Hope and Joy

We have recently come face to face with death. Delane's grandmother, Anna Belle, passed away last week. She was 95. She had been married 77 years. She had given birth to 15 children. She sewed a lot. She baked a lot. She hugged a lot of babies. She made people feel special. She lived a good life. She did good things. She had a powerful influence in many, many lifes. She was a great woman.

But all this would be meaningless without her faith...

And so at the visitation you heard laughing. At the cemetery, friends and families lingered visiting and reconnecting and laughing. There was sadness because we were saying goodbye. But there was also an expectancy in the air. A little bit of joy. Yes, joy. Why? Because there was hope.

You see when you have faith that this human life is not all there is... When you believe something better is waiting.... When you believe an eternity in the presence of God is available... it gives you HOPE. And true JOY.

So, as we come to Easter, the time when we remember the resurrection of JESUS... the time when those of us who have FAITH reflect on what HIS death and resurrection mean to us, we have HOPE and JOY.

My prayer is you have this HOPE and JOY in your life...