Writing to God

Have you ever written to God? To journal your prayers is writing to God. I have done it for many years and have a bookshelf full of journals. To go back and see where I’ve been and how far I’ve come is very humbling. I wanted to write “rewarding,” but it really is humbling. To see how God’s grace is at work in one’s life is just that: very humbling!

One thing is to look back and see God’s hand at work, but we also have a future to look forward to, that we cannot even start to imagine. I was reminded of it in my Bible reading this morning.

With all the wonderful things God does for us as we journey on our way to heaven, we wonder what it’s going to be like to get there. No doubt about it: THE BEST IS YET TO COME!

Looking back in my journals, my writings to God, I have proof that it was in the hardest of times that the fellowship was sweetest!

Let me pick out some nuggets from journals past:

It is impossible to know God and not trust him.

TROUBLE NEVER COMES OUR WAY UNLESS IT BRINGS A NUGGET IN ITS HAND.

It is my business to learn to be peaceful and safe in God in every situation.

Stop thinking of obstacles; start thinking of opportunities.

My troubles are a challenge from God to claim a larger blessing.

IF IT WAS EASY ANYBODY COULD DO IT!

What got me into this train of thought is a very touching film called LETTERS TO GOD. It’s a tribute to a little boy who battled cancer. Buy the DVD and watch it, if you haven’t already seen it, and click here to check out the web site.

Write your own letters to God! Pour out your heart before him. Express your praise and gratitude. Then go back and revisit the wonderful fellowship you’ve had with your Lord. You’ll see how your relationship with him grows sweeter and stronger from day to day.

If you do not have a relationship with Jesus, click at the right on KNOWING JESUS/Follow Christ. If you would like prayer and spiritual help, contact me here: kelund AT attDOTcom.

Fittness at my fingertips

I had a big pleasant surprise in the mail today. As if someone had read my thoughts and desires, I received a card from my health insurance company to use at four different fitness locations. It seems too good to be true, but then some things that seem too good to be true, are true!

There is Someone that knows my innermost thoughts and desires, Someone that looks out for me. I firmly believe God’s promises in the Bible, and this is one I’m holding on to.

A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows,
is God in his holy dwelling.
Psalm 68:5

Shortly before I reached “Medicare” age, God sent me an insurance agent that signed me up for an insurance company that would not cost me more than the Medicare monthly premium. When I moved to Springfield, that program was available in the county where I now reside. So I have great coverage!

These people know what they’re doing. They know that if we stay fit, there’s lesser chance that we’ll get sick. So now I have four places I can check out, one of them close to where I live–Curves!

 Let me give you a website I just discovered for staying fit: http://prayfit.com We can never have too much encouragement in that area. It’s hard work to exercise, and many of us have to make ourselves do it. For me there is no excuse. Prayer and fitness go well together.

Romans 14:8 gives me the reason for living, and for staying as fit as possible: my Lord and Savior. What about you?

 

A Swedish Tradition and More

My “American” brother got stuck with his nickname—Pepe. His name is Per Roland, but my mother liked “Pepito” (nickname in Spanish for José) so much that it’s what she called him. Pepito is diminutive of Pepe, but as he grew older it turned to just Pepe. I’ll be writing about him in a couple of weeks to honor his birthday, so we’ll leave it at this for now.

We spent some fun days at his house(s) by Stormy Lake. He had a craving for a Swedish tradition of ”Fastlagsbullar” so my sister Agneta and her husband, both chefs, honored all of us with the pastries he wanted, also known as “semlor.” They are a specialty for time of Lent: sweat roles filled with almond paste and whipped cream.

We were a big crowd—sometimes up to 18! My sister-in-law did a great job in feeding us all. Corn and salads and barbeque did the job!

Grilling marshmallows by a campfire in the evening, making smores, was a great treat.

I missed the fun in the water. There was a lot of walking to do and I had to prioritize. When we got home Brianna asked me why I hadn’t been with them by the lake shore. Her reasoning warmed my heart. “It would have been so much more fun if you had been with us!” That makes me regret not pushing myself harder! Hopefully next year…

I spent some time with my dad and I stayed at the house in the afternoons so Sarah could take her nap. That makes me feel a little better. Looking at the pictures I just wish I could have been at the lake.

My brother is a surgeon but he loves to fly. Here is his smallest plane. Below I’ll put a picture of his smallest boat, a canoe!

The Bible tells us to rejoice with those that rejoice. I really had to put that to practice. I’m glad my sister got to sail and fly with my brother. I wish I could have. But than I was just thankful that I could be there. I went to the doctor when I came home and had a check-up. No cancer! Praise the Lord!

