We celebrated Easter this past weekend. How did you spend the weekend? Was there eggs and candy in your weekend? Perhaps a church service with family? Did you enjoy a cookout, or perhaps a weekend getaway? We live in a blessed nation at a blessed time in history. We have more freedoms and more lucrative time and finances than most anytime in history. There is a plethora of things to do and places to go any weekend.

Of all the things you could have done and all the places you could have traveled, did you take time to thank the one who made it all possible? There is only one God, the God of all creation, the God who created you, who knit you together in your mother’s womb. This same God sent His only Son to die a very cruel death to pay the penalty for your sins and mine. Who would do that – sacrifice his only son for someone else?

But, His Son was divinely special. He did live in a human body. He did suffer the pain of a whip ripping his flesh thirty-nine times. Then He suffered a cruel death hanging, nailed to a wooden beam, hanging in he desert sun. After His death he was taken down from the cross and laid in a borrowed tomb. But, less than three days later that tomb was empty. Not because someone had taken the body, not because He really was not dead. No, Jesus Christ overcame death and the grave to complete God’s redemption plan for you and for me.

We are blessed even in the tough times of life. I trust that you have found that turning to God and Christ Jesus in the good and the tough times brings a joy that cannot be matched on this earth.

Three women got up early one morning to prepare the body for a proper burial of one they dearly loved. Before they left the house that morning they were on the darkest road of their life. The one person they had committed themselves to; the most dearly loved person in their lives had been tragically taken away from them.

But when their road was darkest, an angel showed up and resurrected their hopes. Today if your road seems long and dark, don’t get discouraged and don’t quit, the answer is found in scripture. God honors faithfulness. And He has Resurrection Power.

Death and the grave could not keep Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Jesus is alive and well with Resurrection power. He wants to share that power. He wants a relationship with you.

Today, we can have joy unspeakable because of what happened with Jesus on that Resurrection morning so long ago. Have you entered into that relationship with Him that He desires? Will you read the gospel of John in the New Testament and allow the God of the universe to speak to you?

George Yates is an Organizational Health Strategist and coach, assisting churches, organizations, and individuals in pursuing God’s purpose for life. Click here to receive this blog in your email inbox each Tuesday.