The Christian Living is a journey of JOY. That doesn’t mean there are no rugged paths along the way. Sometimes life can be very tough, but like King David says in Psalm 30:5, “weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.”

The Apostle Paul was in prison when he wrote to the Philippians, what is known as the Epistle of  Joy. More than ten times he refers to joy and rejoicing.

This is his claim for victory:

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Phil 4:4).

There are more than 400 references to joy and happiness in the Bible. No wonder, because the joy of the LORD is our strength (Neh 8:10).

I chose for my theme in 2007 to rejoice in the Lord, asking for his joy to be my strength. I’m sure God inspired me to choose that theme, because he knew the path I had ahead of me. That was the year I was hit with cancer and also the year when my husband was called to his heavenly residence. I don’t have words adequate to describe the strength I got from the joy of the Lord!

“A cheerful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones” (Prov 17:22).

This is the order of priority we should have in life. Jesus first, then others, and thirdly ourselves. That priority will bring joy. Do you know the song: “So, forget about yourself and concentrate on Him and worship him, worship Christ the Lord”? The key to having JOY in all circumstances is to concentrate on Jesus! In the good times but also in the bad times!

Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vine; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains. (Hab 3:17-19, NLT)

 “A happy heart makes the face cheerful” (Prov 15:13).

Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous
sing, all you who are upright in heart!
Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
make music to the LORD with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn
shout for joy before the LORD, the King.
For you make me glad by your deeds, O LORD;
I sing for joy at the works of your hands.
How great are your works, O LORD,
how profound your thoughts!
Ps 32:11; 95:1-2; 98:4-6; 92:4-5

 God knows that not every day will be a ride on a sunny cloud. Sometimes the sun will be covered by dark clouds. Those are the days when we are most needful of  the joy of the Lord. This past Sunday I wrote about some sad news that hit me like a bomb. I felt like my heart would break in pieces. Those are times to practice Romans 12:15, something I’ve been doing all week, praying for the victims in this sad story.

“Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Rom 12:15).

May the joy of the Lord be your strength!

My grandchildren are very excited about it, especially Brianna. Every time she hears the alarm go off, she comes bouncing around to me, saying, “Let’s pray for the President!” And that is what we do.

We pray for our President.
We pray for his wife.
We pray for his girls.
We pray for our Vice-President.
We pray for all our leaders.
We pray for our country.

It’s biblical.

1 Timothy 2:1,2
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone–for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

My greatest concern in praying for our leaders is that they will seek God’s counsel in leading the country. And, above all, that they will turn to God for salvation.

Mark 8:36,37
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

If you haven’t yet joined in, do it now. If 8:00 PM Central Standard Time is not at good time for you, choose another time. If you live in a country other than the United States, pray for the leaders in your country.

If you don’t agree with your leaders, if they belong to another political party than the one you endorse, it makes no difference. It might be even a bigger reason to pray for them.

So, let’s pray for our President and all those in authority!

I’ve spent the day with my youngest granddaughter. She is the sweetest little girl you can imagine. The last few days she has not felt very good, running a fever and coughing. After her nap in the afternoon I had her in my lap and we cuddled while she was waking up. “I’m so glad I have you,” I said to her. Then Sarah looked at me and said, “I’m so glad I have you!” That made my day!

I have been busy with my weekly story. It takes me a whole day! Write the story, decide a good Bible verse to go with it, find the needed art, color the picture in Photoshop, do the layout using InDesign (both in black and white and in color), do a coloring page, and lately I have started doing an activity page. When I have all that done and have exported each page to make it a PDF file I write a blog to go with it. Then I have to upload the stories and link them to the blog. That’s about it!

Now it’s evening and I’m sitting in my bed, with my lap-top, listening to the President giving his State of the Union speech.

My granddaughter Brianna is sleeping with me tonight. At five o’clock in the morning she will be traveling with her parents to Oklahoma City. She’ll have a procedure done to check for gluten intolerance. I will get her older brother and sister off to school and then spend another day with the little girl that is happy to have me.

What was the story about? It was about that extraordinary day when Simon Peter let Jesus use his boat to preach to the crowds.

That day started out very disappointing. Peter and his partners had been fishing all night and caught nothing. Come morning, the only thing they had to do was wash their nets.

Then Jesus came!

