Kristina Lunde, Author at Kristina Lunde

March 31, 2022 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Obeying a God Nudge: From Selfish to Willing

An email request asked Lakes Area Writers Alliance members to volunteer for a shift in a non-profit booth at the county fair. My irritations added up. The group held meetings, inconveniently, on Saturday mornings, and this request also involved weekends. A four-hour shift seemed like a long, boring stretch of time. All of my reasons not to participate felt squelched by a “God-nudge,” to use my husband’s description of a gut feeling that God wants you to do something. I preferred to volunteer for a two-hour shift, but four hours in a row? Really?! How much could I say about group meetings that I rarely attended?

That “God-nudge” prompted me to sign up for the last Saturday morning of the fair. Yes, I volunteered for the day I didn’t want to go, for the job I didn’t want to do, and for a stretch of time I thought seemed too long. But I did it anyway, begrudgingly out of obedience God.

Our writer’s alliance event coordinator had thoroughly prepared the displays. Two rectangular tables included an obligatory candy bowl that attracted kids and other sweet-seekers. A raffle jar offered a prize basket of books written by members of our writers’ alliance—my memoir included. Some group members had self-published short stories in a collection entitled The Storyville Project. Copies were stacked and available for sale. Displayed in racks, stacks, and fanned arrangements, brochures and bookmarks spread across the table tops.

Volunteers had permission to sell their own books, so I spent the first minutes placing my books on easels. As I set up my sales display, I chatted with the woman in the neighboring booth. Her story tumbled out quickly: she was widowed three months prior, after taking care of her ill husband while he was on hospice. Confined to a hospital bed in the living room, her husband needed full-time care, so she had slept on the couch, ready to jump up and help him 24/7.

Her tears flowed as she spoke of her grief. I tried to reassure her about the grief processing she had already accomplished, even though nothing felt normal to her yet. Not surprisingly, the fatigue she accumulated as a caretaker now compounded her grief. We spoke of God’s healing and comfort. I gave her the GriefShare website, so that she could sign up for daily emails and check out this fall’s grief groups. Later, a woman walked by the booth dressed in a memorial t-shirt that displayed several family members’ names and dates of death. We also discussed death and grief, and I gave her the same resources and information.

My entire booth shift turned out to be a pleasant surprise, and the four hours passed quickly. Several teenagers approached the booth, some reluctantly as their supportive parents asked questions on their child’s behalf. Identifying these shy teenagers, I started conversations about their favorite genres and encouraged them to continue writing. Hoping that the teens would be challenged and validated by submitting a story, I asked each one to contribute to the next edition of The Storyville Project. One teenager described working on projects with her sister who created anime drawings for her stories. As I marveled at their talents, I encouraged them to keep collaborating.

I enjoyed giving booth visitors information about our Lakes Area Writers Alliance. Not all conversations related to writing as I talked with kids, parents, and families. The Gideons International hosted a nearby booth where they gave out New Testament Bibles. Unlike the plain covers I remember from decades ago, the new Bible came in colorful covers: designs, graphics, and even camouflage. I engaged a few kids in conversation as they walked by with their pocket-sized gifts.

Afterward, I thought about my much-needed attitude rearrangement. I had signed up for my shift out of reluctant obedience to the “God-nudge,” or God’s prompting. That reluctance started to change when I recognized God’s divine appointments. Within minutes of my arrival, God arranged one-on-one time to speak with a grieving widow in the neighboring booth. God blessed my volunteer shift with meaningful conversations with kids, families, grieving people, writers, and friends. Once my selfishness got out of the way, God changed my attitude to willing—even joyful—obedience.

Lord God, Forgive my reluctant and frustrated attitude toward obeying your prompting, or those “God-nudges.” Change my heart, dear God, and teach me to be joyful and willing as I obey. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
[Originally posted August 2021]

March 30, 2022 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

My River of Sorrow as an Audiobook

Now available as an audiobook:

Kristina Lunde’s memoir,

entitled My River of Sorrow: A Widow’s Journey with God.

This all-American story of true love, sudden death, and authentic faith involves Lee, a golden California boy who becomes an Air Force fighter pilot, and Tina, a Midwestern girl turned Air Force nurse. Their lives are tragically interrupted when husband and father of two, Lee, dies suddenly. By the grace of God, and with church and community support, Lee’s family continues on without him. Previously believing that the biggest challenge in her life was her own father’s sudden death when she was a child, Tina realizes that God miraculously prepared her for this worst-case scenario of widowhood. With friends, family, and church support, as well as much-needed antidepressants and therapy, this widow faces grief and battles hopelessness. The narrative chronicles how Tina takes her pain straight to the throne of God and how the Lord of heaven answers prayers, needs, and sorrow with His grace, provision, and humor. This account reads like a novel, but only God can orchestrate a life story like this one.
[Originally posted July 2021]

March 30, 2022 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

God be the Center

“Be thou the center of our least endeavor.” These words from the hymn “A Christian Home,” written by Barbara B. Hart in 1965, echoed in my ears after last Sunday’s church service. That phrase, for God to be the center, formed a punch line before the final line of the last verse:

O Lord, our God, our homes are Thine forever! 
We trust to Thee their problems, toil, and care; 
Their bonds of love no enemy can sever 
If Thou art always Lord and Master there: 
Be Thou the center of our least endeavor: 
Be Thou our Guest, our hearts and homes to share.