For the last two days the Dad joined us. A great relief for my daughter, so she didn’t have to drive on the way home. And what a joy for the kids to play in the water with their dad. That is a vacation!

Too soon it was time to head home again. The cabin and the trees stay, and maybe there will be a time to go back. I still have two nephews that are not married. We can just hope for more summer weddings!

One of my daughter’s responsibilities on the ride home was to make the DVD players work—in the front for Sarah and in the back for David and the girls. It wasn’t the easiest, which David recognized. “Mom,” he said, “when we get to the hotel I’m going to give you a hug and five kisses because you have worked so hard to get it to work. You deserve it!” I agree with him!

The trip home took three days, with overnight stops in Dubuque, Iowa and California, Missouri.

The cornfields in Iowa were amazing. I took some pictures while driving by but they don’t make justice to it. Go, Iowa, for providing us with corn!

In California the kids got to meet some of their cousins. David was excited to sleep in a tent with his cousin Skyler.

As I’m writing I’m enjoying another Swedish tradition—a Marabou chocolate. If you ever get a chance to go to IKEA, don’t miss one of those! If there’s anything we want our family to bring us from Sweden, it’s those chocolates.

The Kalles caviar, hard tacks, pickled herring, rosehip soup… those are the things that I keep up with as a Swedish tradition. It’s a good thing not to forget one’s heritage.

What a treat this wedding experience was! Apart from meeting my “American” brother and his family, my family that came from Sweden was Dad, my sister Agneta and her husband Ola, my brother Lars and his wife Lilo, and my nephew Eric, son of my sister Ingrid that could not come. And as I mentioned yesterday, my cousin Milene came from Peru. The bridegroom had family and friends all the way from Japan, where he grew up. We are an international family, but very much Swedish.

 

Mama Puppy’s First Wedding

I’ve been home from my vacation five days and still I have not gone grocery shopping. We are having a heat wave so I am just huddling inside. I still managed to cook my traditional meal for July 28, the Peruvian beef stir fry “lomo saltado” (without the beef), which I wrote about 2 years ago. Adding Pace salsa sauce brought it to the top! The very “top” would be to celebrate this day once more in Peru.

I am torn between Sweden and Peru. I have family in both places. I inherited family in Peru when my father married one of my good friends. My cousin Milene came to the wedding, and my grandchildren just loved her!

A great surprise for my niece was that my father came from Sweden. It was very hard for my sister-in-law to keep it a secret, but she managed.

Someone else at the wedding was Mama Puppy with her very dressed up “mommy”, my princess Sarah.

As Sarah had her Mama Puppy, I was surrounded by my loved ones. A special treat was to see my “little” brother; not so little anymore. The one that I prayed for every night when I was twelve. The one that I made call me “mommy” when he was two! Here he is with my precious ones!

We survived the heat. That wasn’t the worse. To find our way around to the different places was another story. What a blessing that my daughter had a GPS on her phone. These modern-day gadgets are wonderful!

Something wonderful I heard on this trip was Brianna telling us that she and her sister Lana were becoming good friends. “LOVE hides in surprising places.” I received that quote today in an advertising. I was so pleasantly surprised to hear Brianna say, ”Let’s be friends forever.” She asked me the same thing a few years ago.

To be friends, don’t we all need that?! Sometimes siblings have rivalry among themselves. What a goal to work on being friends!

I don’t know how long Mama Puppy is going to be around. But what I hope will stay for a long time, and grow stronger day by day is the sense of friendship between “my” girls. After the wedding they had some wonderful days by Stormy Lake in northern Wisconsin, days to strengthen their friendship. I’ll have some pictures about that visit tomorrow.

Let me leave with this word about friends.

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Prov 17:17).

 

i-phone show

Technology is great, but when something goes wrong, I’m not great at fixing it!

I will try once more to post some of the pictures of my “modern” grandchildren. So, this is a follow-up of the previous blog that didn’t work out for me.

Brianna and Sarah showing their second-cousin the ropes.

Could Sarah be playing a Dora the Explorer game?

David entertaining himself in the Garden after the wedding.

Taking a break from swimming–what “modern” kids!

David and Lana working the phones on the way home.

“Teacher” Sarah with her Mama Puppy and the i-phone.

Mama Puppy on the dash-board was so cute. I’m sure most of us has had some little “friend” that had to be with us for comfort, and that is what Sarah feels when she has her Mama Puppy. I feel happy that I managed to post the i-phone pictures. The secret? I started all over again!

