Hooray for April!

I'm so glad today is April 1! If you know me then you know I'm not a fan of the month of March, so I'm glad it's over for another year!

Easter is really late this year (April 24), but I don't mind because it stretches the season out. I love Easter! It's one of my favorite holidays, in addition to Thanksgiving and Christmas. It means that warm weather has either arrived or is right around the corner, that I get to eat tiny egg-shaped chocolates, and most importantly, I get to focus on the life of Jesus Christ.

Do you believe in God? A lot of people do and a lot of people don't. Some people believe that there is a God, but that he's not involved and invested in our lives. I can tell you that there most definitely is a God and that He loves us! John 3:16 says,

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

Most people have heard that scripture before, but I wonder if people truly grasp how wonderful it is?! It's complex if you don't understand, so I'll try to explain it as simply as I can.

We are all spirit children of God, but Jesus Christ is God's "only begotten" (or biological) child. I'm not a mother, but I know if I were I'd never want anything bad to happen to my child. But God loves the rest of us so much that He made a plan where we can all live again if we are righteous. But in order for that to happen, His son Jesus Christ would have to die. God allowing Jesus to come to earth, suffer and die is evidence of His love for us. When people say that God is an all-powerful being who isn't invested in our lives, it makes me sad for them that they don't have a close relationship with their Heavenly Father.

There is a hymn that we sometimes sing at church called "God Loved Us, So He Sent His Son." The first verse sums it up:

God loved us, so he sent his Son,

Christ Jesus, the atoning One,

To show us by the path he trod

The one and only way to God

In a few days I'll write more about this and why Jesus Christ, His life and His death are so important and significant to all of us. Happy April, everyone!