Blog - Kristina Lunde

September 30, 2025 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Praise before Please in Prayer

My prayers often start with my requests. Please, Lord, I need this. Lord, help me with this task. Please, God, do this for me. Yes, I usually add a please to my pleas, but I do not often praise before please. My needs prompt me to ask God first, pleading with Him for answers. But do I acknowledge the Lord of all creation who welcomes and hears my prayers?

Pray for my needs

My requests are often self-centered and self-serving. I ask God for what I have determined that I need and want. I balance my own equation of needs versus wants. But am I running that by my Lord and Savior, placing all requests in submission to His will? Am I letting God guide me so completely that I recognize His path and follow His purposes for me? Those are accountability questions that I need to answer if I am pursuing Jesus and His will for me.

Change my perspective

First of all, I need to determine who I am going to follow. If my top priority is Jesus, then my heart’s intent and life goals need to follow His will, not mine. Who determines my wants versus needs equation? Do I take charge of my needs or do I surrender them to God’s plan? Nothing wrong with presenting my needs to God, but my perspective must align with God’s Word and His will. If I pray for a new car out of jealousy over my friend’s car, I disobey the tenth commandment. Instead, God may have other purposes for the older cars we drive. For example, my husband and I enjoy a reputation as the “Engine Light Lundes” at our local automobile repair shop. We became friends with the owners and pray for them to know Jesus.

When my perspective aligns with God’s will, then I can realistically evaluate my wants and needs in consideration of the roles God has for me in this season. Sometimes, that means I need to respect and obey God when He gives a “no” answer to my prayer, especially when I do not understand the reasons. My vantage point then changes from a selfish outlook to God’s sovereign purposes.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 NIV

Start with praise

Philippians 4:6-7 presents how to receive God’s peace as a solution for anxiety. Notice that thanksgiving goes along with bringing requests to God in prayer. Sometimes I focus on the supplication, petition (KJV), or “the ask.” The pain, need, or problem drives my prayer. But I can’t forget to thank my God, the omnipotent Lord of all creation, for blessings already given. Instead of starting with the please and pleading for my wants, I should start with praise for the One who hears. Put the praise before please. When I acknowledge His love for me, the salvation He provided, and what He means to me, that sets the tone for my prayer. I prayerfully reflect on God’s character, which helps me appreciate what He has already accomplished for me.

The ask should come after the realignment of my heart and mind. Praise first; then present my pleas. The wants seems so pressing at first. But when I examine them through the lens of God’s Word, He shows me His priorities. The Holy Spirit convicts me that some of my needs are actually sinful pursuits or selfish wants. When God’s lens zooms my attention in, I can set my sights on His plans. He knows the journey He walks me through, the places I need to be, and the work He has for me do.

For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Philippians 2:13 NIV

Dear God, thank you for being my Savior and Lord. Teach me to pray with praise before please. Let me be so filled with praise for you, that honoring you comes first when I pray. Wipe out my selfish wants, so that my requests align with your will. Jesus, I want my heart, life, and actions to follow your plan, even if I don’t understand it. Let your Holy Spirit convict and strengthen me. Help me surrender to you—that is what I need. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

August 20, 2025 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

A Peach Pie and an Ambulance: Missed Connections for God’s Purpose

My husband Craig and I recently experienced God’s missed connections between an ambulance, a text message, and a peach pie. We planned to deliver a pie, but God changed the purpose of our visit.

Every year I buy a crate of perfectly ripe and amazingly sweet peaches. Trucked in fresh from Georgia, the peaches are sold to raise funds for Youth for Christ. As usual, this year’s crop tasted as incredible as their perfect red, orange, and yellow colors looked. After giving out bags of peaches to friends and neighbors, I baked pies.

One pie was for N, my husband’s dear friend who has spent years fighting multiple cancer battles. When my husband Craig visits N, I don’t join them out of respect for their “man time.” But I usually send treats for N and his wife E. Recently, they hosted their kids and families for a week, and Craig had a fishing trip the following week. So we arranged to drop off the pie on a Sunday night—very different timing from Craig’s usual weekday visits.

Slow to get ready, we left fifteen minutes later than what Craig texted E. Pie in hand, we were in no rush as we left our house. We drove, ready to stop by the town where they lived before driving to another town for our dinner reservations. Craig’s phone remained on silent for the drive, so we missed E’s text telling us not to come.

When we arrived, E came to the door asking if we had passed N’s ambulance. Our confused looks told her we hadn’t seen an ambulance or received her text. I handed E the peach pie, which felt irrelevant given the situation. She invited us in and explained how N’s long day of pain led to his uncharacteristic request for an ambulance. N’s absence from the house seemed strange, like a foreshadowing of what was to come.

E remained calm and coherent, but it must have been unsettling to send N to the emergency room. Despite N’s many cancer challenges, he had only taken an ambulance to the hospital once before. This time, N needed emergency help for the unrelenting pain. We offered to take E, but she wanted to drive to the hospital alone. Instead, we prayed for her and N.

Our arrival displayed God’s precise timing: right after the ambulance’s departure but before E left for the emergency room. God also ensured that we didn’t see E’s text, which would have canceled our visit. Only God could orchestrate all these factors to allow us a precious window of prayer time.

The next day, N came home from the hospital. The heart attack he feared never happened, and he went home without chest pain. God truly intervened that day, in N’s life and in ours. We witnessed God’s interventions that defied human planning and explanation. God miraculously used a peach pie, an overlooked text, and a missed ambulance to deliver prayer support. What an amazing God we serve.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28 NIV

July 31, 2025 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

A Vacation Bible School Prayer

Lord God, please work in the hearts of these precious vacation Bible school (VBS) kids. May every concept of this detailed, Christ-centered curriculum draw the children to you. Let nothing we do distract them from you. Please imprint these Bible verses on the minds of both kids and volunteers. Teach all of us to apply your truths to all of our activities: exercise, learning, crafts, lessons, singing, and snacks.

