Kristina Lunde, Author at Kristina Lunde

March 28, 2023 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Rebekah’s Advice: Avoid Favoritism

Dear Modern Mama,
Long ago, before any children or favoritism, I moved from far away to marry my husband Isaac. My father-in-law Abraham sent his servant back to their country of origin and that’s where he found me. All I did was offer a drink of water to a weary traveler and his camels, but that hospitality answered a specific prayer of Abraham’s servant. (Check out Genesis 24 for details of God’s miracle.)

Although Isaac and I loved each other, I did not get pregnant after almost twenty years of marriage. They called me barren, but Isaac prayed for me to conceive and God answered Isaac’s prayer. God answered with a two-for-one miracle, but the pregnancy felt awful. Like a war between twins in my belly! I wanted to die. Didn’t think I could take it much longer, so I asked the Lord about it.

When the Lord confirmed the conflict inside of me, He said it would extend throughout my twins’ lives. Two babies, two nations, two peoples. They would be divided, with one stronger than the other and the elder serving the younger. Isaac and I didn’t really understand the entire prophecy, but it made sense later as we raised our boys.

From birth on, the boys were opposites. Our oldest, Esau, had red hair on a hairy body. He loved the outdoors and developed good hunting skills. As a tough hunter, Esau became Isaac’s favorite. They loved to eat wild game and talk about hunting. My Jacob had a quieter nature and liked to stay home. I loved having him around the tent to keep me company; you could say I favored him.

Esau and Jacob fought a lot, mostly because they were so different. Once Esau came in hungry after a long day outside and demanded some of the stew Jacob had cooked over the fire. (Did I mention that my Jacob was a great cook?!) Jacob insisted that Esau sell his birthright in exchange for the stew. In desperation, Esau traded his privileges as the oldest son for Jacob’s bread and lentil stew. Not a fair trade, but no one could change the outcome of their decisions.

Other battles followed. My favoritism toward Jacob progressed to a desperate desire to get the birthright blessings for him. I sinned against God and my family as I lowered myself to lie, cheat, and even betray my husband. I am ashamed of the treachery that I encouraged in Jacob when my dear Isaac lay on his deathbed. (Genesis 27 tells the full story.) Our sins only worsened the family conflicts, sibling rivalry, and long-term consequences.

My advice to you, modern mama, is to avoid favoritism. Recognize your child’s unique nature as a gift from God. Our Creator God gives children different skills, character traits, and interests. Do not let that determine how much you love your child or what you will do for him. Take it from me, the consequences of favoritism and deceitful maneuvering to get advantages for your child will only cause heartache—for a long time! I learned that lesson the hard way.

Trust my advice: the best way to parent your children is to follow God’s way and love all of your children wholeheartedly.

Shalom, in your relationship with God and also in your parenting.
Rebekah

January 30, 2023 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Gomer’s Lessons: Love God and Love Your Husband

Dear Modern Mama,
Not sure why I got asked to give advice. My life lesson sounds simple: love God and love your husband. But I learned it in painful and difficult ways. Let me tell the story.

Elohim, the one and only God, asked Hosea to take a prostitute for a wife. Can you imagine? A prophet of God sent to pick a prostitute for a wife! Pick any woman. No divinely selected woman. No promised blessing on the woman or the marriage. The prophet Hosea faithfully followed God’s direction, purposefully choosing a wife with a bad reputation. Hosea’s difficult marriage became an object lesson, played out publicly to teach all of Israel.

I know, because I am that whore, chosen out of my life of sin and debauchery. For Israelites, sexual sin outside of God’s design of marriage carried a penalty of death by stoning. But in the idol-worshipping society of my day, Israel tolerated all kinds of sexual sin: temple prostitutes, prostitute daughters, adulterous daughters-in-law, and men who indulged in all of that. As a wayward and rebellious woman, I indulged in that sinful culture, too. I earned a good living by selling myself. My male customers paid me generously in bread, water, wool, flax, oil, drink—even silver and gold.

I did not know God when I met my husband Hosea. Back then, I didn’t want to meet God or some strange guy who thought he should be my husband. In my depraved lifestyle, I enjoyed earning money by fulfilling men’s sin-addicted thoughts. You can imagine how uncomfortable Hosea felt coming to where I worked. He looked so out of place, until he saw me and chose me. The idea of marriage came from Hosea, not me. At the time, I didn’t want to get married or have children. Somehow, I agreed to Hosea’s plan.

