Last weekend was packed with fun family Easter activities. We had Easter baskets, egg hunts, dying eggs, and a baptism service at church. I thought I’d share a few pictures of our weekend with you!
I hope you had a happy Easter as well! How did you choose to celebrate with your family?
This past Sunday, as we celebrated Easter, I couldn’t help thinking about my grandmother. She died last year on Easter morning. We were driving home from church, getting ready to host Easter dinner that year, when we got the call that she had passed. She had been in hospice care so we knew it was only a matter of time, but we were all still saddened by the loss.
However, as sad as I was to no longer have my grandmother with me, my first thought was “wow, she gets to spend Easter Sunday in the arms of her Savior.”
You see my grandmother knew Jesus intimately. She didn’t just attend church services out of habit or a sense of religious duty, she had a personal relationship with God. At her funeral, we were able to see her Bible, and it was touching to see how well worn it was from regular use. They say a Bible that’s falling apart is usually owned by a person who isn’t. This was certainly the case for my grandma.
I still miss my grandmother, but I am thankful for the example she left for her family. My grandmother prayed for her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren regularly. It was always such a blessing to hear my grandma tell me she had been praying for me and my boys (and I know she would have been thrilled to hear about our baby girl!).
She didn’t have an easy life by any means, but the joy of the Lord truly was her strength. As we stood at her funeral, looking at all the pictures of her from over the years, I was struck by the fact that Grandma always had a smile on her face. As a single mother, she went through some very tough times, and like all of us she was not perfect, but she kept faith in God throughout her life. Her smile and her deep love for her family and her God are the things I remember best about her. She cried with me during the sad times and she cried tears of joy during the happy times. I am so thankful for her faithful example.
My grandmother left a spiritual legacy that has been passed to our family, and now I strive to pass on to my own children. That is three generations directly impacted by her life and example as she followed Christ.
As I have spent these last few weeks preparing my heart for Easter, it has been my prayer that I, too, may leave a spiritual legacy to my children and grandchildren and everyone I meet. May my life shine for Christ, even during difficult circumstances, and at the end of my life may people say of me that they saw Christ in me.
Last Saturday marked the final day of my 21-day Daniel Fast. It has been an exciting time of spiritual growth and renewal, and today I’d like to share a few practical things I learned along the way, in case you are interested in doing a Daniel Fast for yourself!
Here are a few tips and ideas:
That’s all I can think of for now! If you’re planning a Daniel Fast soon, please leave a comment and let us know!
As I mentioned in a previous post, about a year ago our family instituted a tradition of Sunday Family Movie Nights, in which we each take turns picking a movie to watch as a family on Sunday evenings. This has become a fun tradition that my boys look forward to (although Mr. Not-quite-three only stays up for part of the movie).
With Easter coming up this Sunday, I wanted to share a few of our favorite family Easter movies with you.
I hope you enjoy the time this weekend with your family spending time reflecting on Jesus’s death and resurrection!
So this week is the last week of my Daniel Fast. After today, I have just 3 days to go, and I am excited to share with you some of the things I’ve been learning along the way!
In yesterday’s Bible reading (I am currently going through the Good Morning Girl’s study called “Why Easter Matters”), I was meditating on 1 Corinthians 15:57-58 which says:
But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (ESV)
And as I read that passage, I was struck by the first line “but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” I don’t know about you, but I sometimes have a wrong view of God. When we think of Jesus, we think of a gentle savior, the one who took the children upon his knee saying “let the little children come to me.” This is the one we see on the cover of the children’s Bibles, with long hair and a soft smile, who preached love and turning the other cheek. On the other hand, when we think of the Father, we think of a stern judge who is holy, just, and unapproachable. He is the voice from the clouds in The Ten Commandments (you know the scene where Charlton Heston is on the mountain talking to God – I know I’ll be watching it again this weekend!).
But both of these views are missing the bigger picture and often give us a very wrong view of God. God is not at war with himself. There is not part of God that wants to crush us like bugs the next time we sin and part that wants to skip with us through fields of wildflowers for all eternity. Jesus isn’t having to stand in front of us to shield us from a beating, like a son standing up to an abusive father. Not at all!
