Did you know that you could grow up in the church and still miss the meaning of Easter? I know, because for many years I did.

Photo by: Kazuend

I started attending church nine months before I was born, so I could recite the historical facts of Good Friday and Easter to anyone who asked. I’d even memorized John 3:16. But, somehow, I’d missed the personal ramifications of Easter.

In middle school that began to change when a speaker at camp spoke on the cross. That night I realized God didn’t just love the world in general; He loved me in particular! God so loved me that He gave His only Son that if I would believe in Him, I would not perish but have everlasting life.

It broke my heart to think that Jesus had had to die for me. Yet, after processing what this meant, my brokenness was transformed into incredible lightness. I was clean. My sins were forgiven, and heaven was my destiny. I returned home higher than a helium balloon and singing the camp songs I’d learned. But my high was short-lived.Continue Reading