Love, love, love Easter Sunday!  Not only does it represent the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, but we can indulge in our favorite SWEETS! Yum!

Can you tell I gave up sugar for Lent?  What was I thinking?!?!!?

For the past 40 days of the Lenten Season, I have drooled and craved anything with sugar.  Plus, I’ve been counting down the days to get to the blessed Sunday just so I could stuff my mouth with candy.  ARGH!

As the day arrived, I couldn’t have asked for a better one filled with holiday treats!  The boys and I were giddy from all the sugar we consumed and our family shared a delicious meal of hamburgers and hotdogs with dear friends. Overall, Easter Sunday satisfied my sugar appetite AND was filled with peace, love and most of all, hope.

The best part was that my hope was increased by an insightful sermon that morning – NOT CHOCOLATE.

Tom (our pastor) spoke on the trials we face every day and the darkness that threatens to overcome us with the caveat that Sunday IS COMING.  Most of us can relate to hardship because ‘no sugar’ is the least of our problems on a daily basis.

The hope that Tom spoke of was in reflection to the world’s gloomiest day on Good Friday with the anticipation of Easter Sunday that met us with a risen Christ who conquered death for US and promised an eternal life with our Heavenly Father!

How cool is that?!?!?!

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1Peter 1:3

It’s no secret that we live in a dark and desperate world, but Christ offers us hope through His sacrifice and HE shows us how to live in the meantime.

I am always amazed by my quick capacity to fall into the deep pit of distress when bad things happen or life doesn’t go as I had planned.  I seem to forget the goal…living as a disciple of Christ.  EVEN IN THE HARD TIMES.

Of course, I tend towards the ‘life is all about me’ spectrum and I have to rein myself in when I face a fork in the road or a mountain to climb.

It helped me tremendously to refocus on the TRUTH when my pastor ran through a litany of the many problems of life ended with the phrase ‘but Sunday’s coming’.

It goes like this.

• War is prevalent, but Sunday is coming.
• Friends die too young, but Sunday is coming.
• Jobs are lost, but Sunday is coming.
• Fatal diagnoses are heard, but Sunday is coming.
• Children get ill, but Sunday is coming.
• People are murdered, but Sunday is coming.
• Life goes awry, but Sunday is coming.
• Divorces happen, but Sunday is coming.

And the list goes on.

We live in a fallen world.  There is absolutely no hope in this world. BUT, Sunday came and Christ ROSE and HIS sacrifice SAVED US!

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

Now that is our TRUE HOPE!

Some Wisdom for Today:  Proverbs 10:28 – The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.