Trust Archives - Kristina Lunde

October 29, 2024 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Labor on Through Christ in Me

“I labor on in weakness and rejoicing.”

Those lyrics from the song “Yet Not I but Through Christ in Me” by Jonny Robinson, Rich Thompson, and Michael Farren gripped me when we sang it during church last Sunday.

The labor reference brought to mind work, toil, and suffering. I didn’t think of that kind of labor, although pregnancy-induced labor can simultaneously end in weakness and rejoicing. But then I remembered how God intervened decades ago during my emergency delivery. His miracle came after I labored through low heart rate episodes and other signs of my baby’s distress. God provided an expert obstetrical surgery team and brought me through my weakness to rejoicing at our healthy baby’s birth.

I need to remember those past miracles and trust God in my present circumstances. Thankfully, I am not enduring crushing labor pains, horrendous setbacks, or debilitating health crises. In contrast, those on my prayer list face serious problems: a critically-ill hospitalized baby, three friends coping with their spouse’s sudden death, and two people facing final battles after years of cancer treatments. Yet I feel weak and weary at my everyday frustrations with people, schedules, and things that break.

The song “Yet Not I but Through Christ in Me” portrays how I can trust in Christ through my current challenges. In his blogpost, Cru speaker and author Dan Flynn praises the biblical nature of these lyrics. He lists over twenty attributes of Jesus mentioned in this song. Many are evident in the second verse and refrain:

The night is dark but I am not forsaken
For by my side, the Savior He will stay
I labor on in weakness and rejoicing
For in my need, His power is displayed.

To this I hold, my Shepherd will defend me
Through the deepest valley He will lead
Oh the night has been won, and I shall overcome
Yet not I, but through Christ in me.

That same phrase, “labor on in weakness and rejoicing,” has struck me before. The combo of weakness and rejoicing sounds like an oxymoron until viewed through a biblical lens. God’s power fills my inadequacy, as the song proclaims, “for in my need, His power is displayed.” I don’t have the strength to push myself past my own weaknesses. I need God to strengthen me for my tasks, a relationship Paul describes so well:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Only Jesus Christ can empower me to get through my stuff, whether serious or inconsequential. When I take my eyes off Him and try to pursue my own ideas in vain independence, I disobey God’s will and purposes for me. My prayers come from my vantage point in the front row where I see friends and family dealing with so much. Although tired of interceding for God’s relief of their suffering, I know that when I get derailed into my own pity party, I become self-focused and my prayer life declines.

Lord God, convict me of my
focus on self-sufficiency instead of trusting in you,
blindness to my need for your power,
and pursuit of my personal comfort instead of helping others.
Teach me to rely only on You as “I labor on in weakness and rejoicing.” In Jesus’ name. Amen.

April 23, 2024 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

A Lesion, a Lump, and a Biopsy: Avoiding the Bunny Trail of Anxiety

A Lesion, a lump, and a biopsy. Two issues related to two body systems. Two doctor’s appointments in one day. Would this send me detouring down the bunny trail of anxiety? Everyone else seemed to be having much more fun that day, watching a total eclipse of the sun. My brother drove across two states to see it. A friend and her husband had traveled to Texas for the excitement. All that made me more prone to self-pity on my rough day.

So what did I do with my lesion, lump, and the likely need for a biopsy? A detour down the bunny trail of anxiety beckoned me: this could be cancer. What am I going to do? I may need a biopsy and excision, a realistic outcome I have faced before. The bunny trail of anxiety may start realistically, but then it makes a fast descent downward. What if the biopsy result shows cancer? What if I need chemo? Will I have to clear my schedule and my life to deal with this?!

The phrase future-tripping is how my friend Daphne describes that process of mentally starting to trip over obstacles that have not yet presented themselves. These concerns may never develop into problems, because my current assumptions might be false and never impact my future. A relevant Bible verse against future-tripping, or getting detoured down the bunny trail of anxiety, is:

Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:34 ESV

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

In other words, leave tomorrow’s anxiety for tomorrow. The context of that verse, Matthew 6:25-34, is Jesus’ description of food, drink, and clothing as basic needs that the heavenly Father provides for the birds, flowers, and grass. Jesus asks us to consider how much more God will take care of us. Jesus lays out the priorities: all these things will be added to us if we seek God’s kingdom and righteousness first. Verse 33 is the antidote for the bunny trail of anxiety, because when we seek God first, we do not need to be anxious for tomorrow.

In my head, I know this. And after reflective thoughts and editing, my words may later express this content. But when my mind is flooded with the stress of unknowns, I find it tough to live out those Bible verses. Breathe deeply. Repeat the Bible verses to myself. Ask God for help to avoid future-tripping or detours down the anxiety bunny trail. Don’t choose to worry when I can trust God instead:

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10 ESV

Meditate on Psalm 46:10. Apply God’s Word to the concerns of my life: lesions, lumps, biopsies, and their related outcomes. My eclipse day was not an easy-breezy day. I left the first appointment with one skin biopsy and treatment for many superficial skin lesions. The next appointment challenged me to trust God even more. No matter the outcome, I need to be still and trust God as the Lord of my life.

