Life...and HOPE...because He's Alive!

Throughout this past weekend, I've been thinking back to what our Easter weekend was like 2 years ago...it was certainly a totally different Easter than what we would have anticipated months before; it was the first time we visited Alethia Joy's grave about 3 months after we said good-bye to her.

It's tough being so far away from where she was buried. I really do wish we could have gone there and just looked at that gravestone again this weekend.

I always enjoy the time we spend with my family; we're very closeknit and I'm so thankful for that. As I watch Hannah Beth playing with her cousins, ages 1, 3, and 5, I couldn't help but think about the little 2 year old girl who "should" have been there with them...playing, laughing, running wild around Grandma and Grandpa's house, and joining in all the "cousin fun..." making the house even more "lively" than it already was.

I wanted to dress my 2 little girls in matching Easter outfits for Sunday morning church.
I wanted to take pictures as a family of four.
It's a feeling that's hard to explain, but I always feel like someone is missing in our house...because she is.

Pondering the truths from God's Word..

They bring hope when life seems hopeless...
They tell of life where there has been death...

"I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said." (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, NLT)

"Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying." (John 11:25, NLT)

"And now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died." (1 Thessalonians 4:13-14, NLT)

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless Babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones
He came to save

Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again

And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

(In Christ Alone by Keith Getty)


I have been promised eternal life--you can have eternal life by trusting in Him to save you from your sins--because Christ did not stay dead--He rose again!!

And He will give life to my baby girl. I have hope that I will see her again.

Death was not the end for Christ, and it is not the end for us either.

I know I say the words "I'm so thankful" a lot on here... but I TRULY AM. Not sure how else to phrase it.

I'm so thankful for this precious little gift that fills our hearts and our arms.

I'm so thankful that though we grieve, "we can grieve with HOPE...we believe with HOPE..." that someday we'll not only see loved ones that have passed on, but we will see the face of our Redeemer, who died and rose again FOR US.