When Jesus comes, things change.

A tired and disappointed Peter got the miracle of his life. At Jesus’ words he let down his net in deeper water. And he caught so many fish that the boat started to sink. He had to call for his companions to help him.

Overwhelmed by the miracle he saw his own sinful condition. He fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”

“Don’t be afraid,” said Jesus. And then he gave him the opportunity of his life.

“From now on you will catch men.”

So Peter and his partners pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed Jesus. (Read the story in Luke 5:1-1.)

From fishermen to fishers of men! Wow!

It was a complete turn-around for Peter and for his brother Andrew, and for their partners James and John.

When Jesus calls we have to leave everything and follow him.

As I’m listening to the President’s speech I’m thinking about the great difference it would make if our leaders would let Jesus come into the “boat”!

How about you and me? May Jesus always be welcome into our “boat.”

“If my people, who are called by my name,
will humble themselves and pray and seek my face
and turn from their wicked ways,
then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin
and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

Job didn’t know he was a spiritual battle, that he was being a vivid testimony before all the hosts of the heavens of what it means to be blameless before God. “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” (Job 2:10), he asked. But in all that happened to him he did not sin against God.

Job was not only misunderstood by his wife; even the friends that came to console him were judgmental. They were sure there was something Job must have done wrong to cause all this pain. I’m sure God looked down on his servant, proud as a father whose child has graduated high school with honors, saying maybe “Son, if you only knew! Sorry, I can’t tell you the reason, but you are making me proud. Just hang in there.”

The story of Job inspires me with hope. Every morning when I wake up with such pain in my feet I can barely step on the floor, I brace myself and I just say “Thank you, Jesus. I love you.” I know he could just say a word and the pain would be gone. He must have a reason for not doing it. I just need to be patient and keep on keeping on in faith. Whatever my circumstances I want to serve the Lord with gladness.

Last week I saw my doctor. She gave me a new medication to see if we can keep the pain at bay. It’s long-lasting. I take one pill every 12 hours. I’ve just started with it and it seems to be working. Less pain but I get drowsy. I guess you got to take the good with the bad.

Here is the confidence Job had in the midst of all his troubles:

Job 19:23-27
Oh, that my words were recorded,
that they were written on a scroll,
that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead,
or engraved in rock forever!
I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;
I myself will see him
with my own eyes–I, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!

I know that my Redeemer lives! That’s the hope that kept Job confident. His heart yearned for the day he would see God. That is a hope like no other! It makes me want to shout.

Job held out. He listened to his “friends” chastising him; very sure as they were that he must have done something wrong. None of them knew it was a spiritual battle. Job won and then God blessed the latter part of his life more than the first.

Whatever your situation is right now, if you’re in a spiritual battle (even if you don’t know it!), hang on to the assurance that your Redeemer lives. That’s the hope that keeps me going. It’s the hope beyond all hopes. Jesus lives! With him whatever battle can be won. Don’t give up! Like the song goes: Don’t give up on the brink of a miracle!

There is one big source of comfort, the only real comfort, and that’s God.

2 Corinthians 1:3-5
³ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

I remember those days when my precious girl was gone. One night it dawned on me that she was not coming back. I just screamed with all the force of my lungs, “She’s not coming back! She’s not coming back!” And that is the hardest part of it all; that they will never come back.

It’s been ten years. But I have not gotten over it. I probably never will. I miss my girl. And today it all came back to me, and I can feel the pain my friend is going through. A pain that leaves a big hole in your heart.

How can I reach out? The best I know is to reach out to God and ask him to be for my friend that which he is: the God of all comfort. I will ask him to wrap his arms around my hurting friend and draw him close to his heart.

How many words are in the Bible? Someone has counted them to be 774,746. At this moment it’s like there were only five! I can’t think of anything other than “the God of all comfort.” The Word of God is not like any other book. It’s a living Word! That’s why when we need a special message it stands out like there was no other.

What word do you need? Have you been hit by some “bomb”? Rest assured in the presence of the God of all comfort. And he comforts us so that we may comfort others.

My soul finds rest in God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
Psalm 62:1,2

With this beautiful photo of a sunset taken this week, looking out from my back door, I want to remind you of God’s faithfulness. He has created such an awesome world that we can enjoy. Let’s praise him from the depth of our heart. May the Day of the Lord be refreshing and renewing. I’m excited because I will get to see my friends at First Assembly in Fort Gibson.

