How to have a heart ready for Easter 

Easter, Mark

I gave up coordinating family outfits for Easter a few years back. I realized that for many years I thought about what we would wear more than  I thought about the fact that Jesus was alive.

Do you really think he cares about what we wear that morning to church?

“People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

He sees straight through our best dressed faces and outfits, straight to the core of our souls. Jesus cares far more about the condition of your heart than the clothes hanging on your body. 

So who’s up for our second  annual Easter bible reading challenge?!?!

Last year we read the book of John. This year, we will be reading the book of Mark. It was so powerful to read the events of Jesus’ life, miracles, obedience and resurrection leading up to Easter.

This year, we will start reading Mark on April 1st, reading one chapter a day until we read the last chapter, all about the resurrection, on Easter! Even if you read the last chapter after church, a big lunch, Easter egg hunt, and the kids go to bed that night, you’ll exhale a sigh of praise with a full heart after reflecting on Jesus’ life and words the weeks leading up to this sacred day.

Let’s get back to the basics and read the gospel of Mark together! Are you in? Comment below & let me know you’re joining us!

The Sisterhood of Christ 

Friendship


My sister was born five minutes before me, a fact she loved to hang over my head our entire childhood; she was older than me and therefore I was the baby of the family. Yes, we are twins, the most similar looking fraternal twins I’ve ever seen. We are not identical, but our appearance, personality and mannerisms leave no room to deny- we shared a womb!

So you see, I’ve never known what it’s like to not have a sister.  Every memory, she was there; wrestling me as a baby, bickering with me in childhood, fighting over clothes in middle school, getting in trouble together in high school, and finally: “adulting” together in adulthood.

Having a sister since my first breath is a blessing that has made me comfortable walking alongside other women in Christian friendship. After being “born again” with a new life wrapped up in Jesus, my sisterhood expanded. I was hungry for deep fellowship with other women who were on the same road with the Lord that I was on. I needed to know I wasn’t alone; that this Christian life can be hard for everyone. I joined a small group of ladies from my church and dove in to the Word with them. I laid my doubts and struggles bare before them and was assured I wasn’t alone as they shared theirs with me as well. 

Since then, I have treasured my sisters in Christ as we’ve been there for each other through babies, job changes, health concerns, and just following Jesus out onto rocky waters for his kingdom. It hasn’t always been the same group of women. It’s been ladies that the Lord has  placed in my path here and there on different journeys I’ve been on. Maybe it’s different for you, and it’s been the same handful of girlfriends for a while.

One thing we can be sure of: God wants you to encourage the “sisters” surrounding you right now. We are sisters as believers because “Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers and sisters” (Romans 8:29). He set the bar high to love our siblings in God’s family self-sacrifically, didn’t he? As members of the same family, we are called to love one another in a way that screams to the world we are different. This love can only be cultivated by the Holy Spirit. 

So what is “The Sisterhood of Christ” founded on? 

Sisters in Christ are knit together for life with his love. It’s not self- serving, it’s kingdom edifying. Friendship woven in Christ is held together by a desire to see his kingdom advanced in and through your friends. Seasons may come and go where we aren’t seeing each other face to face and God has us on different assignments, but we rejoice when we hear about what God is doing in our sisters. We will always have a common bond that keeps us cheering them on and ready to have their back in prayer or any other way if needed.

“A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.”‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭4:12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Sisters in Christ call each other “UP.” We don’t call each other out in a self righteous way. When we see a friend not living the grace and truth of God’s Word, we care. We care enough to call them and remind them of their treasured place in God’s  family. As sisters, we desire to see them live up to  their full potential in God’s power.

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you.” Matthew 18:15 NIV 

Sisters in Christ cheer instead of compare. We know that we all have an important job in the family and that we need each other’s gifts. Sometimes, we do get mesmerized by each other’s talents and forget about our own; but not for long. We realize jealousy is sneaking in through that enemy of ours, and we crush it by cheering on our sister. Continuing to compare ourselves to each other would cause our whole family to suffer, and there’s way to much at stake to let that happen.

“A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other.” 1 Corinthians 12:7 NLT 

So link arms, sisters. We are so much stronger and better together. Your family is waiting for your sisterhood in Christ to shine, and so is the world.

God’s Long Lasting Love

God's Love

“If we have a greater understanding of how much God loves us, we are going to have a greater and greater love for him in return. It is a natural response, an authentic movement of a heart to endear someone whom they know genuinely endears them.”

These words flowed from a place in my heart God had been stirring for a while. I just wanted to love Him more. I just wanted my family to love him more and more everyday. Then Jesus dawned it on me: “They need to understand more and more how much I love them Amy, and then they will love me more and more. Then you will love me more and more.”

So that became my starting prayer. That is the pinnacle of the “Love Letters” study I wrote. That is the goal of my life. My determined purpose. To know Him, to know His love more and more everyday, and for those around me to know it. It changes everything.

This ever increasing knowledge of His love especially changes your love for Him. You can’t help but love Him more as you greater understand this love that is so great, it is IMMEASURABLE. It’s lengths cannot be measured. But it can be contrasted. It can be studied according to His Word.

Today we are let’s consider  how long God’s love is for us, as we consider how long he will walk among us. This morning I read this chapter, and thought about it all day. All day while I homeschooled my kids, ran them to their different extracurricular activities, grocery shopped with all 3 of them in tow, and cooked them dinner.

