Reflections, and Forgiveness * Oh Glorious Day

This last week I have really been doing a lot of thinking on the events of this weekend. There is always a lot going on, with the shop, with the kids, and whats happening in the church, but today I have been really reflecting on the events from a couple thousand years ago. 
Even today I am in awe of what was happening this time a couple thousand years ago. 

It amazes me how the Spirit works in us and in others around us to really push what we need in our lives. Today I am grateful for that. Everyday too, but this day it has been especially in my face. What I studied in my bible study this morning, to the music that played as I was getting around, right down to the conversation I had with my kids last night and the night before. It's all tied into what this day is and what this weekend means. 

Yes Easter is a beautiful time of year, the flowers are blooming, the weather is warming up, we get together with loved ones to spend time together. But what this weekend really means is something so much more. 

In my study this morning I was reading in Ephesians and I have been studying about how to be firm in your life in Christ. This week has been about Salvation and today was about the how we are saved. I mean it was unreal what had to be done for my soul to be saved. 
Ephesians 2:8 says... "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is a gift from God...." (NKJV) What Jesus did was a gift, but when you think about the cost it has to be the most valuable gift anyone could receive. The price was His blood and not just a drop but all of Him. He was beat, His body torn to bits, and then He hung there on the cross for me. The physical pain He must have endured, and still He did it for me. I am in awe and humbled by what the cost was. I am so not worthy of this kind of love but He GAVE it anyway. He loves me anyway, in spite of everything I have done. There is a song that just wrecks me every time I hear it..... it "Forgiven"

Forgiven By Crowder 

Man the lyrics just kill me.....

I'm the one who held the nail
It was cold between my fingertips
I've hidden in the garden
I've denied You with my very lips

God, I fall down to my knees
with a hammer in my hand
You look at me, arms open

Forgiven! Forgiven!
Child there is freedom from all of it
Say goodbye to every sin
You are forgiven!

I've done things I wish I hadn't done
I've seen things I wish I hadn't seen
Just the thought of Your amazing grace
And I cry "Jesus, forgive me!"

God, I fall down to my knees
with a hammer in my hand
You look at me, arms open

Forgiven! Forgiven!
Child there is freedom from all of it
Say goodbye to every sin
You are forgiven!

I could've been six feet under
I could've been lost forever
Yeah I should be in that fire
But now there's fire inside of me
Here I am a dead man walking
No grave gonna hold God's people
All the weight of all our evil
Lifted away forever free
Who could believe, who could believe?

Forgiven! Forgiven!
You love me even when I don't deserve it
Forgiven! I'm Forgiven!
Jesus Your blood makes me innocent
So I will say goodbye to every sin
I am forgiven!
Forgiven! Forgiven!
Child there is freedom from all of it
Say goodbye to every sin
I am forgiven!
I am forgiven!

As I listen to it now I just can't believe that I was headed to the grave a lost person bound for an eternity in Hell and now I have a different destination, eternity with My KING. 

He did that for me. I reflect this weekend on the price that was paid for me, a single mom, broken, sinner, unworthy, but I'm saved, loved, child of the one and only King, FORGIVEN. 

According to Ephesians 2:8-9 there is nothing I could do to deserve this gift, God's forgiveness, it was a gift by His grace, and love. Ephesians 2:13 says " you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ" I am forgiven by the blood of Christ. I am forgiven because the price has already been paid, not by me but by Christ. A perfect person with out sin, freely given. 

L. asked this week what it meant to be scourged by a Roman solider, and I explained what it would be like. I saw the tears fill my 12 year old eyes, and then he asked me why would He do that. All I could do was cry with him and the only explanation was.... LOVE. Because He Loved us so much He knew on our own we would never get to be with Him, so He gave everything to be with us. Because he wants a relationship with US.  He stood as they mocked Him, beat Him and hung Him on a cross where He gave his life for us so that we can be with Him. 

As I watched as my son wept my heart swelled to know my son, my sweet boy began to realize his worth to my King, to HIS KING! 

As a mother I never want my kids to cry or hurt, it hurts me, but this night, this time, I watched in joy as he came to realized the unconditional and relentless love The King of Kings has for us. It was beautiful! 

I pray he never loses that feeling of awe and being wrecked by God's love. I pray that we always remember the love He has for us and we never stopped being wrecked by it. I pray we are always falling down on our face in reverence of Him. 

I have to tell y'all this weekend means so much more then beautiful flowers, good weather, and time with family, it means a Savior who gave it all for a broken world, who stretched out his arms and gave it all for us. Who 3 days later walked out of the grave for us. He lives today for us, waiting for us, and loving us, ready to have a relationship with us. He has this amazing gift to give if only we will reach out and receive it. I don't have a dead King, I have a living King. One who took back life and who gave me a new life. 

.....Living He loved me, Dying He saved me, Buried He carried my sins far away, Rising He justified freely forever and one day He's coming Oh Glorious day! One day they led Him up Calvary's mountain and nailed Him to die on a tree, suffering anguish, despised and rejected, bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He. Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree and took the nails for me....

(Casting Crowns, Glorious Day)

Today I reflect on the man that took the nails for me. Sunday I will rejoice for the Man that walked out of the grave. 

I pray you all have a beautiful weekend and enjoy this beautiful weather and time with your loved ones. But mostly I pray you spend sometime reflecting on what this amazing gift that was given for you and me.