My guest this Easter Weekend is a new voice in the blogging world. Her words ring with truth, hope, and gentle authority. Please welcome Jenna from Authentically His.
Easter has always been my favorite time of year. It’s the underlying promise it holds, that makes it by far the greatest time of year. Since I was a little girl I could feel the earth vibrating with this expectant promise. You can feel it in the air.
HOPE.
It holds a joy that can. not. be. contained. HE HAS RISEN!! He has risen indeed.
But before that glorious third day ….
Promise.
Expectation.
Heartache
Love
The love of a Father SO great, that he sent his son to die for me. For you. We hear that often. It’s easy to become conditioned to the Bible stories we grew up hearing. To regurgitate truth and not take the time to stop, slow down, and remember.
Our Jesus, sent to earth because he loves YOU much. Choosing to go to the cross, to bear the weight of our sin, so we could LIVE. So we could walk with him and intimately experience his presence. So we could LOVE him freely, and walk in the freedom he offers us. Our Jesus, suffering a death more painful than we could imagine, so we could have beauty. So we could walk through life knowing confidently WHOSE we are and WHO we are. This is Promise. This is Expectation.
Jesus, a man much like your husband, your brother, your friend. Except he was God’s son, so distressed “his sweat like drops of blood fell to the ground” (Luke 22:43), prayed for his cup to be taken. Yet amidst his anguish and pain, submitted to the will of his Father. This is Heartache.
O’ the Blood of Jesus,
O’ the Blood of Jesus,
O’ the Blood of Jesus,
it washes white as snow.
There is forgiveness in the blood of Jesus,
There is healing in the blood of Jesus,
There is power in the blood of Jesus,
it washes white as snow.
Love.
A love so pure, it can’t be contained. A love so strong death couldn’t hold it. A love that sets the captives free and covers the sinner in forgiveness. O’ the blood of Jesus, O’ the love of Jesus. Do you know it? Have you claimed it … for you?
We are never so broken that Jesus can’t heal us, and we are never so healed that we don’t need Jesus every moment of every day. He has promised to go before and behind us. To be the lifter of our head.
Stand firm, dear one, and KNOW He rescued you because he delighted in you (2 Sam 22:20).
It doesn’t make life easy by any means, but O’ the Blood of Jesus, carrying us through the seasons of pain and hurt. The seasons of drifting and wilderness wanderings. He never leaves us on our own. His love covers us and holds us tight when we can’t see anything but darkness.
In a world overrun by social media. Where your feeds are full of perfect people in their perfect homes with their perfect jobs and their perfect bodies. Where insecurity will claim you and comparison will choke you. Where the enemy will whisper ‘you will never be good enough’ — O’ the blood of Jesus.
In that marriage that, to the outside world is full of smiles and banter, but in reality is hanging on by a thread and you don’t know if you can move forward another day — O’ the blood of Jesus.
When your house is a disaster, and you’ve yelled at the kids for the umpteenth time in the last hour. When you feel like you’re failing as a mom, a homemaker, a wife — O’ the blood of Jesus.
In addiction, and brokenness, when you feel too far gone to be worth saving — O’ the blood of Jesus.
You are covered in his promise. We can live in hopeful expectation, because our God is good and he works all things together for good, according to those who love him. We can’t avoid heartache. We live in a fallen world, full of pain and hurt. But once you experience the love of God, you are never the same.
The love of God changes you, instantly, from the inside out. You are fully accepted, approved of and wanted. Once you let his love find you, once you choose to accept it and let it wash over you, the world and all its glitter fades in comparison to the treasure you now hold.
This love causes your heart to naturally turn towards its true intended subject of worship. And when it does, all the other details of your life fall into alignment. Life issues and wilderness seasons don’t disappear, but their impact is so much less life altering because you. are. loved.
Everything He does, He does because He LOVES MUCH. Let us slow down enough, this weekend, to be reminded of that love. To sit at his feet and let him wash us in his presence. To not just be a spectator, but a participator in this thing called life and CHOOSE to be loved.
O’ the Blood of Jesus, O’ the Blood of Jesus, O’the Blood of Jesus, it washes white as snow.
So “be strong and courageous…the LORD your God will be the one who keeps on walking with you—he won’t leave you or abandon you” Deut. 31:6 (ISV)
“And remember, I am with you each and every day until the end of the age” Matt 28:20 (ISV)
Indeed, the Blood of Jesus! Such beautiful words, Jenna.