We had kids right away. Hosea insisted on naming our kids, with names he said God gave him. Fine with me, I didn’t care about the kids at first. I didn’t know how to parent children. I didn’t want to be a mother; kids just interrupted my work. Hosea named our first boy Jezreel, same as the valley city where King Jehu massacred the house of Ahab. With our daughter, Hosea said God wanted her name to be Lo-ruhamah, or “not loved.” Hosea called our next son Lo-ammi, which means “not my people.” I figured Hosea and God tried to shame me with that one, because, with my extramarital activities, how could I ever know who was the father?!

Even stranger, Hosea later renamed our younger kids. He took the “Lo” part off, calling them Ruhamah, or “loved,” and Ammi, “my people.” Later, I ran out on Hosea, so I didn’t understand these things until I went back to my family.

According to Hosea, God came up with the plan, the one thing Hosea did that I most love him for. After all my sinful betrayals, would you believe Hosea came to the slave block to buy me back? Not that anyone else cared to bid. But it got a lot of attention—everyone in town knew about our sham marriage and how I lived. I deserved nothing, but my dear Hosea bought me back and took me home.

Hosea taught me about true love, and more importantly, about God’s love. Just like God does for us, Hosea demonstrated unconditional love for me, an unworthy sinner. Our story became an object lesson of God’s mercy and forgiveness for all Israel. Not just a lesson for that time, but an enduring human parallel of God’s love and redemption. (Read it for yourself in my husband’s book.)

My Hosea is my hero. So many times I betrayed Hosea’s love and brought him nothing but shame. Yet he never stopped loving me. He bought me back from slavery when no one else would look at me. I know now that God chose to redeem me through Hosea’s love. My dear Hosea taught me how to love and obey Elohim. I am so grateful for my Elohim who gave me a chance.

Elohim, my one and only God.
Me, the sinner and whore.
Hosea, my beloved husband and redeemer.
My advice to you: love God and love your husband.

Love to you,
Gomer, late to learn about love, but grateful to be redeemed and restored

December 31, 2022 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Prayer & Architecture on a Clinic Visit

Snow patches dot the roof as gray clouds obliterate any hint of sun. Despite the drab skies, floor-to-ceiling windows usher light into the laboratory waiting room of Mayo Clinic’s Gonda Building. People file out of elevators, line up at the reception desk, and then take a seat in the sea of chairs. They wait to surrender their blood, the vital fluid that will direct diagnostic and treatment decisions. My friend K similarly hopes that her what, why, and how medical questions will be answered by laboratory results.

I join K to chauffeur, support, and take notes during her visit to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. My God-given responsibility is to pray for her as she faces two days of tests, scans, and appointments. Injected with radioactive materials and other chemicals for picture-taking, K undergoes hi-tech scanning. I pray for clear-cut, sliced-and-diced pictures of K’s tumor that will map out cancer treatment options. All that information will be funneled into the final evaluation by the world-renowned oncology surgeon. He will decide whether he can excise the tumor—or that he cannot offer surgical treatment.

After K marches back to meet the vampires, I become distracted from praying by the eclectic architecture. Outside the third floor window, the hospital’s exterior structure consists of gray marble panels and steel window frames. These surfaces intersect a narrow flat roof that obscures the streets below. Beyond the roof, Gothic arches line the top floor of a grand old building. That limestone structure reflects in the wall of windows across the street. The windowed modern building contains a vertical panel of concrete that brutally contrasts with both of its antique neighbors.

Finally, I tear my focus away from the inanimate to pray for K—only to be distracted again. The next architectural masterpiece in my line of vision holds gargoyles, griffins, and other statues. A rooftop flag ripples in the pre-blizzard winds, providing the only visible movement above the urban street. Tiles, mini-balconies, and other bric-a-brac ornamentation embellish every visible horizontal and vertical surface.

My excitement over urban architecture fades when K comes out of the lab. K, a strong woman who survived an intense triple regimen of tumor-poison, chooses the stairs over the elevator. I join her march up the seven flights to her surgical oncology appointment. In the exam room, the primary surgeon surprises everyone by arriving an hour early to the appointment. Other professionals enter the room. The moment of truth arrives as photos of K’s innards fill the computer monitor screen.