What it does not mean

That second-to-last line surprised me with what it did not pray for:

God, center my self-focus as I reflect on past pain and suffering.
Yes, in retrospect, I recognize God’s comfort and help through past troubled times. But I need to make Him the center of my life from this moment forward.

God be the center of my upcoming project.
Yes, I want God to be my foundation as I pursue the projects that He guides me to accomplish. But I need His guidance on more than just the big tasks.

God, be the center of my future.
Yes, I entrust what lies ahead to my Creator and Savior. But I need Him in the present moment.

God, be the center of my success.
Yes, I pray for God to be with me in my proud moments of achievement. But that is not the only time I need to be centered on God.

What it does mean

Of course, I desire God to be the central aspect of my past, present, future, projects, successes, goals, achievements, and choices. But what about inviting God to be the center of my everyday tasks, chores, and responsibilities? Even more humbling, what about establishing God as the center of my least-favorite, most-disgusting, often-dreaded activities? What if I pray God into the center of my everyday life, the here and now, even when I find it boring and undesirable?

Brother Lawrence’s writings, published in The Practice of the Presence of God, focus on his insights and time with God during the everyday tasks of life. Born Nicholas Herman in the early 1600s, Brother Lawrence spent years working in a monastery. His writings describe how he disciplined himself to focus on God as he worked, most frequently peeling potatoes in the kitchen. Five hundred years later, Brother Lawrence’s words still stand as a testament of how to involve God as the center of our least endeavor.

How

In Matthew 6:11, the Lord’s Prayer gives me an example of inviting God into my everyday life: “give us today our daily bread.” Not provision for the future, not pantries and freezers full of food for an entire month, but just enough for today’s nourishment. This verse helps me pray for God’s provision, for Him to supply me in the amount and timing that fills my needs, not what I think I deserve. In this way, I learn to trust God for His help in essentials of daily life.

Stormie O’Martian explores that same theme in her book, appropriately entitled Just Enough Light For The Step I’m On (1986, Harvest House Publishers). The image that comes to my mind is Psalm 119:105: “your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” God guides me with His word, giving me what I need on my everyday walk with Him.

My Prayer

Lord God, let my least endeavor be filled with your presence at the center. No matter how insignificant or irritating I find my everyday task, help me to rely on you as my foundation and guide. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
[Originally posted June 2021]

March 30, 2022 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

God’s Will and the Blessings of Sunday School Kids

Five-year-old Will proudly held up the card he brought for his Sunday school teacher. “Look at my name!” he insisted, giggling as he pointed to the extra three letters he had creatively tacked onto his full name. Before anyone could comment, he set the card on the table and ran around the room. His joy and enthusiasm made me smile.

Then another boy walked into the room slowly, clutching a potted geranium and card that he handed to his teacher. Accepting the gift, she expressed her thanks and gave the boy a big gift bag in return. The four Sunday school children each received large gift bags from the teacher, their names on cards tied with a ribbon. Inside each bag were summer gifts: a beach towel and a manila envelope full of activities for them to review lessons about Jesus and His love.

This was not my class or my students, but I gladly joined their last day of Sunday school before summer. The COVID pandemic had locked me down for over a year and shut me out of in-person ministries. Excited to be fully vaccinated, I joined the Sunday school class with the intent of volunteering in the fall. I enjoyed seeing these kids thank their teacher. What a thoughtful teacher who challenged her students with summer learning materials!

After the gift exchanges, the teacher expertly drew the kids’ attention to the lesson. With her two-year-old by her side, the teacher gave each child a pamphlet of stapled sheets of colored construction paper. Using this wordless book , she asked the children to turn the pages and follow along as she presented the Gospel of Jesus. She explained the concepts at a four to six-year-old level of understanding, patiently guided them, and asked questions to assess their understanding.

Part-way through the book, the teacher gave an object lesson using balloons. Given time and space to move around, the kids got out of the chairs to keep their balloons in the air. A great break for littles who don’t sit long, the jumping and balloon-batting brought lots of giggles. Until it didn’t, when one boy ran out of the room in anger because the two-year-old touched his balloon.

