Good morning beloved! I am so excited to begin this new journey and thrilled you are here to share it with me.
First, I will let you know that I am not a formal writer.
I write, as you would hear me talk. I'm from the South. Born and bred. And nothin' is gonna change that.
I have no formal training and I'm not a secret, famous, ghost-writer. I assure you.
So, if you've stumbled upon my blog...Welcome! If you're here because you know me...Welcome! If a friend has shared this with you...Welcome!
Y'all c'mon in and sit a while. Grab your Bible and get ready to be blessed. Not by me, but by the Lord Himself. He is here! I know because we now have two or more gathered and I have personally invited Him!
Are y'all ready for the Holy Ghost party? Then let's go...
This year's season of Lent began a few days ago on Wednesday, March 5th.
I had purposed in my heart to do something different this year.
Let me preclude my writings by telling you, I was raised Southern Baptist and we didn't really celebrate Lent. We did the traditional Americanized Palm Sunday lessons and then had a form of the Americanized Easter Bunny that brought eggs filled with candy and we children went hunting for them carrying a basket to place them in. On Easter Sunday we all wore our new duds and took pictures so we could remember how cute we were at that age.
The church was typically packed on Easter Sunday with those we only see two or three times a year; members who had slipped in attendance, elders who didn't get out as often as they used to, college-aged children who were home for Spring Break and family who were home for the Holiday.
We would hear the traditional Christ-to-Cross message and learn that God loves you enough to send His one and only Son to die for you! Although the message is timeless and true, I'm afraid the dreary hearts sitting in the pews were seldom ready for the message, nor prepared for the life God intended for them.
Yes! God can do all things and although we have Americanized this Holy time to the point of exhaustion, some were saved and others were rededicated. Hearts were renewed and relationships rekindled. And then we would go have a huge Sunday dinner, catching up with family and friends, forgetting about the one who was on the cross in which we had just heard the sermon.
This often lacked something for me. There's got to be more, I would think. One day's celebration and that's it?!
As I'm older now (don't ask how much older!) I know what was missing. Me!
I was missing from the event of Easter!
I had not prepared my heart to receive the gift of Christ on the Cross!
Ashamedly, I admit this yet repentantly I offer to share with you what I will be doing this year to celebrate what I now refer to as Resurrection Sunday! Because you see beloved, He is no longer hanging on that cross to me. My Jesus is sitting at the right hand of our God! He is risen and He lives!
Oh, I hope you've stayed with me and are still reading because it's about to get a whole lot more exciting!
Please stay tuned as I share with you my Lenten journey for the year of our Lord 2014.