Lord, make me aware of what these kids need. Give me time to spend one-on-one as well as in teaching the group. Holy Spirit, guide me to be flexible. Like when one group comes in halfway through their lesson time and I have to scramble to condense the content. Show me how to present the crucial points of the lesson clearly.

Please give me patience with potty breaks, interruptions, and distracted kids, as I’m sure you helped my teachers decades ago. Guide me when I get strange questions from searching kids. Help me to reflect Christ’s love as I encourage, teach, and challenge these kids. Lord, let these children come to you and let the Word of God take root in their hearts. Use us to help train these children so that each one builds their life’s foundation on you, Lord Jesus. Hold them closely through whatever life brings them in the future.

In one of their lessons, the VBS grade schoolers wrote out their prayer request, “Jesus, I need your help to . . .” (See photo.)

Dear Jesus, you know the details of each child’s burden. Keep me praying for their prayer requests. Lord God, we give our entire VBS curriculum, program, activities, and follow-up to you, for your glory and honor. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

June 27, 2025 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Father’s Day: From Grief to Thanks

During our Father’s Day sermon, Pastor A challenged us to bless our Heavenly Father as well as our earthly father. Pastor took us through the long list of God’s benefits, love, and blessings recorded in Psalm 103. In verses 2-4, the psalmist credits God with forgiveness, healing, redemption, love, and compassion. The verses that follow further describe what God does for us: renewal, righteousness, justice, and undeserved forgiveness (v. 5-12). One aspect of God’s character that resonated with me was His fatherly compassion and love, described in Psalm 103:13-18. I have often experienced that fatherly compassion as God helped me wade through grief in my life. And this Father’s Day, after reflecting on my grief, I changed my focus to thanking my Heavenly Father.

When I was eleven, my father died in a plane crash. Except for that Father’s Day days after his death, my mother never let us stay home from a church service. From then on, I disliked any sermons that talked about fathers. I hated any reminder that my Dad had died—my adventurous loving father who adored my siblings and me. In my teen years, when I heard things about fathers, I could not relate. My family included Mom and the three of us siblings; that was all. I avoided dredging up memories of my Dad, because remembering felt painful. Instead, I lived in the moment, and Jesus helped me move forward past grief.

Thirty-plus years later, I faced my biggest fear when tragedy happened again. Lee, the love of my life and husband of eighteen years, died suddenly of a heart attack. I became a widow and only parent to our children, who were six and eight years old at the time. For many years, I kept my kids home from Father’s Day services to avoid hearing about the importance of fathers. We grieved that reality daily as we missed and reminisced about their wonderful Daddy.

I haven’t boycotted services or had a Father’s Day pity party related to grief for over a decade. God helped me process my grief and gave me opportunities to share His comfort in my writing and speaking. My life is very different now. But when Pastor A presented God’s actions and character in Psalm 103 as reasons to bless God, I felt convicted. I remembered past pity parties on Father’s Day. The Holy Spirit convicted me of those times I had focused on my loss and not on my Savior.

As Pastor A spoke, I realized that God deserves ongoing praise for how He forgave, redeemed, and restored me. How could I spend Father’s Day ignoring what my Heavenly Father had done for me? God’s comfort and provision had carried me through the challenges of widowhood and only-parenting. Jesus had walked me through the valley of the shadow of death, when I didn’t think I would survive grief. I had often spent Father’s Day ruminating on what I had lost instead of being thankful for my Heavenly Father.

Lord God, forgive me for those Father’s Days when I wallowed in my sorrow. Please forgive my selfish perspective and the times I didn’t honor you. Thank you for lifting my head above the grief and showing me how to rely on you. Lord God, you are my one and only Heavenly Father. If you had not sacrificed your only son Jesus, I would not be your child. Thank you that you love and forgive me when I don’t deserve it. Heavenly Father, make my future Father’s Days times of giving thanks for your help, healing, and forgiveness. Help me to praise and honor you—on Father’s Day and always. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

May 22, 2025 by Kristina Lunde 1 Comment

Book Launch: Henry the Heron Teaches Me About Grief

In Henry the Heron Teaches Me About Grief, a heron’s migration provides an engaging metaphor for grieving children. Geared to four through eight year-olds, this book centers on a biblical perspective of eternal life with Jesus (John 3:16). Lively watercolors depict sweeping landscapes and flying herons as a boy processes his grief.

Storyline

Expressed in rhyming verse, this first-person narrative follows a young boy as he befriends a heron in his new neighborhood. The boy creates an imaginary friendship with the heron and learns about migration. After the death of his grandmother, the boy experiences grief and discovers a comforting metaphor in Henry the heron’s migration.

Abigail Porter’s illustrations of a child’s grief experience echo the poignant emotions expressed in Kristina Lunde’s rhymes. Written for children, and the adults who help them process grief, this picture book presents concepts of death and heaven from a Bible-based perspective. As the boy begins to understand his grief, he compares and contrasts death with the migration of a heron.

Grief Support

The pacing of the book’s content offers discussion opportunities geared to the child’s level of understanding and interest. Beyond serious depictions of grief, whimsical illustrations and the boy’s imagination offer many ideas for lighthearted conversations. For example, a child not yet ready to discuss grief might focus on the humorous heron illustrations.

When working with grieving children, experts suggest being open to discuss grief concepts whenever children are ready. In this book, the story line and varied illustrations present many topics, ranging from silly to serious. Children may want to discuss grief or a cheerful topic like the boy’s imagination—or both. Henry the Heron Teaches Me About Grief is a picture book designed to introduce grieving children to God’s comfort.