How Great is Our God!
by pastor Katie Preston
Note: Each of these devotional blogs entries is meant to be read on your own or if you have family or friends you live with, to be read together aloud. A suggestion is to do this after you have dinner around the table together. At the conclusion, please spend time in personal reflection or in sharing with one another your answers to the questions at the end. Be sure to conclude with prayer.
Read Luke 24:45-48
“Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, ‘This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.’”
With all that is going on right now and the shifts at the hospital, I’ve switched to a night shift schedule. It’s been a long time since I’ve done night shift; it takes a bit of getting used to. But for the first time in my life (probably) I was awake before the sun rose on Easter Sunday. As I was painting, I could feel this building sense of anticipation. Then as I went outside just before sun rise, it was honestly like I was waiting for the most amazing surprise ever. As the sun parted the mist of the morning, my heart rejoiced. The Holy Spirit gave me a renewed awe of Easter. Easter may not have been with family this year or filled with the fun traditions that I love, but it still had Jesus. Jesus has risen and nothing can take that away. Not wars, not restrictions, not viruses, nothing. Jesus overcame death and rose from the dead.
Does my heart grieve that we couldn’t be together with loved ones and the church family on Easter, of course, I miss you all! But there is a part of my heart that is thankful for the ways God reveals himself even through our trials. It makes the revelation that much sweeter doesn’t it? It comes just a little closer to home when we realize that nothing can restrict God from drawing closer to us. So today I hope you know that God is with you. Jesus has conquered sin and death just to be with you today and every day.
It reminds me of a song that I love… Chris Tomlin’s song, How Great is Our God (click here to listen).
Don’t be too quick to leave behind the story of the empty grave. It’s a true story, and it is worth retelling. Maybe in retelling the story we can help others know just how great our God is! We are witnesses of the greatest love story or action movie ever!
May the Lord bless you as you hold on to the Truth! God is great!
Pastor Katie
