What I love about Easter….

With Easter approaching, I like to take a moment and remember why we celebrate Easter and what it means to me personally. I love to read the scriptures and be reminded of how much God loves me. How He sent His only begotten Son into this world to die for my sins. When I think about how Jesus suffered for me, I’m sorrowful. I can’t even imagine how He felt as He knelt in the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing the time was near and knowing what He had to do. Can you imagine carrying your own burdens without the help of the Lord? Can you imagine suffering without any comfort, without whining or calling to God for help? I certainly can’t, but that’s exactly what Jesus did for us.

I’ve often wondered how Jesus could have suffered like that and allowed them to take His life without fighting or begging God to help Him. And there’s only one explanation that comes to my mind and touches my heart—it was LOVE. It wasn’t nails or soldiers that held Him on that cross, it was love. They didn’t take His life; He gave it, freely, for you and me. He died for everyone—the non-believers as well as the believers.

I can’t imagine how He felt as He carried the cross and the sins of the whole world, knowing some would reject Him and His sacrifice. But, still, He shed His blood. I believe, with all of my heart, if there had only been one person that would believe and accept Him, He would have died the same for that one as He did for the multitude. With Jesus, love has no bounds.

He knew Judas would betray Him and, yet, He loved him. Judas walked with Jesus and witnessed the miracles He performed and His charity, but he still sold Him for thirty pieces of silver. However, when it was done Judas realized his mistake, but it was too late. He couldn’t undo the wrong he had done unto the Lord. His sorrow was so great that he took his own life. This shows me we need to be really careful how we treat the Lord. Once something is done we can’t change it, regardless of our sorrow.

But my favorite part of it all is that I serve a living God. Even though the world crucified Him, buried Him in a tomb, placed guards and a stone in front, still they couldn’t contain my Lord. Death has no power or dominion over Him or His amazing love. How do I know He lives? I feel Him in my heart.

I’m so thankful He put that same power and love within me. Regardless of what the devil does to me, he can’t touch that part that belongs to God. He’s not big enough to keep me from going to Heaven. And there’s not a grave deep enough to hold me when the trumpet sounds.

I got things fixed up with the Lord a long time ago when He saved my soul. This place is not my home; I’m just passing through, telling people how good God is to me. I could never repay God for all He has done for me, but every once in a while I try to show Him that I love Him. I go to church, not because I’m good or a Christian, but because I’m a sinner and I need the Lord. I go because I want to be a good soldier in the army of my Lord. I want to put on the whole amour of God and fight for my loved ones. I know time is running out and I want to do all I can for my Lord, which is so little when I think about all He has done for me. I want to see my loved ones saved. I want them to have this glorious peace and love deep down in their soul. My pastor says the Lord will save our people because we ask Him to. However, the Lord doesn’t always answer our prayers when we want him to.

I prayed for my husband for ten years before he got saved. Well I say I prayed for ten years, but I think it took me that long to get to the point to where I could pray for him. At first, I wanted him to be saved for me. I know that sounds horrible, but it’s true. I wanted him to be saved so he would take me and kids to church on Sundays. I wanted him to be saved so our marriage would be stronger and things would be better. However, when I came to the point that I wanted it for him because I wanted him to have that peace, a relationship with God and to really experience the power of love, God saved him. It was an Easter I’ll never forget.

We need to remember that even though people might come to church on Easter for various reasons, God is in control. They might come to show off their new Easter clothes, but leave saved and dressed right for Heaven. We all need to be concerned. We need to tell our people about Jesus and how great that He is. We need to tell of the hope in us.

So this Easter I beg you to go to church. Take your kids or grandkids; ask your family, friends and neighbors. Don’t be ashamed of what God has done for you. Every Sunday we have a choice of whom we serve—God or the devil. We can’t serve both.

I guess everyone gets tired of hearing me talk about God. That’s what the devil tells me anyway. He tries to get me to delete my blog and stop writing for God. He tries to get me to stop going to church. He tries to stop me from praying. He wants me to stop singing for my Lord. He doesn’t want me to teach Sunday school. He fights me continuously, but I keep trying.

The way I see it God spared me and allowed me to live for a reason—His purpose. Every day that He blesses me to live is a gift. While I can’t repay Him for all of His Grace and Mercy, I can tell everyone that will listen how good He is to me.