Lord, please stop me from detouring down the bunny trail of anxiety. Teach me to trust you for all the unknowns. Not just to intellectually know that you provide but—deep in my soul and body—to completely trust you. Help me to be still and know that you are God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

March 27, 2024 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Daddy’s Girl: From Hate to Belonging

Like a queen to her adoring subjects, she expounded on her topic, gesticulating as she explained how she persuaded her father to concede to her demands. She was sure her wisdom, dispensed with grandiose ideas and a bit of condescension, would impress us. Not a chance. And no, we never asked for advice on being a Daddy’s Girl.

“You know how you just look at your Dad with big eyes and he’ll melt and give you whatever you ask for?!” She expected that to resonate with us. But no, we had no idea. Standing around her lawn chair, we wondered what this large, sassy thirty-something meant by her question.

I thought about the three of us and realized why her experience meant absolutely nothing to us. One of the teenagers had been abandoned by her father very early in life. Raised by a single mother, the teenager barely knew her biological father. He had seldom contributed any money, much less time, to her or her sister as they grew up. The other teenager—my daughter—had lived for almost half of her life without her father, who died of a sudden heart attack. In addition to parenting my children without my husband, I had also grown up fatherless after my Dad died in a plane crash.

And so we stared blankly at Miss Queen-of-her-lawn-chair. We couldn’t relate to the financial riches she spoke of or the idea of a father who granted her every wish. Nor did we understand her arrogant manipulative ways. Or how she took pride in the ability to get anything she wanted out of her father. That irked me. A lot. I have always hated Daddy’s Girls.

Honestly, it’s really cute when girls are little and they have a loving relationship with their father. I used to be thrilled that my daughter and husband shared such a close relationship. I looked forward to watching my daughter’s attachment to her father grow all of her life. Until his life ended and we didn’t have him anymore.

What I despise is when a spoiled princess grows up to demand things from her father, milking him out of time, money, and whatever else she can get. That “ability,” as lawn-chair Daddy’s Girl bragged about, does not translate to successful grown-up skills. Manipulation, entitlement, and mooching will not help you develop life skills of maturity, compromise, negotiation, and working hard toward a goal.

At my recent resentment over a spoiled Daddy’s Girl—and my wording sounds much gentler than I felt—I thought about my heavenly Father. Or rather, the Holy Spirit directed my mind to my Heavenly Father. I have lived 50+ years without my earthly father, but I can look back and trace how my heavenly Father has protected, provided for, and loved me all of my life. Yes, my earthly father loved Jesus and taught me about my Savior, but my heavenly Father has spoiled me with so much more. God made the amazing sacrifice of sending His son Jesus to die for my disobedience and bitterness.

God has given me His Word to learn from and study. What a gift! Everything I need for life and living, I can find in the Bible. I can spend my life studying it and never exhaust the rich meaning and application of God’s Word to my circumstances. I talk with Him any time, confident that He hears me. Although I ask for a lot, I trust Him to answer. He may not answer like I want Him to, but I can be sure that He knows best. My heavenly Father will always guide me, even when my requests are selfish and I veer in the wrong direction.

My Lord has richly blessed me with forgiveness, salvation, redemption, sanctification (even when it hurts), and the promise of eternal life with Him. I guess I can call myself a Daddy’s Girl, a child of my Heavenly Father’s. I am proud to belong to my Abba Father.

Lord, you have given me much more than I deserve. Thank you so much for sending Jesus in my place to die for the sin I so easily commit. Please forgive me and help me to appreciate and love you. Teach me to obey, even if it requires your discipline and conviction first. I love you, my Abba, and I am honored to be your daughter. Amen.

April 20, 2022 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Daniel’s Mother on Child Training

Dear Modern Mama, Please consider this Bible verse as a parenting goal. God never showed me the outcome of my child training here on earth, but this is what He taught me:

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6.

The Ten Commandments

“The way he should go” sounds very broad, but go back to the ten commandments in Exodus 20 (repeated in Deuteronomy 5) to review God’s primary guidelines for life. The first three commandments focus on our relationship with God. If we set God first above all else in our lives, the rest will fall into place. That means nothing gets placed ahead of God, not even our children. (Don’t know about you, but that challenged this dedicated mama!)

God’s name deserves worship, not to be abused or taken in vain. Using God’s name as intended means that we respect Him, tell others about God, and speak His truth in love. If we focus on God and His teaching in our own lives, it will flow out from us into our children. The time, energy, and resources we spend training our children can be filtered through God’s priorities for our own lives.

With God as our number one priority, we can invest in other relationships. The fourth commandment tells us to honor our father and mother. Our children will watch how we respect our parents and elders. If kids learn to treat family members with appreciation and dignity, they will apply those concepts to other adults. The other commandments list acts of disobedience against God and other people: murder, adultery, stealing, lying, and jealousy. Child-training teaches what obedience looks like, both how to act and how not to act.

