Easter Sunday

I'll be one to admit, I won't protest receiving a nice piece of dark chocolate on Easter. And while the bunnies, chicks, chocolate and pastel colors are all cutesy and fun, its not what Easter is about. To start this off, I want to bring up a post I saw today by one of my Facebook friends...

I love Easter because, Christ died for everyone; even those who do not know him.
He died for you, regardless if you wake and curse Him, or Worship him.
You cannot escape His complete adoration of you ♥
That's unconditional love, and that's why I celebrate His sacrifice today. 

I like this post a lot, it brings up a subject I've been wanting to blog about, but didn't know when was the right time. Well, Easter seems like a good time to talk about Jesus's death and resurrection, doesn't it?

Jesus died for everyone. 

Yes! And truth be told at one point or another, we have all turned away from Jesus and decided our way was better. We've all at one point, by action or by words, have cursed God. No one is better than the person sitting next to them, we didn't deserve to be saved from sin, but God choose to save us anyway.

"We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way," Isaiah 53:6


Jesus died for everyone; lairs, murderers, rapists, church people, prostitutes, protesters, hypocrites, you, me, everyone! Jesus died so that everyone, no matter what they've done, could come to him. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," Romans 3:23

But wait! The story doesn't end there. 

As much as I love talking about what Jesus did for us on the cross, it doesn't end there. Jesus died and rose three days later. Jesus's death was not the end, he's alive! My Lord, my King, is alive! The tomb was rolled away- there are no bones in his grave. I don't worship a dead king, my Lord is alive, my Savior lives. Such beauty, such love, such grace! This is why we celebrate Easter.

My God is alive, and he dwells in me by his Spirit. I am alive, truly alive, only because He lives.

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. - Romans 8:11

Dear Reader, I don't know where you are at in your spiritual life, perhaps you're already commited, perhaps you've fallen away, perhaps you despise God or perhaps you're on the fence; but I want you to know that Christ died for you, He loves you. If you choose to follow him it won't be easy, but it will be worth it.

May the Lord Jesus, the one who defeated death, defeat death in your life. May he provide a resurrection for your spirit, and may you truly know what it is to live. 

I'm going to place a very long scripture here at the bottom, yes I know, reading! How terrible. But I think it sums up what this Easter celebration is all about quite nicely.

Isaiah 53

² He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
   and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
   nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

³ He was despised and rejected by mankind,
   a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
   he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

 ⁴ Surely he took up our pain
   and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
   stricken by him, and afflicted.

⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions,
   he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
   and by his wounds we are healed.

⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
   each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
   the iniquity of us all.

 ⁷ He was oppressed and afflicted,
   yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
   and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
   so he did not open his mouth.

⁸ By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
   Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
   for the transgression of my people he was punished.

⁹ He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
   and with the rich in his death,
though he had done no violence,
   nor was any deceit in his mouth.

 ¹⁰ Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
   and though the Lord's makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
   and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

¹¹ After he has suffered,
   he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
   and he will bear their iniquities.

¹² Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
   and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
   and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,
   and made intercession for the transgressors.

Birthday Reflections

Reflections. 

"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord....

I turned 18 a few days ago (April 2) so I decided to finally give a blog update.

I heard the question asked on the radio today if you were either dreading getting older or looking forward to it. For me, if I ignore the number part, ( I do enjoy being young) then I look forward to it- because I look forward to seeing the different stages God walks me through in my life. But if you would have asked my that questions two years ago, I would have flat out answered I dreaded it... 

When I was 15 (Or around that time) it became my big dream, my big goal, to change the world by time I was sixteen. That's how I wanted to celebrate that age, I wanted to know I had done something great (or was at lest on the path) I wanted to know that my life wasn't meaningless, I wanted to make an impact, a lasting impact for God.

Big surprise, 16 came and went and the world remained the same. My life remained boring and dull, and if I remember correctly I think I probably cried the day before my 16th birthday- cried because I had failed my dreams. 

Never less, I kept pushing, my dreams to change the world grew bigger- and the new goal became 17.... again, that didn't work, and I found myself down in the dumps, wondering what good my life was if I couldn't make an impact for God. I wanted the change the world for God, I wanted him to use me in mighty ways- but I was stuck at home, doing dishes, schoolwork, and taking care of animals. (Don't get me wrong, I love our critters) 

April 2, 2012, I turned 18. And for the first time in a while, I didn't beat myself up over not doing something 'big' for God. Because God, over the course of the year I was 17, had been working on my heart.  He has helped me see that I don't need to do some grand thing in order to be used by him. I've been shown that within my desire to change the world while I was still young, I was attempting to rush God and myself. God has plans for my life, (Jeremiah 29:11) and these plans will be worked out step by step, day by day, → within Gods timing; not mine. ← (There was a lesson I had to learn!)

Do I still desire to make an impact; to change the world? The simple answer is yes! I'm still a little too eager to launch into the world and rattle it up. However, my focus is no longer around that dream, my new goal is to live every day in faithfulness, Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, - Colossians 3:23 

I want to do every task handed to me with joy and satisfaction with the stage God has me in; trusting fully that God will reveal his plan in his perfect timing and in his perfect way.

I'll admit, its a process, a part of me still gets itchy when I think of all the years that have already gone by, but I'm much farther along then I was. As I look back over my last couple of birthdays, I definitely see something changing in my heart, a change only God could do. Needless to say, I have way more peace about growing older than I did before.

...plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.