Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. (1 Peter 1:3)
One of my favorite Easter hymns as a child was “Because He Lives.” Donning our Easter finest, I can still vividly visualize my family sitting in the fifth pew on our sanctuary’s left hand side. Excitedly, I would wait for the moment we would all stand and sing “God sent His son, they called Him Jesus.” Oh, how for a moment I long to go back to ten-year-old me. Life seemed so safe, so easy, as I rested in the shelter of my parents 40 years ago.
Then, it hit me. Today I still rest in the shelter of my parents, but that shelter is called my Father Almighty. As the chorus to the aforementioned song goes, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future, and life is worth the living, just because He lives.”
I don’t know what tomorrow or 2 weeks or 2 months from now may hold, but I know the One who does. Yes, I worry about my family and friends, but Christ alone is able to drive out that fear. I don’t know the financial impact this may have on our nation or how different life will look when we return to “normal,” but thankfully the future is not in my hands. I am just grateful for a new day, a new sunrise, a new flower blossom, new life, because life is truly worth living within the shelter of the One who loves us!
Father, remind us today that this Lenten season will soon give way to Easter morning! Hallelujah!
Written by Deana Green
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