Easter can not come soon enough.

I know this blog normally is about our adoption process but this is on my heart and wanted to share it. My prayer is that it would bring you the same HOPE that it brought me. This week has been really hard. I feel like everything around me makes me want to cry. I couldn't put my finger on one thing..it really feels like everything. My heart hurts and I am surprised (and my husband is probably too) that I still have tears in my tear ducts. As I look around at the world you and I live in- it's full of sadness, full of sin, full of rebellion and hatred..and then I take a look inside me and see my own sadness, my own sin, my own rebellion and hatred..constantly putting myself first, wanting what I want and not what God wants, wanting to be the center of attention instead of Him, wanting what's best for me instead of my neighbor. I fall short again and again- I miss the mark of His perfect standard again and again. It feels hopeless.

Then you remind me... My God is not dead. He is ALIVE. You died for this sin and hopelessness. I have a new name. I am your child. All by the blood of the perfect lamb-JESUS. I don't have to stay in this terrible place-you bring HOPE. Hope of new life-life to the full, a life of joy and meaning found only in you. You have taken my sin and exchanged it for righteousness. I am no longer a slave. I'm your daughter.

With this being true, I CANNOT wait for Easter morning.