God’s Plan

My husband and I taught our eldest Daniel and his younger siblings the ten commandments as we prepared them for God’s plan. You will not find us mentioned in the Bible, but we raised our children with love and dedication, teaching them about the Lord our God, the Holy One of Israel. Our goals for our children included a disciplined lifestyle, regular prayer time, and loyalty to God—concepts based on the ten commandments. I admit being very strict about some things, especially prayer and nutrition. My Danny-boy always ate his vegetables—the other kids, not often. Daniel learned everything so quickly and he loved to pray. To this proud Mama, my Danny-boy seemed to be a born leader.

When the Babylonian invaders kidnapped my Danny-boy and took him captive to their pagan nation, I became distraught. I never got to say goodbye, nor did I ever see my son again. Little could I imagine that God had orchestrated this for His good and His glory. I often thought of my forefather Israel. He saw his son Joseph again in that strange land of Egypt, decades after Joseph was presumed dead. Losing a son like that breaks a mama’s heart, but I had to keep going, raising my other children and still trusting God.

Sometimes, dear Mama, we will not understand God’s plan until we get to heaven. God may launch our precious children from home long before we are ready to release them. Yes, I questioned God, His purpose and His ways, but ultimately I realized that the Lord my God is worth trusting even when I don’t understand.

God’s Parenting Lesson

Check out my son’s book, the biblical book of Daniel. You will learn that he continued to live out the priorities my husband and I taught him. My Danny-boy faced a lot of adversity as a captive in a far-away pagan land, but our Holy One of Israel blessed and protected the Israelites in exile. Despite much opposition, my Danny-boy and his friends shone like bright lights in the darkness, living out their love for the Lord our God. Looking back now, I understand Isaiah’s writing:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9

And so, dear modern mama, I want to encourage you. Keep training your child in the way God directs, according to the ten commandments, because you may never know what God has planned for them.
Love to you from Daniel’s mother

March 31, 2022 by Kristina Lunde Leave a Comment

Ten Leprous Men and Their Walk of Faith

Our Wednesday night children’s lesson, taken from Luke 17:11-19, focused on Jesus healing the ten men with leprosy. Pastor David told the Bible lesson in his casual interactive style, involving kids in acting out the story. Adult volunteers didn’t usually get a character assignment for the drama, but this time everyone joined in. Portraying the leprous men, adults and kids cried out from a distance, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Pastor, acting out the part of Jesus, answered, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And then we started walking . . .

How many times had I heard this Bible story?! Children’s lessons often focused on the one man who came back to say thank you for the miracle. Other presentations pointed out the grateful man’s nationality as Samaritan, people rejected by the Jews as outcast half-breeds. Samaritans who received healing and demonstrated faith in Jesus challenged Jewish expectations of the Messiah. Again and again, Jesus the Messiah healed, taught, and expanded people’s understanding of His power and purpose. And this Gospel account still does that today, if we open our hearts to Jesus’ teaching in His Word.

As a people freed from slavery and learning to become God’s nation, the Israelites received instructions in Leviticus for their safety, health, and relationship to God. In addition to butchers, interpreters of the law, and sacrifice intermediaries, the Levite priests became experts on infectious diseases. Detailed dermatology lessons (Leviticus 13:1-46) helped priests examine and pronounce the afflicted person as unclean (e.g. spreading rashes, raw flesh—what we call contagious) or clean (e.g. baldness, a healed rash). Leviticus chapter 13 taught priests when to isolate and re-examine, while the next chapter (Leviticus 14:1-32) described ceremonial cleansing procedures for people declared clean. As recorded thousands of years ago, God gave instructions to keep the Israelites from spreading disease, long before our science-based infection control procedures (e.g. gloves, lab tests, microscopes—even basics like soap and running water).

Ten men with infectious skin disease, translated as leprosy in most Bible versions, stood at a distance, as dictated in Leviticus. Rather than the obligatory cry of “Unclean! Unclean,” these men called out to Jesus for mercy. In compliance with the levitical code, Jesus sent them to the priests. He never pronounced them healed, but the directive to show themselves to the priests meant that their healing would be confirmed.

As we walked around the room acting out the biblical drama, this passage became an object lesson for me. Trying to insert myself into that their walk of faith, I thought of the march to the temple. How long do we have to walk? Are these lumps, ulcers, and discolorations disappearing? Does my back/foot/hand/head look better yet? My self-examination might last the entire trip!

That walk required faith from the ten leprous men—faith that Jesus healed them. Jesus supported the priest’s authority to distinguish clean from unclean and to validate the miracle. No matter what evidence of healing the men observed during their journey, they walked in obedience to Jesus’ command. By faith, the ten men believed that their presentation to the priest would result in a clean examination. And by faith, the healed Samaritan man returned to give thanks to His Savior.

Lord God, please forgive me for my arrogance in thinking I cannot learn anything new from a familiar Bible passage. Thank you for the example of the ten men with leprosy, especially their walk of faith and obedience to your command. Please help me to believe and act on the truth of God’s Word, even when the journey is long and my faith is weak. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
[Originally posted February 2022]