Once more I have made the trip to visit my daughter and her family. A little late we celebrated her birthday with dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Next time we’ll celebrate a birthday it will be mine. It’s nice to have things to celebrate.

What I most celebrate is God’s love for me! I see it everywhere. Even in a beautiful sunset!

Integrity is the word for the week in my series on the ABC’s of Christian Living.

What is integrity? Here is Webster’s definition that fits into this category: “the quality or state of being of sound moral principle; uprightness, honesty, and sincerity.”

Now let’s look at some things God’s Word has to say about integrity.

“Blessed are they whose ways are blameless,
who walk according to the law of the LORD” (Ps 119:1).

The LORD detests men of perverse heart
but he delights in those whose ways are blameless” (Prov 11:20).

In Psalm 15 there is a description of a man or woman with INTEGRITY. It says that whoever does those things will never be shaken.

• leads a blameless life
• does what is right
• speaks the truth with sincerity
• refuses to slander others
• does not harm his/her neighbors
• does not speak evil of his/her friends
• despises persistent sinners
• honors the faithful followers of the LORD
• keeps his/her promises even when it hurts
• does not charge interest on the money he/she lends
• refuse to accept bribes to testify against the innocent

The following acrostic is “integrity according to Kerstin Lundquist”.

“The LORD detests lying lips,
but he delights in men who are truthful” (Prov 12:22).

“The man of integrity walks securely,
but he who takes crooked paths will be found out” (Prov 10:9).

May God help us to walk blameless before him!

When she graduated from High School her father and I could not have been prouder. It had been a bumpy road for her with our missionary life. Starting her life in Peru, born in the mining city of La Oroya, she was surrounded by Spanish, although at home we spoke Swedish.

When we went on a year’s furlough to Sweden, the Spanish was kicked to the background. Returning to Peru, Spanish took first seat. She even started Kindergarten in Spanish. (The girl with the doll)

Then we moved to Sweden for three years. At first she refused to speak Swedish, but to make it in school she had to give in. School at that time was something else. Her teacher was trying out a new kind of teaching technique, which among others let the kids decide what they wanted to learn. My “baby” loved babies so she mostly played with dolls.

Then we moved to Peru and she and her sister went to a Swedish boarding school in Bolivia. She had forgotten her Spanish and it took quite some time before she was willing to pick it up.

When it came time for high school we had moved to Bolivia as a family. We decided to put her in an English-speaking school. So she started a new learning curve.

God knows things about us that we don’t know. He knew we would move to the United States so this was a preparation. How hard we worked for her to pick up English! I say “we” because I worked hard with her on the home work assignments. And she graduated with honors!

Then came a year at Christ for the Nations Institute in Texas, rounded up with a mission trip to Polen.

When we moved from Florida to Colorado, Carina ventured into the tourism business. But what good is a Certificate when no one hires you? At every travel agency where she applied they would say, “We need someone with experience!” How can you get experience if no one gives you an opportunity to spread your wings?

After celebrating her 30^th birthday the dream of her life came true—to be a wife and a mother. And now I’m sitting in my living room looking at frames pictures of the beautiful grandchildren I have, thanks to Carina (and her husband, of course).

Proverbs 16:31 says, “Gray hair is a crown of splendor…” The years go by quickly and those gray hairs creep in. We don’t need to hide them. I did for some years. It made me look younger! But after the cancer and losing my hair, I’m proud of the gray!

On January 19, 2010 I wrote a blog about the loneliest day in my life. Yes, that day 40 years ago was my loneliest. I was by myself at the hospital with no means to contact my husband, about 80 miles away. And then, that evening, she was here, welcomed into the world by the doctor and the nurses, and this VERY PROUD mother.

This day–January 19, 2012–was “lonelier” with just me, myself and I. But now I have a telephone and I have a cell phone, so me,  myself and I sang the birthday song for the girl, now turned the respectable age of 40. The song was in Spanish and it ends with the words “May God bless you now and forever.” And I say yes and amen to that.

This weekend I will sing the song once more (maybe) and give my girl a big hug.

Time got away from me (the today19 turned into 20!). I was just remembering… I have so many good memories!

