He has Risen Indeed!

Easter has come and gone and it is a joy to be able celebrate and say that Christ has Risen! 

It has been a neat Lent/Easter experience for me. I feel as though I have encountered the presence of Jesus in some neat and unexpected ways. Jesus is good. I blogged a little while back about part of my lent journey. To say the least, it was an interesting one - some moments good and others not quite so good. 

Starting lent I had these ideas of how I wanted God to teach me (the key words being that I HAD ideas of HOW I wanted God to teach me). I wanted God to teach me to relinquish control in some specific areas of my life - primarily in the area of my marital status and babies. I wanted to feel free to enjoy life in the stage where I am at. I wanted to be content in my relationship with Jesus and wanted Jesus to be enough for me right now rather then thinking that a husband and a baby was going to be enough. 

Well, life took a little bit of a different turn for me over the course of the lent season. I was shaken to the core - life appeared very bleak some days. God took every security and comfort that I had and threw them out the window. All that was left was me and Jesus. I had no choice but to look to him as I was incapable of relying on myself. In some ways I felt lifeless and looking back, perhaps I needed to "die" in some respects in order for me to realize that when all is taken away, the only thing I can really count on is Jesus and his love for me.

In my brokenness Jesus has been slowly molding and refining me into a new person. The joys in my life are slowly being added. I am far from the person that I desire to be, but there is progress being made. I have found new life - new life in myself but more importantly, new life in Christ. There were moments in my lenten journey where I was discouraged about the fact that I hadn't learned what I wanted to learn over the course of lent, but the truth is, I have learned so much more then I could have ever imagined. 

I am currently in a bible study where we are reading through the books of the bible with a book entitled, "How to Read the Bible for all its Worth". It's a phenomenal book. At the moment we have just finished Leviticus and Numbers. Prior to reading these books of the bible, I must admit that I was dreading the dryness and lack of interesting stories that these particular books hold. I suppose you could say that I was putting God in a box again. As I was doing my readings over the past 3 weeks I had some little "a-ha" moments . Me and the Israelites are not so different sometimes. Both of us relentless and stubborn, but I have been in awe at the bigness of God and his constant pursuit of the Israelites as his people. The grace that he offers them often made me say to myself, "God, what are you thinking? They don't deserve you", but I guess I don't deserve the grace God extends to me either. I found it fitting to read these books over the Easter season. 

Easter has come and gone, but I hope that I can continue to allow Jesus to be sufficient for me and that I would continue to be open to his leading and speaking in my life. I have experienced new life this Easter. 

He has Risen Indeed!