Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Jesus Wins

As a little girl I grew up with many Easter traditions: Easter Egg hunts, dying the eggs, picking out an Easter Dress, an Easter family photo on the morning of, and heading to church for a worshipful service celebrating the Resurrection. And now I get to be on the "mommy" end of things...and I love it :) I love teaching Luke about Jesus and beginning new traditions with him and spending time worshipping together as a family. Despite our great plans for how we would celebrate this Easter, things went much differently than I had desired. On Sunday Billy and I lost our second child due to an early miscarriage.

At first I was ashamed and embarrassed. I felt like I failed in some way. I wanted to seclude myself and sleep all afternoon. I was not interested in spending time with my family or friends. It was a lot about me, my plans being ruined, my hopes and excitement being crushed. And then it hit me. Today is the day we celebrate that Christ has risen. Regardless of what happens here on earth, he has RISEN! And what a day to celebrate!! He has Risen so that I may have life and life abundantly. And what a beautiful day to be reminded that because He is Lord and He WON over darkness, I can have hope in Him in the dark and sad times. And so this Easter, although we lost our little one, we declare VICTORY in Christ the Risen King. It is because of Him, His resurrection and His empty tomb that we can cling to Hope in our Savior. Just as I shared with the 3 year olds in our Sunday School Class, the tomb is EMPTY. Jesus has CONQUERED the grave. Jesus won!! And it's true, that despite our heavy and burdened hearts, Jesus wins...Jesus wins.