Welcome to Gospel Solutions for Families.

I'm your host, Amy Iverson.

The scriptures remind us over and over to wait upon the Lord.

Former Apostle Elder Neal A. Maxwell put it this way:

"Faith in God includes faith in His timing."

If you've ever wondered about the Lord's timing in your life,

you'll want to join us today.

I'll be talking with Lisa Lund.

In 2004, Lisa married Russell Lund.

Today, hanging on a sign in Lisa's home is this quote:

"Once in a while, right in the middle of an ordinary life,

love gives you a fairy tale."

Lisa's fairy tale didn't come the way she expected.

Her fairy tale took faith in the Lord's timing.

So Lisa, you, growing up, I feel like,

had a very early dose of thinking fairy tales happen.

And a big part of that was because of your parents--

Absolutely.

--even the way they joined the Church.

Tell that story.

My parents met at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.

And when they got to the point where

they were deciding that they wanted to get married,

my dad asked my mom, "Would you investigate the Mormon Church

with me?"

And my mom said, "Yes, I'd be happy to do that,

as long as you would investigate the Catholic church."

That's fair.

She had been raised Catholic; he really

hadn't been raised with religion.

But the story goes back 10 years earlier,

when my dad with his family came from Illinois.

And they went across the United States

just on a summer vacation.

And my grandma really wanted to see the Mormon Tabernacle

Choir, so they stopped at Temple Square.

And as they were finishing that tour,

and they were leaving to get back in their car,

my grandma tells the story that my dad, at 14,

turned around and said, "I don't know about the rest of you,

but someday I'm going to be a Mormon."

Just from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

Yes, just from being on Temple Square, the Spirit he felt.

It was 10 years later that that conversation

happened with my parents as to, would my mom

investigate the Church.

And my mom tells the story that when the missionaries were

talking to them, instantly my dad knew

he wanted to join the Church.

My mom was a little bit more hesitant.

She calls herself more of the stubborn side

of the relationship.

And it wasn't until they started talking about families being

together forever--she said that's when the Spirit told her

this was right.

And they were married in 1959 in the Peoria, Illinois, church.

And it was about three years after that when my sister

and I--Lynn was two and a half; I would have been one

and a half--that they came to Utah and we were sealed

as a family.

And what's really special about that is,

your mom really must have been close to the Spirit

to have the fact of forever families

be the thing that touched her, because of a tragedy that

happened later.

Right, it was.

When I was nine, I had just finished the third grade.

And it had been the best year ever,

that when I finished school, Mrs.

Jimas, my third-grade teacher, had written on my report card,

"When this little girl goes, a part of my heart

goes with her."

And I felt the same way about her.

It had been the best year.

And we were planning our annual summer vacation

to go back to Illinois.

We had moved to Utah, and we were

planning our summer vacation to go back to Illinois.

And my dad left for work on June 1, and he never came home.

He was killed in a car accident.

And overnight our world went from being,

I would consider, perfect to "What's going to happen now?"

My mom had four little kids--a 10-year-old, a 9-year-old,

a 6-year-old, and a 3-month-old.

It had only been four years before that

that they had moved from Illinois to Utah.

My dad had been recruited by ZCMI

to come out and be in charge of their advertising department.

And now she was left with four little kids,

and the closest relative was 1,500 miles away.

But they had made the decision to raise their family in Utah,

and she stayed.

She had the faith to know this is where

she wanted to raise her family.

The morning after the accident, she gathered the four of us

together and told us what had happened.

And you think of someone, 34 years old--she had been

a stay-at-home mom for 12 years, and instantly her world was

turned upside down.

And she had the faith to gather her little family

and kneel down and pray for the years

we had been together as a family and that we all

needed to live our lives that someday we

can be reunited again.

Well, she became your hero.

Absolutely, absolutely.

And now she's 81 years old, this cute little

short Italian woman.

And she is.

She is one of my greatest heroes.

So an eventful childhood for your family.

And as you grew older, your mom played

another role when we're talking about fairy tales,

because your sister became engaged, your younger sister.

My older sister.

Oh, your older sister, OK.

And your mom was a little worried about money.

So tell that wedding dress story, because that is a hoot.

Yes.

Lynn and Kirby got engaged.