The thing God kept reminding me was: He was there among us, in our midst during all of this everyday stuff.

He was there this morning when I felt like taking a day off the daily grind. (Thankfully I persevered 🙂

He was there when I wanted to ask my daughter how she couldn’t remember how to add her simple addition problems.

He was there when I wanted to yell at their bickering, helping me take a deep breath instead and kindly direct them to “pick out of the get along jar.”

He was there when I went over budget at the grocery store and helped me swallow my mistake with a gulp of grace for myself.

He was there when my daughter spilt milk all over my husband.

He was there in the fun times when we were writing out scripture together and smiling.

He was there when we were sitting around the table for dinner, laughing and joking.

(As you can see, my day got progressively better:)

The point is, He was walking among us every step today, seeing the good, bad and the UGLY. And he was loving us every single second.

Practice being aware of His loving presence!

Leviticus 26

9“I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people. And I will fulfill my covenant with you.

10You will have such a surplus of crops that you will need to clear out the old grain to make room for the new harvest!

11I will live among you, and I will not despise you.

12I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.

13I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.

<<<<Walk in His Love with your heads held high>>>>

Keep journeying on in God’s love for you through “The Love Letters” bible study, available here: The Love Letters

God’s Love is Wider Than East to West

God's Love


How Wide is God’s Love? Is it wide enough to cover all my sin?

Is it broad enough to encircle all my insecurities and idols?

Does it reach far enough around to hold on to me when I’m puffed up with pride?

Let’s focus in on a passage that mentions the the latitudinal measurement of the earth, from the east to the west.

Psalm 103:12-18

12 He has removed our sins as far from us
as the east is from the west.
13 The Lord is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
14 For he knows how weak we are;
he remembers we are only dust.
15 Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
16 The wind blows, and we are gone—
as though we had never been here.
17 But the love of the Lord remains forever
with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
18 of those who are faithful to his covenant,
of those who obey his commandments!

When I want to the Lord this morning and asked him to rid my heart of the things that were on his throne there I really thought about verse 12 the rest for the next few hours. What does “as far as the east is from the west” really mean?

As I mediated on it, the Lord showed me a few things. For one, he couldn’t sit on his throne because something else was there already. Something else had taken his place in my heart.  Have you ever sad down on a chair without looking and sat right top of something. Ouch. Not really the experience anyone, especially the King of Kings is expecting int he heart of his daughter.

So I asked him to help me take that thing off his throne chair! I want him and him alone to be seated at the proper position in my heart. King. In charge. Calling the shots. Me- coming before him and bowing, as a servant, ready to receive her orders.

So as I thought about the opposite directions of the east from the west, I thought about turning around, repenting, REFOCUSING 🙂 if you will. I can’t keep going east with Jesus and go west on my own. IT ITSN’T POSSIBLE. Have you ever had a compass in the woods and gone both ways, east and west at the same time? No!

His love is wide enough. Wider than we can fathom. We could go off wandering on our own every single morning. Headed due west, all by ourselves. But his love is wide enough. He would walk all the way to California every single time we strayed and bring us back home to North Carolina (best state there is:)!

And he would ask us before we started walking back to NC,

“Are you ready to come back with me? Good, now, leave that heavy back sack of sin right there. Just drop it on the ground. I already paid your punishment for you to just leave it there. Doesn’t that feel better? Now, come, follow me the road home.

Ya’ll should try that today. Give him your heavy backpack in the West and head East with Jesus.

Here is a little gift to help us all hide His word in our hearts this month: heart shaped weekly memory verse cards for the passage we are memorizing together, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Print out 1 or a few copies and post them on your bathroom mirror, your car dashboard, your kitchen window, your computer screen. Wherever! His Word is transforming!

Download Here: Love Letters from God Memory Verses

Here’s an amazing song I love with lyrics that encompass God’s wide love for us:

God’s Love Runs Deep

God's Love

“She kept a low profile, but she didn’t have anybody fooled…”

This is what the resource officer from my high school told my husband when we ran into him at a restaurant a few years ago.

And it was spot on.

My teenage years were definitely my darkest, as most would also agree. Like the officer from my high school said, I didn’t get into big trouble, but I wasn’t the leader of the youth group at church either. And truth be told, I was way more screwed up than that description even alludes to.

I will spare the details of my sin for my mama’s sake, but I will say I was far away from God. I questioned the truth I had professed to believe when I went forward at the little Baptist church when I was eleven to receive Christ. I can still hear the choir singing “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” holding their hymnals now. I can still feel the lump in my throat and the release of burning tears on my cheeks.

But then, I walked away. Far away, searching for the love I already had.

But He was there the whole time.

Romans 5:6-8
“When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

He was there, in the deep, dark days of sin. Of lies, of empty relationships based on lust instead of love, and in the pitch black moments I found myself in and wondered, feeling like I was having an out of body experience, looking in at my situation asking myself,

“How on earth did I end up HERE?”

But it was then at my most shameful moment,

That he let them spit in his face.

That he endured the whips with hooks on the end, pulling out his skin.

That he felt the thorns push through his scalp.

That he followed through in obedience as the nails were hammered through his wrists into the wood.

He sees the whole span of time, and he saw me at my darkest, most shameful moment and at that moment in history when he took his last breath,

And He loved me.

And He loved you.

When we were utterly helpless, at our

darkest.

His love still meets us in our everyday lowest points. He beacons us, calling us back to him in love. Remembering how he loved us at our darkest helps us stay living in his light.