I can’t help but think back to the day I turned 40. We were missionaries in Bolivia and I was heading a small publishing company. I was producing the Bible lessons that now, 26 years later, I’m putting on the web. You often hear me talk about it and I usually tell you what story I published during the week.

My “team” organized a party for me and they gave me 40 roses. I’ve arranged to give my daughter 40 flowers but they will not all be roses. I wish I could be there with her tomorrow and hand-deliver them. But I have good hands that will do me the favor.

Forty is a “Bible number.”

• When God sent the flood, it rained 40 days and 40 nights
• Joseph had the Egyptians embalm his father; it took 40 days
• The Israelites ate manna the 40 years they wandered in the desert
• Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on the mountain with God
• Moses’ life was divided in three 40 year periods
• The twelve men especially chosen explored the land of Canaan for 40 days
• Caleb was 40 years old when he went to explore the Promised Land
• When Othniel was judge of the land the people had peace for 40 years
• The land had peace for 40 years after the victory led by Deborah and Barak
• When Midian was subdued by the victory God gave Gideon the land hand another 40 years of peace
• When the Israelites did evil God delivered them for 40 years in the hands of the Philistines
• Eli led Israel for 40 years
• King Saul reigned for 40 years
• King David reigned for 40 years in Israel
• King Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over Israel for 40 years
• Strengthened by “angel food” Elijah traveled 40 days and 40 nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God
• Joash reigned in Jerusalem for 40 years
• Jonah proclaimed that in 40 days Nineveh would be overturned
• Jesus fasted for 40 days and 40 nights and was tempted by the devil in the desert
• After his suffering, Jesus appeared to his disciples over a period of 40 days
• Five times Paul received from the Jews 40 lashes minus one.

Here I am with my 40 roses and with my team. The girl in the front is my daughter that now resides in heaven. My “baby” is standing by my side. If it wasn’t for an appointment with my doctor on Friday, I would be hugging her tomorrow. She will have to be patient and wait a couple of days.

When Caleb reached his second 40 years he was just as strong as when he had done his first 40. I’m praying for that in my life and I sure wish it for my daughter.

Some years ago Bruce Wilkinson made us aware of a single verse in the Bible—a prayer—that can revolutionize our life. I had never paid attention to 1 Chronicles 4:10. It’s in the midst of chronological information, and many times I used to skip over those chapters. But there it is, tucked in the middle of all these names: Jabez.

Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request.

In 2000 I started praying that prayer, for God to enlarge my territory. I believe the web ministry the Lord has given me is an answer to that prayer.

I am humbled and grateful that the Bible lessons and stories I publish weekly on the net are reaching the following countries and probably more. I have received confirmation that I have readers in these countries.

Argentina
Bolivia
Chile
Colombia
Costa Rica
Ecuador
El Salvador
Guatemala
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
Peru
Puerto Rico
Spain
Sweden
Uruguay
USA
Venezuela

This morning I wrote a page of prayers for myself that I want to share with you to inspire you to be bold and pray for yourself to do great things for God. If you are feeling good you’re going to do more good for the Kingdom of God.

• Make me glad by your deeds
• Give me strength like a wild ox
• Make me flourish like a palm tree
• Make me bear fruit in old age
• Help me keep a song of praise in my heart in my mouth
• Give me an unquenchable thirst for God
• Give me the desires of my heart
• Make my plans succeed
• You are my Shepherd; I will not be in want
• Give me LONG life to proclaim what you have done for me
• Help me love your Word and crave for it
• Help me wait in EXPECTATION for answers to prayer
• You are my Defender and Provider
• I want the joy of the Lord to overflow in my heart and make me glad
• MAKE ME A SOUL-WINNER

(Requests based on Scriptures from Psalms 92, 40, 42, 20, 23, 118, 119, 5, 68.)

I continue praying that God will enlarge my territory, safe and secure in Jesus.

I found a promise I had overlooked, maybe because before it didn’t apply to me.

Proverbs 15:25
The LORD tears down the proud man’s house
but he keeps the widow’s boundaries intact.

I feel good about my resolve to make an IMPACT in 2012. I’m in my Father’s business and my deepest prayer is that God will bless me to make me a blessing.

May God bless you! Start today, if you’re not already doing it, to pray for yourself to be used mightily as an instrument in God’s hands.