By Karen O’Connor:
Finding God in Easter
Finding God at Easter
Sunlight streamed through my bedroom window and poked me in the eye one early Sunday morning in April 1948. “Wake up. It’s Easter,” I called to my sister June.
She popped up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Together we bounded down the stairs to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Sure enough. True to his custom, Dad had placed three beautiful carnation corsages on the top shelf––one for Mom, one for June, and one for me.
After breakfast we stepped into our pretty spring dresses, lacy socks, and patent leather slippers. At that time of my life Easter was all about clothes, candy, Easter eggs and the beautiful baskets Mom filled with goodies.
When I grew up and had children of my own, I repeated the Easter customs I had grown to love. Then suddenly without warning, in my late thirties, my life turned upside down like an umbrella in a rainstorm. My husband left our family. I was a woman alone, divorced, and scared out of my mind at what lay ahead.
I needed a Savior!
And into my life came Jesus Christ––the one I had read about, sang about, learned about—but never really knew until He came alive through the pages of Scripture and the shared experiences of caring people in a Bible study I attended as a guest of a new friend.
Suddenly I knew that my life never was and never would be only about me. It was a gift from God through Jesus Christ. He alone could turn my heart from one of stone to one of flesh. He alone could provide what I needed and desperately wanted—to be loved and forgiven and rescued. I confessed my sins and received Him as my Lord and Savior.
Easter that year—over thirty years after the Easter morn I remembered from 1948—was the first time I walked in the only new garments that matter. I was clothed in righteousness, released from sin, restored in spirit, and recognized as a friend of God.
“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though
he dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26 NIV).
Finding God in Easter that year changed my life forever.
Enjoy this inspiring YouTube video featuring Handel’s “Messiah,” sung by the Choir of King’s College Cambridge.
©Karen O’Connor. Karen is an author, writing mentor, and frequent contributor to the Finding God Daily blog. Visit Karen on the web at www.karenoconnor.com.