I followed the boy into the playroom and tried to talk him into returning to the classroom. He refused, so I watched and listened as he worked things out while climbing on the plastic slide. He vented his anger about the two-year-old, who in his mind was trying to steal his balloon. When the teacher looked out the classroom door, the boy began to cry, but then he walked back into class.

When the teacher finished the wordless book, she introduced a board game. The board spaces included Bible verses and concepts that reviewed the year’s Sunday school lessons. She had prepped everything: colored game ‘boards’ pasted onto construction paper, play pieces cut out, and buttons used as board pieces. The teacher’s attention to students’ needs became obvious as she guided each child to take a turn. Afterward they each received a game of their own to take home.

I felt honored to be a part of this Christ-based curriculum presented by a young mom who poured love and support into her students. Playing and learning about Jesus, Will and his enthusiastic classmates brought energy and fun to my morning.

Lord, please open up hearts and minds to learn more about you as Sunday school and other ministries resume after the lifting of long-imposed COVID restrictions. Motivate people to volunteer, sharing the truth of Christ with your precious children, in churches and ministries all over the world. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
[Originally posted May 2021]

March 30, 2022 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Grief in a Thrift Shop

A trip to my favorite consignment store during this COVID-19 pandemic provided a surprising social interaction last week. Only God knew that I would have a grief-related encounter. He orchestrated the timing, people, and circumstances for the event. My goal involved only getting out of the house to shop.

As often happens when I have time and money to shop, nothing fits, the clothing doesn’t look right, or I just can’t find anything. After my frustrations in the dressing room, I walked around the corner and looked at stuff that I didn’t really need or want to buy.

Suddenly two staff members moved quickly to the front of the store. “Sit down! Catch your breath!” They urged a customer to sit down in a chair. Then I heard heavy panting amid attempts to speak. Two employees were giving instructions to someone in obvious distress. “Rest a minute. Can I get you some water?” Thinking it was a medical emergency, I came around the clothes racks to offer help if needed.

Not all of the woman’s words were audible; she gasped for air and spoke from the chair. “Respiratory distress . . . in the hospital . . . nothing they could do.”

This was no medical emergency. The woman expressed her emotional pain, pouring out her grief after the recent death of a loved one. Thinking she was newly widowed, I came closer, hoping to speak with her. Two staff members were by her side, so I didn’t approach.

Instead, I took a pen and paper out of my purse and wrote down the GriefShare website link as I listened. By then, the second staff member had left, and the woman in the chair slowed her breathing. Her emotional pain tumbled out in disjointed words. “The clothes in the bags – I washed them all. They are brand names . . . good quality.” Her son had died suddenly after a short hospitalization.

When only one staff member stood at her side, I approached slowly and put my hand on the grieving woman’s shoulder. After a pause in the conversation, I mentioned that my husband died of a sudden heart attack sixteen years ago. Acknowledging that grief is very difficult, I asked how she was sleeping. I listened as the woman admitted that she could not sleep, eat, or focus on anything. All of that was normal, I assured her. Her brain had to work overtime to process the painful truth of her loved one’s death. I encouraged her to take care of herself in basic ways, like resting, eating, and drinking water.

Expressing concern over how hard she was working to wash, sort, and donate her son’s clothes, I advised her not to rush through those decisions. Instead, she should consider that there are people who will make quilts, teddy bears, and mementos with fabric from her loved one’s clothes. She mentioned that her granddaughter took some shirts to have teddy bears sewn.

Then I gave her the GriefShare link and suggested she sign up for the daily emails of comfort and encouragement. Also, she could look up grief support groups on the website. By that time, the woman had calmed her breathing. She stood up and walked toward the front door. I went back to browse the housewares.

“Where did that lady go?” I heard the store owner ask the cashier. After being pointed my way, the owner came over. “Thank you so much for helping that woman. How sad. I think things happen for a reason. Otherwise, what a coincidence that you were here at the time that lady came in!”

“I believe that God arranged those circumstances and that He had this all planned. He put all of this together knowing that that woman needed support.”

Later as I paid for my items, the cashier also thanked me. “My devotion this morning in Jesus Always [Jesus Always: Embracing Joy in His Presence by Sarah Young] was exactly about this kind of thing.”

“Don’t you love how God can teach us lessons and reinforce them in many ways?” I asked. At her agreement, I smiled.

Once again, I felt awe and honor at how God surprised me with an opportunity to comfort a grieving person (2 Corinthians 1:4-5).

Lord God, please comfort that precious woman whose son died. Give your comfort and peace to her whole family as they grieve this sudden death. Please be with those of us in the store that day: teach us to rely on you, share your love with others, and trust you to be involved in our everyday activities. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
[Originally posted April 2021]