What a special day Easter Sunday is!  Of course we celebrate the resurrection every day, but the special emphasis over this weekend is such a blessing. We witnessed a drama, When Jesus Comes, that portrayed the difference Christ makes in a life.  He has certainly made a difference in mine – how about you?!

 After our morning service I invited my mother-in-law and two other sweet ladies from our church to join us for Easter dinner.  I try to look for people who might not have families here to have dinner with and invite them to join us. 

My husband chose the menu for this meal.  I like it when he’ll ask for certain foods, because I like fixing the things he enjoys.  We didn’t stray too much from our traditional menu, just a little.  We had:

We’ve all heard about baby cubs and the danger of being near one.  Why?  Because their momma is somewhere very nearby and is ready to attack in order to protect her baby. 

But human parents can be just as protective.  After hearing about what seemed an unfair treatment recently with one of my girls, I wanted to go set somebody straight!  Of course I wouldn’t have torn anybody apart like the momma bear, but just wanted to “share a piece of my mind”! I restrained myself, however and simply prayed about the situation!   Any other moms been in this place?  We all probably have.  We love our children and want to protect them from unfair treatment. 

Now, let’s magnify that a thousand times and think about God the Father’s love for His Son.  What kept Him from calling a score of angels to rescue Jesus from the cross?  He could have done it and they would have obeyed.  He loved His Son, yet His love for us is as great. (Amazing, isn’t it?) He knew that without this perfect Sacrifice you and I would never be restored to a relationship with Him.  He turned His back on Christ while He bore our sin so that you and I could have forgiveness and eternal life.  This was far more than restraint…this was perfect, sacrificial love for YOU and ME.

The Love of God by Frederick M. Lehman so beautifully describes the wonderful love of the Father.  Here are the words:

See you in church Easter Sunday.  We have lots to celebrate, don’t we?  Our church is doing the drama we did for our Ladies’ Winter Tea – When Jesus Comes.  If you live in the area I hope you’ll join us!  It’s going to be a great day at Boones Creek!

With love,

P.S. BCBC ladies, make sure you’re ready for Bible study this coming Monday night.  Finish up your lessons in Week 5, if you’re not done yet.  Please join us…this study on Loving God with All Your Mind has been such a blessing!

I shared a couple of years ago about our family’s Easter traditions which included our “Easter Saturday” events, coconut cake, and brisk sunrise services at home on Indiana mornings. They are special memories to me, and I love to reminisce about the fun we had together as we celebrated the empty tomb. I think it’s special for a family to have certain foods and traditions that make the holidays really memorable.

When I was a little girl, my family had a tradition that we all loved.  For our Easter dessert, my dad always made us a bunny ice cream treat.  He would put a nice round scoop of ice cream in an ice cream dish, then he’d cut a banana half in half lengthwise and use those for the bunny’s ears.  Jelly beans created the face.  I think there was also coconut added.  We would have been disappointed if that treat hadn’t made its way to our dinner table on Easter!  It was Dad’s addition to our meal, and to our family. 

For our breakfast this Easter Sunday I’m making Orange Hot Cross Buns.  This is a new recipe, but it has high reviews, so I’m going for it!  Who knows?  This might be a new tradition in the Cunningham’s parsonage!

What does your family do to celebrate Easter? 

With love,

Ever try to sing a song that you could barely sing because the message was so powerful?  Recently our church choir has learned a new song written by Keith Getty – The Power of the Cross.  The first verse and chorus are as follows:

I think about a day when I have awakened from sleep and had a dread hovering over me.  Consciousness falls upon me and a reminder of that heavy thing comes to my mind.  It could be an unpleasant appointment ahead, the remembrance of bad news I’ve received the day before, or an unpleasant task awaiting my attention.  But can you imagine waking to the dawn of THE darkest day?  That day was the day Christ died for our sins.  For whom was it a dark day?

• For Christ.  He was headed to Calvary on that day.  He knew what was ahead – “tried, torn, beaten, nailed to a cross of wood,” yet He chose to obey His Father and carry out the plan for my salvation. 
• His disciples.  They didn’t understand what was happening.  They were torn with being faithful to their Savior, yet fearful for their own lives.  The grief must have been heavy as they watched from a distance, Christ suffering for their sin.
• The women who had followed the Lord and loved Him.  It tells us that they stood by the cross of Jesus.  One of those women was Jesus’ mother, Mary.  She was a sinner, Friends.  She conceived Christ by the miracle of the Spirit of God placing that babe in her womb, but she needed the Savior as much as the other women that stood with her.  She knew that this day was coming – she’d been told that He would be the Savior of the world.  This was the darkest day for her.

In reality, anyone who had followed Christ, been touched by Him and knew that He was the Son of God, had to have experienced a dark day on the dawn of this day.  But oh, the wonder of the joy that was just before them!  Did they have an idea of what was to come?  Were they putting the pieces together of what Christ had been trying to tell them?  Because you and I are on this side of the cross, we read the Gospels and want these sad-hearted people to be encouraged because we know that beyond the cross was great joy!

What darkness enveloped you when you woke up this morning?  If you and I could get a glimpse of what is just ahead for the child of God, we would understand the great joy that is just ahead for us, too!  Our sorrow would be turned to laughter, our heaviness would be lifted.  Read the “back of the book” and rejoice today!  Victory, joy and perfect peace is just ahead for all who know Christ as their Savior.  He’s coming very soon and all will be made right! 

I pray you’re ready for His appearing.  I pray you’re looking for Him to come.  It could be today that He will turn the darkness to great joy!

With expectation,

Some people make cooking at home sound like it’s so hard and that you can only do it if you have tons of time to prepare.  There are some things that do require more time, but if you need fast supper meals through the week, or a meal that needs to be ready when you get home from church, there are many ways to help that happen. 

For dessert this week I wanted Strawberry shortcakes, but looked for a low-fat version for the cake.  I have a wonderful recipe from Southern Living that I’ve used for several years, but since we’re watching our diets a little more closely these days, I wanted something that was a little healthier, but still delicious!  I found this one on Cooking Light and let me tell you – it’s fantastic!  I also used the recipe for the strawberry mixture, which adds a little orange juice, lemon juice and vanilla to the strawberries.  Wow!  Now that strawberry season is around the corner, I know I’ll be making this again very soon! 

Seafood and strawberries – what a yummy combination!  What’s been cooking in your kitchen?

With love,