidden soul.  The freedom is yours too friends.  You just have to choose it.

You make me brave
You make me brave
You call me out beyond the shore into the waves
You make me brave
You make me brave
No fear can hinder now the promises you made
You make me brave ~Amanda Cook

 

A Beautiful Story

- dannalundstrom 2 Comments

Her successes humbled her; she softly accepted them with gratitude.  Her wounds filled her heart with compassion, and she knew though painful, they would mature into wisdom that she would rely on to comfort others.  Both together wrote her story; the story she drew from to minister to others with gentleness and grace.  You, my dear, are a beautiful story with pages full of pleasure and pain that have formed your unique and eternal purpose.

Broken Places are Where The Light Shines Through

- dannalundstrom 5 Comments

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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.

Sin Does Not Justify Sin

- dannalundstrom

 

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One of the hardest lessons The Lord very intentionally worked on with me as I grew was that someone else’s sin was not justification for mine.  Have I mastered this; no, but I am very aware of it.

Life is messy.  We all get hurt. People wound us and sometimes shatter our lives as we knew them.  It is very normal to feel outrage towards our offenders.  Our temper, however, must be disciplined not destructive.

When someone hurts you, or someone you love; don’t let their sin justify yours.  Bridling our emotions does not mean we forget, and all is fine; it means we are free.

It is not our responsibility to punish or judge others.  Galatians 6:7 says ~Don’t be misled–you cannot mock the justice of God.  You will always harvest what you plant.  We are only responsible for our actions and reactions, not those of others.  Self-control is hard, but it is holy.  As far as I know God is still God and he is not taking applications for His successor.