We may be standing in the cold, staring up at an empty cross, but the hope that we have will not fail. He will rise again.
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He has. He is. He will.
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Pope John Paul II said, “Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are an Easter people. And hallelujah is our song.”
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Can you imagine the despair of the sight of watching Jesus breathe His last? Of watching his lifeless body ripped from that cross and taken away to be buried in a tomb?
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I can’t imagine the sight. The feeling. The horror. But I have experienced my own share of despair in my life.
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And yet God has never let me go. He has never abandoned me in the pit. He has never left me for dead. He has reached out, reached down, and brought me time and time again into His glorious light.
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He didn’t abandon His Son to the grave. He brought Him back to life. He defeated, conquered, shattered death once and for all.
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Can you imagine the joy, the sheer elation, bliss and incomprehensible wonder of seeing Jesus back walking around the earth, resurrected in His full glory?
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I can’t fathom the wonder. But I have experienced the most incredible, indescribable and abounding joy as I walked back down the aisle after Clay and I were pronounced husband and wife.
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My smile could hardly be contained on my face… Is my joy in the truth of Jesus’ resurrection a source of such joy in my everyday life?! It should be!
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We are an Easter people. No matter what darkness we are in, no matter what feels like it’s dragging us into he tomb, God didn’t abandon His Son to the grave and He won’t abandon us.
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He looks on us with compassion, grace and mercy. He reaches out His strong and mighty hand to rescue. He brings us into the safety of His dwelling to restore our broken hearts and to heal our broken bodies.
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We are an Easter people. Would hallelujah be our song. Would we sing it while we stand out in the cold staring at the empty cross filled with hope and joy and awe and wonder.
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Happy Good Friday, friends.
{Photo is of a few of my sweet sixth and seventh graders from our small group at church at Forest Home Christian Camp. Love you girls!}
