One of my fondest memories of raising my daughters was reading to them before bedtime.

I put a small basket next to the rocking chair with different devotional books. As they grew, the books became more age related and moved from the rocking chair to their bookcase.

Along with reading, we would memorize Bible verses or rather they would! I wrote down some easy to learn verses and kept them in the basket and each night we would go over them. My, could they learn fast!

One of the verses was Matthew 28:6: “He is not here, for He has risen!”

My soft spoken daughter, on this verse, would start out speaking it in her regular voice but the last part she would hollow out: for He has….. RISEN!!!! , much to her delight and mine!

So it got me thinking. Do you and I really understand that God, in the form of the man Jesus, came to earth, died for our sins so we could be reunited with our Creator and then rose again?!!

If we really believe that, we would all holler out that “He is risen, He has risen indeed!”

For when we have the Lord living in our life, we have His fruit which gives us the type of life we all yearn for: a life full of love. Of joy and peace. Of patience and kindness.

Are you going through a trial right now in your life so that having joy is something too difficult for you to grasp? There is a way to rejoice no matter what you’re going through. First of all, focus on Christ, not your situation. Consider all He has done for you and choose to praise Him. You’ll be amazed how this will lift you up! And then completely surrender your life and your trial to Him so that He can work in and through you.

Just as Easter Sunday followed Good Friday, our new circumstances can follow any trial that comes our way.

And on Easter, look to your family and friends and holler out: “He is not here for He has Risen!”

Manna from Heaven

“Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.” Psalm 30:5

Action Plan

One reason I write these blogs is to encourage you in your daily life. I remember how frustrated I felt when I had my first child – how was I going to do everything I wanted to do to for her?

So I took it step by step, day by day. I went to a Christian book store and asked to see all the devotional books for her age. At that time there weren’t many. Then I realized I needed a set time to read these to her and a place. That’s when I got a basket to put next to her rocking chair.

Just this one tip gave me hours and hours of one on one time to share God’s Word with her!

Look for the “one thing” each day that you can do to make your life a pathway to order.