Talking about secrets. I just heard on the radio about a preacher that told his congregation he had a big secret to tell them, but he would keep it until next time. The congregation didn’t want to wait until next week to hear it, so finally they convinced the preacher to tell it to them. What was it? “God is smarter than I am!”

Isn’t it great to know that we serve an awesome and wise God. It doesn’t matter how many times we mess up, he is always willing to start over. And we cannot ask for forgiveness too many times. Like Peter, who was brave to step out of the boat and into the water, instead of keeping our eyes on Jesus we start thinking about the circumstances and we start sinking. IT WAS THE THINKING THAT DID THE SINKING! (Another line I heard over the radio!)

I have my weekly children’s story to publish, and as soon as I’m done, I’ll continue with my vacation story.

Last week’s story was about a beautiful rose that complained to the wind about being tied to a wall. She wanted to be free! Her complaining went on so much that the wind decided to grant her wish, and he blew with all his force during the night. The rain and the hail did their part, and by the next morning the little rose lay broken and dead on the muddy ground. What a high price to pay for the wish for freedom.

Nothing is better than to be tied with cords of love to out Heavenly Father! That is the real “freedom”!

To Be Just Right

I came across a quote in my translation work today that fits in with my grandchildren.

“Parental wisdom is bringing up your children
so that someone else will like them besides you.”

During our vacation trip my daughter was complimented for how well her children behaved, and I have to add to that compliment. The truth is, after our visit up North, I told the children about the compliments on their behavior and also that they should continue that behavior.

I’m sure any parent will agree on how well it feels when other people like your children. I’ll tell you one thing that made me feel good. This story has to do with my granddaughter Lana, who I don’t write so often about. Not because she is less important, but because she is not the type to come up with things. She is a follower, and her ideas come as an affirmation to her younger sister Brianna’s uncountable ideas.

At the wedding with my Lana-girl!

She is a brave girl. She pulls out her teeth, roots and all, so much her dad has told her to put and end to it, and wait until her little teeth are really lose.

In one of our “pit stops” during our vacation trip we came to a restroom that had a full-size mirror. I caught a look at myself “full-size” in the mirror and didn’t like it very much. Before my cancer ordeal I had worked hard on losing weight and was down almost to my ideal weight. The problem I have with my damaged nerves and no possibilities to take long walks and exercise as I used to have added back the pounds I lost. That I retain lots of fluid doesn’t help.

Lana was with me and I asked, “Do you think I’m an old, fat grandmother?” Her brother David has no problem telling me I’m fat. One time his dad said something to him about taking care so I wouldn’t get skinny on them. “It’s going to take a looong time for mormor (Swedish for grandmother on mom’s side) to get skinny!” he said. He’s right! Whoever has tried to lose pounds knows it takes a looong time.

Back to Lana. This precious girl made my day! Her answer, “You’re just right!”

One thing that was “just right” for the kids were the i-phones their dad had managed to acquire for them. They have no service on them, but they have games to play. From the youngest to the oldest they master them perfectly.

One evening, David was showing his great-grandfather (my dad) how they work, but it didn’t work quite well for David as a teacher. A ninety-year-old man isn’t very keen on modern technology. Then came little three-year-old Sarah, and she showed him exactly how the game worked! Dad was impressed! Maybe she’s going to grow up and be a teacher!

Let me now give you a little show of these modern-day “baby-sitters”! Thank God for i-phones! (I have tried to get the picture show to work several times. The web site messes it up. I will have to give it a try tomorrow again. Sorry!)

The Mom posting on Facebook

Brianna and David playing games Brianna and Sarah showing their second cousin the ropes. Could she be playing a Dora the Explorer game? David entertaining himself in the Garden after the wedding. Taking a break from swimming--what "modern" kids! David and Lana working the phones on the way home. "Teacher" Sarah with her Mama Puppy and the i-phone

 

Mama Puppy helping with the driving

Don’t get the impression that all the kids do is play games on the i-phone. Far from it! Their mother is very adamant that they have to do “something constructive with their minds.” As in what I quoted at the beginning, I’m proud to be the grandmother of children that are brought up so they are likable.

Tomorrow is another day. I’ll have some more input on our wedding-vacation!

My eudaemonia

I’m back home again! It’s always great to make the turn around the block to my street and see the house standing, and then unlock the door and find everything in place. My tomato plants had grown quite a bit in the ten days I was gone. What a blessing to have a home to come home to!

