Remember...

Today I am making a intentional effort to remember just what Christ did for me.

This time of year, many of us skip right over Good Friday to the celebration of Easter.  We love the hope and joy that the resurrection brings.  But we don't necessarily like to look at what got us there.  We tend to turn away from and skip over the pain, suffering and hard of Good Friday.

But you know what?

If you don't take a close look at that pain, that hard and your own depravity...

....you will NEVER come close to truly understanding the significance of that empty tomb.

Today, I am wearing this on my hand...

..to remind me to think about what Christ did for me and to try to more deeply understand that it should have been me.

Christ loved me so much that He endured the hard, the pain....the Cross....even knowing EXACTLY what it would entail.

Have you ever thought about that?

I have endured many hardships in my life.

But I didn't go into them KNOWING just how hard they would be.

If I had, I probably would have done all I could to get out of them!!

But Christ KNEW what it would cost Him.

Pain

Hurt

Suffering

Loss

The Cross

Death

And the rejection from His Father as He took on OUR sin.

He knew.

And yet He still did it.

My heart can't contain that kind of love.

But as I think on this and look at my own sin that put Him there, I am completely humbled and overwhelmed.

I want to be reminded today.  

And I want to look at EVERY part of the hard.

Because come Sunday, 

the JOY and HOPE  and GIFT of that empty tomb...

....will abound in my heart even more!