Notice in this passage it is God the Father who gives us the victory over sin and death, and that victory is through our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father and the Son are working together in perfect unity and love to save us. The Father isn’t waiting in the wings to strike us down; he loved us so much that he was willing to sacrifice his own son for our deliverance. Way back in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve chose to disobey and rebel against God, he didn’t abandon them or strike them down and start over with people who had no free will, even though he could have done so. In his great love, he didn’t leave us in this sin-cursed, death-filled world without hope. Even knowing we would rebel and reject him, God still desired to save us from our own sin.
In Genesis 3 God says to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Here God is pointing forward to the virgin’s offspring, Jesus, the God-man, who would crush the power of sin and death and take the penalty upon himself, in accordance with the Father’s will. Jesus loved people, yes, but he hated sin. He calls the hypocritical religious leaders a “brood of vipers” and he overturns the tables of the money changers, saying they have turned his Father’s house into a den of robbers. All you need to do is read Revelation 1 and you will see that Jesus does not fit the images we have of him from children’s Bibles.
As we meditate on the significance of Easter, let us see God for who he is – both loving and just, strong and kind, holy and merciful.
Thank you Father for loving us so much that you would send your only Son to pay the penalty for our sins and reconcile us to yourself. Thank you Lord Jesus for taking on our sin, though you committed no sin yourself, that by confessing and believing we might be called sons and daughters of God.
As I mentioned last week, I have been having to “tweak” some of my usual recipes to use as part of my Daniel Fast, where I cannot eat meat (though because I am nursing and need extra calories, I have been eating some seafood), dairy, added sweeteners, leavened bread, or processed foods. To make things a little easier, I have been making a big batch of soup at the beginning of each week and eating a bowl of that soup, along with a salad, for lunch every day. This week I used my mother’s recipe for split pea soup, and tweaked it to make a vegetarian version. It was still really good, and I even served it to my mom when she came by for lunch one day and she and the boys enjoyed it with some oyster crackers as you can see from the picture! (I can’t have the crackers as part of the fast, but it was still good without them 
)
Creamy Split Pea Soup
Ingredients
4 cups vegetable broth (for a Daniel Fast, use this recipe, or just use water)
6 cups water
1 lb. package split peas
1 1/4 cup chopped carrots
1 sliced onion
1 cup sliced celery
4 whole allspice (or 1/4 tsp. ground)
4 whole peppercorns
1 bay leaf
Combine water and broth in large pot and bring to a boil. Put spices in a tea ball or coffee filter tied with string and add to pot. Add remaining vegetables, reduce heat and simmer 45-60 minutes or until all vegetables are soft. Blend thoroughly and enjoy!
Servings: Approximately 8-10 (1 cup servings)
For a non-vegetarian version, add a ham bone to the water/broth (can use chicken broth in place of vegetable broth) before boiling, then skim the fat from the surface before adding the other ingredients.
Last week I shared some ideas for sharing the hope of Easter with your kids. Today I’d like to share some of our favorite Easter themed books for kids!
There are lots of other great books about Easter. What are some of your favorites?
Last week I shared that I am doing a partial fast, or “Daniel Fast,” in preparation for Easter.
This week I’d like to share with you some of the things I’ve been learning. It has now been 10 days since I started this 21 day journey, and God has been showing me a lot throughout this time. As I mentioned before, doing a fast is about taking away food (either partially or fully) in order to seek the Lord during prayer and Bible study. I started this fast 21 days before Easter so that I could take this time to meditate on the true meaning of Easter and prepare my heart for worship during this time.
But ladies, God has been showing me so much more than I expected during this time! One of the studies I have been doing during this time is the “Why Easter Matters” study from Good Morning Girls. Week 1 was about “Why the Last Supper Matters.” Week 2 is “Why the Crucifixion Matters.”
As I’ve read and studied these passages, I’ve been seeing more clearly my own sin as well as the significance of Christ’s sacrifice for me.
When I started this study I wasn’t thinking much about my own sin. I mean I knew I sinned from time to time (um, can you say sin of pride right there? Yikes!), but I wasn’t expecting the kind of conviction I came under as I began to examine my own heart, especially in light of what Christ did on the cross for me. I began to see the angry, critical spirit I have sometimes used when dealing with my children and husband, my desire for personal recognition when all the glory is due to God, and my anxious attitude, which revealed a lack of trust in God.
It has been too long since I have taken a good hard look at my own sin, confessed it for what it is, and asked God to create a new heart within me. In her book, The Ultimate Guide to the Daniel Fast, Kristen Feola talks about the need for confession at the beginning of a fast. She relates how the children of Israel, in the book of Isaiah, fasted and prayed, but did so without confession, and thus received nothing.
