chocolate bunnies

Hi! It is Holy Week! Most of us have shopped for shoes, dresses, or candy to celebrate Easter Sunday, if we are fortunate in that way. My momma sent my three girls dresses she smocked. They each have a color to help them identify their personal items, so bags, towels, blankets, and more are all in “their color.” Their Easter dresses and bows are in “their color,” so purple, pink, and turquoise, as well. It helps order the chaos with three girls three and under! For Easter baskets, I think we are gonna throw some candy we already have in the pantry in the baskets and call it a day. Candy is expensive, people! Well, the chocolate good stuff anyway!

How have you prepared? Besides the fun dressing up and candy, have you prepared your hearts to take this time to really think and show gratitude for what Jesus sacrificed for us? The unimaginable pain He went through to die for our sin so we can be in right relationship with Him shows His unfathomable love for me and YOU! I hope this week you take the time to consider Jesus’s life on earth, His death on the cross, and the miraculous resurrection that makes Him God alone and the only hope we have! He knew hanging on that cross that YOU would live on earth and thought about YOU when He gave His life for YOU. He knew that YOU would be reading this at this very moment. Yes, He loves YOU that much.

As we celebrate Holy Week, let me share Ezekiel 36:26 with you.

And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.

Ezekiel 36 tells about the restoration of Israel, God’s people. The people of Israel had brought shame on God’s holy name. They had murdered, worshiped idols, and disgraced God. God reveals in verse 23, that He will, “show how holy my great name is—the name on which you brought shame among the nations. And when I reveal my holiness through you before their very eyes, says the Sovereign Lord, then the nations will know that I am the Lord.”

God does the same for us. He alone is our Savior Who makes us clean and shows His power and holiness through us when we choose to make Him Lord of our lives. Let’s be honest – some of us did not get a “fair” shake in life. People don’t get to choose the family the will be born into. People don’t all have loving fathers to show the love of our Heavenly Father. People struggle with bodies that aren’t healthy, parents who separate, addictions, poverty, and hunger. Each one of these priceless individuals was once a small, innocent baby who was born into that particular situation.

No matter what you have been through, no matter what you are facing today, Jesus Christ is the answer and is the loving Father we need. He chose to be picked on, spat on, tortured, and murdered for YOU. He loves you that much. Would you give your life for your kids or husband or wife? Would you you’re your life for your parents? Would you give your life for a best friend? Some people may choose to give their lives for someone they love, but most people would not choose to give their lives for an enemy. Jesus did that. He gave His life as a sacrifice for those He knew would choose to worship Him, but also for those He knew would reject Him. We get to celebrate that perfect love. As we eat yummy food and enjoy chocolate bunnies, let us remember the reason we have to celebrate - Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross and His promise to restore our brokenness to wholeness.

Love,

Charis