I feel eudaemonia—the satisfaction of having been able to take my daughter and my grandchildren on a vacation. Eudaemonia is a word I learned today (reading Thank You Power by Deborah Norville), and I’m using it so I won’t lose it. You know, “use it or lose it”!

I’m very proud of my grandchildren for their good behavior during the trip, and even more proud of my daughter and son-in-law for teaching them the good behavior. It could have been a disaster with seven people cramped in a van, in the super-hot days we have had. Our “salvation” were the modern I-phones, Leapsters, DS, and DVD-players that kept them occupied. Looking back at my own childhood, when my parents took us kids on a similar, but even longer, road-trip (Toronto, Canada to Florida, for example), the thing I mostly remember is our fights about who would sit at the window. And we did not have comfortable vans in those days! What an adventurous spirit my parents must have had to go through with it! (This was a leg in the journey from Sweden to the mission field of Peru!)

On our trip up to Wisconsin from Missouri my daughter did the driving. We rented a van and to put me on as a second driver would have cost us one hundred dollars more, that’s the reason.

Looking back over my travel log I marvel at the few stops we made. The children had spent a few days with their grandparents in California, so that is where we started the trip (California, Missouri, of course!). We had breakfast at Denny’s in Warrenton. There we met a gentleman at the door who wanted to know where we came from. Why do I always think of things too late? I should have told him California! I just said the kids were from Oklahoma.

This was the only Rest Area we stopped at, but here Brianna expressed the sense of freedom I’m sure we all felt. It’s a memory to cherish for a long time!

I kept busy reviewing notes in a Bible for children and passing “games” back and forth to the children. “You’re acting like a waiter!” said David. That’s what it feels like many times with the kids, but it’s a good eudaemonia.

After a stop at McDonalds in mid-afternoon we just kept driving, and driving, and driving to arrive in Green Bay for an evening cook-out with my Swedish relatives. We hit Milwaukee in rush-hour, having to make a detour downtown because of road construction. Not the most pleasant experience. If that didn’t make us happy, there was something Brianna thought made God happy, that they were watching a “movie about God”—Bible Man. Brianna declared that she only wanted to watch movies about God.

On one stretch of the journey David had been promised to watch a Star Wars movie. What a melt-down he had when his mom discovered that she had the case for the movie but the DVD was still at home. That could disappoint any seven-year-old! He finally calmed down when promised that his dad would bring the movie when he joined us for the last few days of vacation. Of course, than he had to figure out how his dad would bring it safely since we had the case. As we know, where there is a will, there’s a way. And he got his movie, to watch on the way home!

Our day’s journey started at 6.20 AM, the sun just rising above the horizon. At 7.20 PM, thirteen hour later, we arrived at my brother’s house in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

It was a great reunion, as my father, my brother and sister-in law, and one sister and her husband from Sweden had arrived (just missed Ingrid). We are not as scattered today as we were at one point. How about this?

• Our parents in Peru
• Me and my family in Florida
• Ingrid and family in Guinea-Bissau
• Agneta and family in Spain
• Pepe and family in Wisconsin
• Lars and family in Bolivia

That most of us could meet at this point was really eudaemonia. Nothing is more fulfilling than the happiness that comes from making others happy!

I asked David what his most happy moment of the day had been. This was it! To see his mom’s cousins light a fire. So this is where we’ll leave off and pick up tomorrow. A good vacation should be eudaemonia for everyone!

Is a Vacation a Vacation?

Is a vacation trip for a mother and grandmother with four children a vacation? Hardly! But it’s a change from the routine, and I guess that is what counts.

I am taking advantage of a few moments before the entire “tribe” is awake to make sure my cyber friends know that I’m alive. I have not vanished from the face of the earth. We went on this “vacation” for a purpose, that purpose is complete. My beautiful niece is now married to her charming prince.

It was a HOT afternoon, in a botanical garden, with everybody sweating, that these young people said their vows. It could have been raining!

We now have a few days left of “vacation”. When I get another chance to devote a few moments to the computer, I might write a story about this vacation experience. As for now, mother and daughter are doing their best to stay “sane” and keep the four kids safe.

Considering the circumstances, they are doing great. By the way, I promised David I would go with him to watch a Transformers movie that is now in theaters . “I know you would just do it to make me happy,” said David yesterday, because he figures, what fun can Transformers be for a grandmother?! 

The true meaning of happiness is to make others happy. That is also the true meaning of this vacation!

Breakfast for the Soul

My head is spinning. I feel like the prophet Elijah. But how do I know how he felt? I’m just picturing him. Tired, after a hard battle with the Baal prophets… I think what I want is a visitor like he had.