So as I read through the passages in the Good Morning Girls study, I started to become more aware of my own sin and the price that was paid to take away my guilt and give me eternal life. In studying the last supper, I was reminded of the command in 1 Corinthians 11 to examine oneself before partaking. I realized that I needed to take this command more seriously and to examine my heart regularly, not just once in a while. When I fail to do this, I am dismissing God’s holiness and hatred of sin. I take his sacrifice too lightly and fail to use the proper reverence due him.
During Week 2’s readings, I was reminded of the heavy burden Christ endured for that sin. Isaiah 53:5-6 says:
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
It was my sin that caused him such piercing, crushing, wounding pain. He took the punishment that I deserved, even though he had done nothing wrong.
Never should I forget that I am completely in Christ’s debt and that I can never (and need never) repay it. There is nothing I can do that would be good enough to earn that salvation. Nothing I can do that would make me worthy of such a sacrifice. But I am thankful that I do not have to earn it. I am thankful that in Romans 5 it says Christ died for us while we were still sinners. We don’t have to clean ourselves up or get our acts together to accept Christ’s sacrifice. He died for us just as we are, full of sin, and He is the one who takes our lives and makes us clean. What a humbling thought!
I mentioned last week that I am doing a Daniel Fast in preparation for Easter. Because of this, I’ve gotten to try some new recipes, which has actually been kind of fun, since I generally enjoy cooking and I’ve gotten to try some things I’ve always wanted to make but never got around to making. Some, like this recipe, are based on things we already make, but have been modified for the fast.
When I saw a strawberry banana smoothie recipe in The Ultimate Guide to the Daniel Fast, I was immediately interested, but when I looked at the ingredient list I saw that it had things like tofu and date honey. Since we often make strawberry banana smoothies for the kids (but using yogurt and milk), I decided to modify our typical smoothie recipe to make it dairy free, and the results were delicious! My boys drank it up and asked for more! I added natural peanut butter to mine and it was really thick. This makes a great, filling breakfast, especially if you’re on the go!
Strawberry Banana Smoothie
Ingredients
1 ripe banana, broken in pieces
4-5 frozen strawberries
Splash of unsweetened almond milk
1-2 Tbs. Flaxseed meal (optional)
Combine ingredients in a blender and mix thoroughly, adding almond milk until it reaches the desired consistency. Alternative, use a handheld stick blender to quickly puree the ingredients (this is my favorite method!).
Add-in options:
– add 1/4 cup uncooked oatmeal to make this really filling
– substitute other fresh or frozen fruit, such as blueberries or raspberries for the strawberries
– add 2-3 tbs. of natural peanut butter (use peanut butter without sugar for a Daniel Fast. Smuckers makes this, and so does Target’s store brand)
– for a creamy non-Daniel Fast treat add 1/4 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
Servings: 1-2
I love Easter. It is easily my favorite holiday. I love that it occurs every year in the spring when the weather begins to get warmer and things which appeared so cold and dead all winter, once again show signs of life. Spiritually, it reminds me of Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross. His triumph over death raised our hearts, which were dead in our sins, to new life in Christ when we put our faith in him alone (Eph. 2).
Sharing this season with my children is a privilege and joy. Every year I look for new ways to share with my children the hope of Easter, and I wanted to share a few of those ways with you today.
One tradition we have every year is to do daily Bible readings in preparation for Easter. This year we did the Life of Christ Family Reading Plan from Intoxicated on Life.
If you’re looking for a shorter set of readings to do during Passion Week, Home With the Boys has a reading plan and short daily activities using the Jesus Storybook Bible.
One of my favorite traditions that we use every year are the Resurrection Eggs. These are a set of plastic eggs with different items inside that help to tell the story of Christ’s death and resurrection. There is a pre-made kit you can buy, or you can make your own. I really like these because they give a visual, tactile experience, which is great for kids. We usually hide the eggs and then once the kids have found them all, we open each egg in order and read the corresponding scripture.
Here is a link to different ways to make your own set of resurrection eggs:
Our final Easter object lesson that I like to do with the kids is to make resurrection rolls or resurrection cookies, where the end result is a “empty tomb.” You can find the instructions here:
These are just a few ideas our family uses to celebrate the true meaning of Easter. What ideas would you add to the list?
take time to be still 