SPECIAL: Easter Q & A

In honor of Easter, we wanted to have a special blog post that we all wrote together!

Q1: What's a word you think of when you think of Easter week?

Hannah - Celebration! Bethany - Triumph! Grace - Sacrifice!

Q2: Is there a character in the Easter story that you especially relate to?

Hannah - I see myself in Thomas—who is nicknamed “doubting Thomas.” Even though Thomas sinned by not trusting that Jesus would rise from the dead as He said He would, Jesus makes a point to speak specifically to him. Jesus just died for the whole world and He has so many important things to do, and yet He intentionally reaches out to Thomas, a doubting, faltering disciple. It reminds me that God cares about me specifically even when I’m doubting or faltering. He knows me individually, and cares for me! Bethany - Barabbas, the murderer who was freed as Jesus took his place. That's what Jesus has done for me; He took my sin and the penalty I deserved while I was set free! Praise God! Grace - I totally act like the crowd who cried, "Hosanna!" only to yell, "Crucify him!" on Friday. It's easy to worship and praise God, see all your besties, learn something from the sermon, and eat a delicious lunch on Sunday. Then on Monday get up for an hour-long quiet time. But... soon the cares and stress of the week get you down so that eventually you've forgotten almost completely, except for a few quick prayers. Then Sunday I often start the cycle again. Ugh. Even though He gave so much for me!

Q3: What's something about Easter that really speaks to you?

Hannah - We have so much to celebrate. Jesus didn’t stay dead! He proved His power and ability to pay for our sins by raising Himself from the dead, and that changes everything. As the hymn says, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow!” Bethany - The shame and agony Jesus endured for us. Too often, I gloss over what it really meant for Him to be publicly tortured and separated from God because of my sin. What love! Grace - Literally the entire point of Christianity otherwise we're a neat club of religious fanatics.

Q4: If Easter's all about knowing Jesus, tell us how you met Jesus!

Hannah - I grew up knowing the truth and I went to church, and did “the religious things,” but I didn’t have a personal relationship with Jesus. One day, it finally made sense to me why we talk so much about Jesus! Without His sacrifice, we are separated from God for eternity because of our sin. I realized that I couldn’t do enough “good things” to earn my salvation, and that this free gift of God was not automatically applied to all. I needed to reach out and take hold of it, and in doing so make Jesus the Lord of my life. I still grow more every day, but on that day I became a child of God and He made me new! Bethany - On a Sunday night when I was about 8 years old, I thought, what would happen if I died right now? I realized that I had done wrong things and didn't deserve to spend eternity with God in Heaven. The only option left was Hell! As that sank in, I started crying. Thankfully, I shared a bunk bed with Hannah and she asked why I was crying. She responded with good news: Jesus took the penalty I deserve (death and separation from God) and paid for my sin! He offers a relationship with God and abundant life that lasts forever if we give our lives to Him! I asked God right then to be the Boss of my life and I no longer have fear of death! Bonus: I've since learned that life with Jesus is a lot better than just "fire insurance" from Hell-- it's a life-giving relationship with my Creator! :)

Grace - I was playing with dolls one day when I realized I was bound for Hell! I got Mom and she told me how to go to Heaven. Similar to Beth, I later went beyond the Hell "fire insurance" to an actual love relationship with God when I was twelve.

Q5: What scripture refreshes your heart right now?

Hannah - I am reading in Exodus, and it jumped out at me how many times it says that God heard the cries of His people, and sent Moses to deliver them. I am sure it didn’t seem like God was listening after the Israelites had been in Egypt for 430 years! God’s timetable is so different than ours, but He is listening. Bethany - Psalm 21! I've been meditating on it a lot recently, and it keeps getting sweeter! It's a good reminder to thank God for His blessings as well as a reminder that He is the source of my heart's desires.

Q6: How have you seen God work in your life?

Bethany - I've seen Him change my heart as I spend time with Him! I was pretty nasty without Jesus, so it makes for some great benchmarks lol! Here are two examples: I used to habitually lie to my parents and couldn't stop, now (with God's help) I have a really close relationship with my parents, and I used to hate scripture memory and now it's so sweet (still difficult, though!). Grace - The night before my parents were going to leave on a trip, I randomly asked if I could use a gelato gift card I received five months ago. As we were preparing to leave, my dad realized that his wallet was missing. After much search, we found his wallet at our church. We realized that if we hadn't gone out randomly for gelato, my dad would have discovered his wallet missing at 3 am, and wouldn't have had time to find it without missing his flight!

Q7: What makes you smile or laugh?

Hannah - My toddler’s funny sayings! He cracks me up all of the time, like when he calls “elevators” “alligators!” Bethany - My family is amazing at making me laugh! Grace had me in tears earlier today, we were laughing so hard! Grace - Our goofy labradoodle named Oliver, organizing/organized things, and my family of course!