An angel prepared food for him: a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. “Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God” (1 Kings 19:9).

I haven’t traveled but I have been working my head off to get a job done so I can start traveling tomorrow. I had a plan for this job, but there were unforeseen interruptions and I lost a day. That is why I have been going, and going, and going…

Elijah was strengthened by “angel food” and walked 40 days. Unbelievable! I have been strengthened by an early morning in the presence of God, listening to the sounds.

When it’s so hot that the temperature goes above 100 degrees in the day-time, you have to take advantage of the early morning hours. I love to sit outside in the breeze. That’s my breakfast for the soul. I let all the morning sounds feed me:

• The horn of a train puffing away on a long journey
• Cars and trucks passing on the Interstate
• An airplane flying high up in the sky
• The chorus of crickets and other little critters
• Birds singing their morning praises
• Neighboring dogs saluting the day

An orchestra of sounds and noises. This was my “quiet” morning. There was silence in the midst of it all! My soul listening for the most important voice of all. And that’s when I started thinking of Elijah. He was listening for God. After that 40-day travel, strengthened by angel food, he stood on the mountain in the presence of God, listening for his voice.

A great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks …
          but the LORD was not in the wind.
After the wind there was an earthquake …
          but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
After the earthquake came a fire …
          but the LORD was not in the fire.
And after the fire came a gentle whisper … 
          And there was God!

Nothing is more precious than a “quiet” summer morning, surrounded by all the early sounds, listening for God to speak … in the gentle whisper

“In quietness and trust is your strength,” the LORD God said through the prophet Isaiah (30:15).

And then there is the Bible verse I hope to paint on a border around the ceiling of the Princess-room.

“The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.” –Zephaniah 3:17

I take a break and lay on the bed, looking up at the ceiling, picturing those words comforting some tired soul. “God will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.”

That is more than just breakfast for the soul. That is the best of comfort foods.

I wish an angel would come and tap me on the shoulder. Inviting me one of those baked cakes that has energy for 40 days!

My vacation travel for 2011 starts tomorrow. I need energy and I have to pack light. We have to fit ourselves (2 adults & 4 kids) and everybody’s stuff in a van.  I’m not good at packing light… All the “What if I need it” have to stay home. But one thing that has to go with me is my friend the computer. I want to write about our vacation. After all, it’s my youngest niece that’s getting married.

It’s going to be many hours of driving, many opportunities to hear new sounds. Every day will have a different breakfast for the soul. But I don’t have many hopes for an angel bringing me a cake baked on hot coals for my body needs. I suspect a McDonald’s breakfast will have to do!

Do you like to feed your soul with the whisper of God’s love? How awesome to hear God whisper to you!

 

Keep on Dreaming

I had a pleasant visit this afternoon with a friend from the “good old times” we worked together producing curriculum. I was a Spanish editor and she was a designer. When I first came to work in the same department we used to talk on our break-times. I enjoyed those times very much.

She is going to help me with her talents to fix a border with a Bible verse that will comfort and inspire the guests in my Princess-room. I remembered today a song my mom and dad used to sing to us kids reminding us to help each other–”När vi alla hjälpas åt”–, the words in English going something like this:

When we all help each other we get the job done.
The burden is light when we all work together.

Isn’t that what our Lord taught us? To help each other and lighten our load. Dad would sing that when he wanted us to help with the dishes and we complained. Those times are long gone, but the song is stored in my memory.

Little by little my dream is coming true. And as I’m writing, I’m listening to a Praise the Lord (TBN) program from Jerusalem. It’s a 38 years dream come true for Paul Crouch. Year after year he has tried to get permission to broadcast from Israel, and finally the answer was Yes! It’s brothers and sisters from Russia that are heading this effort. The channel they are broadcasting from is YES. Once again, a testimony to show us not to give up. When God gives us a dream we just have to pursue it and keep on believing!

As I encourage you to be bold and strong and keep your dreams alive, and as you pray for yourself, your family, and your country, pray for Jerusalem. What a blessing to have a TV broadcast, coming from the street of Peace-Zion, to broadcast around the world the message of the Prince of Peace!

Ps 122:6-9
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:
“May those who love you be secure. 
May there be peace within your walls
and security within your citadels.” 
For the sake of my brothers and friends,
I will say, “Peace be within you.” 
For the sake of the house of the LORD our God,
I will seek your prosperity.

I’m amazed at this interesting first program sent from Jerusalem. It reminds me of my late husband, how he always prayed for the peace of Jerusalem. May God bless you and yours with the same peace he blesses his chosen people in the Holy Land.