Thoughts...in the key of me.

Regardless of what your Easter tradition is- whether it's eating Peeps (it's okay...I forgive you), getting together with the family, that good ol' Easter ham, or buying a new dress every year- we all need to make a point of remembering what Easter truly means. Easter has a very special meaning for me this year. For those of you who don't know yet, I'm leaving Macon on Wednesday to move back with my parents in Dalton for a while. I'm going through some really tough stuff right now and I really need to be close to my family. I really do think it's the Lord's timing that the crux of my struggles is happening right around Easter. My church in Macon, New City, has been doing a message series leading up to Easter that has really spoken to me. Last week the message was about redemption...how Christ has covered us with mercy. Because of Christ's sacrifice, God now sees us through rose-colored glasses, if you will....he used to see us as tainted, imperfect, disgusting. Now he sees us through the lens of Christ's sacrifice and we appear perfect, blameless, and hopeful to him. I am so thankful that Christ's sacrifice has crossed out all of my sins I have done and will do and that I am now a clean, freshly clothed, innocent child in God's eyes. The resurrection serves as backup for this. If Christ had just died, the process wouldn't be complete....but, because he conquered death and rose again, his death was validated...our faith is validated...our lives are validated! I am so thankful for my faith and my foundation in Christ....I am trying to hold onto that now more than ever.

God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God's work of making things right between them. We're speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he's already a friend with you. How? you ask. In Christ. God put the wrong on him who never did anything wrong, so we could be put right with God.

2 Corinthians 5:20-21