Easter ushers in our love-relationship with God

As I was talking with a friend over here, the meaning of Easter hit me in a new way. We were talking about the how she had one time felt bad that she started to eat and then someone said: "let's thank God for this food...". Afterwards I mentioned that to God--it is not important whether we say "thanks" at the beginning, at the end, or even how it is not a sin if we don't say it at all. I then shared with her that God is not concerned with how well we follow the rules, but instead through Christ He invites us into a love-relationship with Him that is governed by grace. As I continued and shared with this friend--God was also speaking to my heart. Christ's sacrifice on the cross made way for us to live in a love-relationship with God that is no longer based on the "rules" because if we break one of those rules--then we have broken them all. Instead, we are free to daily live and worship God by loving Him in all we do, does this mean we will lie, steal, or murder--NO! We won't do these things because we love our Father. This Easter I am reminded of what I have received through Christ's sacrifice, an opportunity to love enter into a grace-filled love-relationship with my Creator. I hope that you too will be once again awed at the love of the God this Easter. It is like one of my girls said today after she accompanied me to church for the first time, when asked about what she thought about it--she said, "God loves me...He is glad like I am glad today, He loves me." :) I can hear Heaven rejoicing with me right now as she is starting to understand and receive the love of Christ and it happened this Easter. Happy Easter to everyone!