The practitioners describe the tumor’s response to chemotherapy in glowing adjectives. The surgeon presents the outcome of K’s chemotherapy: surgery is now an option. Briefly, I raise my hands heavenward to the God who answers prayers, and then I resume my note-taking. Looking at the scan as if it were a map, the surgeon plans and describes his surgical path. He traces his intended journey into the organ, around the tumor, and through neighboring structures. K smiles along with the entire team.

Thank you, God, for guiding K’s chemotherapy, making it work, and providing the previously unthinkable option of surgery. Please keep your healing hand on K. Guide her medical team and give her the treatments and care that she needs. Help me to love, support, and pray for K as you intend. Thank you, dear Lord, for miracles that don’t depend on feeble human prayers easily distracted by urban architecture. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

November 30, 2022 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Psalm 23 Kids’ Prayer

Yay God—you’re my shepherd! I don’t need anything, because you take good care of me.

Thanks for giving me places to eat, drink, and rest.

You energize me! Help me obey you, in Jesus’ name.

Even when things get bad, I don’t need to be afraid, because you’re always with me. I like it when you fight my enemies and pull me close to you.

When the bad guys are all around me, you do all kinds of cool things to love and support me.

Thanks for the good stuff you give me while I live here and when I—for sure!—go to heaven.

I love you, my good shepherd God! In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Psalm 23 ESV

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.
3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Note: For a grown-up prayer of Psalm 23, see https://kristinalunde.com/psalm-23-prayer/

October 31, 2022 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Two Widows, Two Sons and One Powerful God

Written across two testaments by two writers, the resurrections in 1 Kings 17:17-24 and Luke 7:11-17 share similarities in their accounts of two widows, two sons, and one powerful God.

In the Old Testament account of 1 Kings 17:17-24, the prophet Elijah knew the widow and her son well. The widow of Zarephath and her son experienced God’s miracle of provision in their destitute situation (1 Kings 17:7-16). As a recipient of the widow’s hospitality, Elijah stayed in their upper room during much of the drought. In Luke 7:11-17, Jesus came upon a procession with a widow, her dead son, and a large crowd from the town of Nain. Although a seemingly random encounter, Luke records Jesus’ response to the widow as “his heart went out to her” (Luke 7:13). Each widows’ heartache and poverty would have been obvious in her community. In their cultures, the fatherless son was designated as his widowed mother’s caretaker, with the expectation that he would work and provide for her.

As a prophet, Elijah had a reputation for speaking God’s Word and being an instrument for God’s miracles. When the widow of Zarephath’s only beloved son died, Elijah grabbed the body. He ran up to his room, laid the child on his bed, and cried out to God in prayer. In contrast, the Luke account begins as Jesus walks through Galilee with his entourage of disciples and a large crowd. Luke 6 describes how Jesus chose his disciples, healed people of diseases, and preached to the crowds. Until then, in all of His miracles, Jesus had never yet resurrected anyone from the dead.

The settings may vary, but similarities exist across these accounts. Elijah prayed and God resurrected the widow’s son. Jesus, in full kingdom authority, resurrected the deceased man, speaking words of life. “Young man, I say to you, get up!” Both sons came back to life. Elijah witnessed God’s miracle of resurrection, whereas Jesus Himself performed the miracle. Elijah and Jesus each presented the resurrected sons to their widowed mothers.

Both miracles demonstrated God’s power over death. A grieving and questioning Elijah experienced God’s compassionate miracle for the widow of Zarephath after her son died. In the town of Nain, a large local crowd, twelve disciples, and the crowd following Jesus through Galilee witnessed Jesus’ miracle of resurrection. Although both towns are mentioned in these resurrection accounts, neither the widows nor their sons are mentioned by name.

Where is the follow-up information? I want to hear about those unnamed sons: one young boy and one young man. Their resurrected lives shone as enduring reminders of God’s resurrection power. Did the young boy grow up and become a baker in Zarephath who told his story to all of his customers? Were people compelled to turn from Baal to God as they witnessed God’s compassion and miraculous life-giving power?

Did the widow in Nain recount God’s miracles of provision through the resurrection of her grown son? Jesus’ first miracle of resurrection demonstrated His compassion for the widows and fatherless, while undeniably demonstrating Messiah’s authority. Did the Nain community later recognize that the resurrection of the widow’s son foreshadowed the Messiah Jesus’ resurrection?

God intervened with His compassion and almighty power for the unnamed widows in 1 Kings 17 and Luke 7. These two widows experienced the omnipotent power of God, as He miraculously raised their respective sons from the dead.