And Lynn and I are just 14 months apart in age.

And my mom told us that she was on a tight budget.

And she knew we would be getting married close together,

and so we needed to pick out a wedding dress together.

And so we went shopping together,

found a beautiful wedding dress that Lynn

wore when she got married.

That was in 1981.

I got married in 2004.

[LAUGHS] So you didn't wear the dress.

So not only was the dress not in style,

but I couldn't have fit in it.

So that's in your 20s, when your sister gets married.

And in my life, anyway, that's when most of my friends

were married.

That's college time.

Exactly.

And it didn't happen for you in your 20s.

What were you feeling at that time?

You know what?

There are choices and consequences

that come from those choices.

And a big part of it is because of choices I had made.

And I think that I can look back and say, "I wish."

But my life was a wonderful life.

I've had wonderful opportunities.

I never looked at it as, "Why me?"

There were times--a dear friend of mine called me up and told

me that she was engaged.

And I was so excited for her, but I said,

"Let me call you back."

I hung up the phone, and I cried.

Not--I was so excited for her.

But it was one more friend getting married, and I wasn't.

And I think part of it was choices, consequences,

and feeling like, "Have I put the Atonement in place

for myself?"

And did you realize that was the case in your 20s?

Or has that come over time?

I think it's come over time, to realize

that I needed to be able to put the past behind me,

that I had been forgiven of things.

But had I forgiven myself?

Had I realized that the Atonement was not just

for everyone else, but for me?

And so you felt like that was a barrier

to you and relationships.

Absolutely.

So in your 20s, you had a little conflict of emotion,

it sounds like.

And then your 30s came, and you still

hadn't found the love of your life.

Right.

And so in your 30s, how did your mindset change?

Or did it?

Do you know what?

A lot of it was "Maybe this is not going to happen,

and I can be happy anyway.

I can move forward with my life."

I have two wonderful sisters that

let me be a second mom to them.

And in fact, I have in my home a cross-stitch that my sister did

that says, "Few of us will reach our potential

without the mother who bore us and the mothers who

bear with us."

And that's a quote by Sheri Dew.

And the little plaque at the bottom

says, "To our second mom, Lisa," and then, "Love, Jared, Jordan,

Abby, Justin, John, Michaela, and Olivia."

And they were my kids.

And I just appreciate so much my sisters,

who let me be such a huge part of their children's lives.

I also decided to build a little home in a family neighborhood.

I had been attending singles wards for years,

and I thought, "If I'm going to move into a neighborhood,

I need to get involved with the family ward."

And that's scary when you're in your early 30s, you're single,

and you move into a ward that's a lot of young families.

But I went into that.

Everyone was strangers.

And when I did leave, 10 years later, I left family.

I left--

Now, that's an amazing attitude, because I think a lot

of people, when they're single, whatever the circumstances

are--the Church focuses on family, family, marriage a lot.

Absolutely.

And it could be very easy for you to have sat in a corner

in the back--I know people who have done this--and keep

to yourself.

So what was it that made you have that oomph to get out

there and be involved?

I think the first thing is, from the time I was young,

I love kids.

I love children.

I was the babysitter.

And when my nieces and nephews were born, I loved children.

And so instead of feeling sorry for myself

that this was a part of my life I did not have,

I embraced that so many wonderful mothers

allowed me to be a big part of their children's lives.

Being in a neighborhood where the families were young--two

bishops served, that their wives had three and four young kids.

I sat next to them, and those children

became my children also.

That's wonderful.

I have a cute story to tell, that Tyler,

when he was about eight years old, said to his mom,

"Mom, do you think Lisa would wait till I got home

from my mission?"

[CHUCKLES]

And I was in my mid-30s at the time.

Tyler now is happily married and such a wonderful young man.

But there are so many children out there now

who have grown up that I consider mine also.

You mothered in your own way.

Yes.

So you are full of joy and seem to have

this wonderful, positive attitude about everything.

But was there ever times--because I think a lot

of people are in this situation or similar ones--where you did

feel alone or where you felt maybe God had forgotten you

a little bit?

Yes.

I felt like there were times, more, I hadn't forgiven myself.

So how could God love me?

How could He want the best for me?

And I call them my chocolate chip cookie days,