Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Easter.  It means a lot to me.  This holiday and Christmas are two of my favourite holidays.  Yes, partly because all the chocolate is on sale and I can buy the huge blocks of Easter bunnies for $3.99 and keep it in my freezer for two months.  Also, it is because these two holidays mark very crucial times in a Christian's life.  Christmas, when our Saviour was born, and Easter is when our Saviour became.......our Saviour.

This year began as one of the worst and hardest years of my life.  I was hurt and even though I had family and friends supporting me, I felt the most alone.  It was also a time when I realized that God never leaves me because when I did feel most alone, I still felt God hugging me and holding me in the palm of His hand.  I knew He was there helping me through these hard times.  But I was brutally hurt and in pain emotionally.

This year I learned that people make mistakes.  Sometimes people will fail you and it is up to you on how you handle those failures.  Do you hold it against them, let the anger burn in your heart until it grows into becoming an angry grudge and then you end up holding that angry ball in your heart.............or do you forgive, hold no anger, hold no resentment, and give it all to God?  How do you handle it when people seriously wrong you?  Do you punish them yourselves?  Stop talking to them?  Yell at them?  Hit them?  Do to them what they did to you?  How do you handle things when people wrong you?  What if someone took your PlayStation and deleted all your trophies?  What if someone ate your favourite shoe?  What if someone crashed your car?  What if someone cheated on you?  What if someone cut your arm off and served it in their restaurant?  What if someone just left?  How would you handle it?

What if you wronged someone else?  What if you were the one that ate the shoe because it looked like a chocolate bunny?  What if you crashed your friends car?  What if you cheated on someone, or left someone?  What if you cut someone's arm off and served it in your restaurant?  How would you want that someone to treat you?  You would beg and plead for forgiveness and not really expect it, right?  I know if someone ate my arm I'd be pretty pissed.  I couldn't high five my kids anymore.

Now ask yourself for real.  How many times have you wronged God?  How many times have you made a mistake in your life?  How many times have you made the wrong decision and not only hurt another person, but hurt God?  People will fail you, people will make mistakes.  God never makes mistakes and God never fails us, but in our lives we constantly fail Him.  What does God do in response to our failures and our mistakes?

He loves.  God is love.  We sin, we make mistakes, we make bad decisions, we are selfish and make decisions based on what we want in our lives and God says, "Here is my son, He loves you and He will die for you so that you don't have to atone for your sins."  God sent His son Jesus to die for us.  I think that is said and heard so much between Christians that for some people it becomes a regular statement with no meaning.  People hear this statement every day, and sometimes people don't really care.  So imagine this, if you are a father or a mother you know how you spend your entire life protecting your children.  Imagine having to sacrifice your own child for a whole bunch of people that have hated you and wronged you and are just purely evil against you.  Imagine watching your son die like Jesus did for people that don't care.  That's how much God loves us.  That's what love is.

Now when someone fails you, when someone wrongs you, when someone just causes you so much pain and hurt what are you going to do?  For me, I know that I will at least try to do what God did for me.  I'm going to just try and love.  Because who am I to place judgment upon other people?  Who am I to say this person doesn't deserve forgiveness even though they show true remorse and are showing that they are trying to fix everything wronged?  I am not God.  I am not perfect.  I have made many mistakes and errors in my life and I have hurt many other people.  I don't expect them to forgive me, but for me, if someone wrongs me, no matter how bad, I will try to love and forgive.

Everybody has their sins, everybody has their faults, and God still loves us no matter what.  Shouldn't we as Christians at least try and display that same kind of love and forgiveness that God gives us?  Sometimes people are more judgmental.  They think that because they didn't murder, or they didn't steal, or they don't swear or they don't do anything wrong then they are better than others.  Sometimes people think, this person wronged me so much, I'm better than them and they need to prove to me that they deserve my forgiveness.  They need to prove to me that they're good enough for me.  Some people think that when they're wronged it is their job to punish that person for doing the wrong.  I don't think that it's our place to judge, or hate on people.  I don't think that it's our place to say "This person did something so horrible that I don't want to talk to them anymore, I don't want to forgive them until they prove they are worthy of me."  I think that when someone wrongs us, we need to try, at least try and humble ourselves and forgive these people.  I'm not saying that people need to walk all over us and if someone hurts you just let them keep hurting you, that's not what I'm saying.  I'm saying that if someone that has wronged you asks for your forgiveness, try to forgive them in your heart.  Don't hold any grudges or anger, or ball up resentment, for your own good, forgive.

Jesus said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."  It is not my job to stone a prostitute or an adulterer to death.  I have many sins of my own that I should be stoning myself for.  It's not our job to judge other people.  It's not our job to hate other people for their sins and mistakes.  It is our job to love, to show love for those who have wronged us.  Let go of all the hate and anger in your life that you hold towards people or situations that have occurred.  Let go of all the burdens in your heart and let God take care of you.  Really let God take care of you.  At least for today, on Easter Sunday, on Resurrection Day, try.  Try to forgive, try to love.  Let God do His job on Easter Sunday.  Let go of your anger, your sins, your regret, your burdens and give it to God because God sent His Son to die for you.  He really did.  Don't ignore it.  Today let everything go and let God take control of your life.  Really.  Just do it.

Lose Control

Life isn't easy.  It was never meant to be.  The past few months I had to keep telling myself "God only puts us into situations that we can handle" and then I found myself asking God, "How much do you think I can handle?"  I always thought life was controllable.  I had a plan.  I planned how I wanted my future to be, what I wanted to do, and I counted on all of that and depended on those plans to follow through.  All throughout my life my plans were trumped.  Things happened and I had to alter my plan and change it.  Time and time again my plans kept on getting trumped and altered.  God was trying to tell me that I'm not in control, he is.  I can't plan for my life, because God is planning for my life.

My sister and her husband are missionaries and they are constantly called by God to go and follow his calls.  They walk in blind faith, knowing that God is leading them toward what He wants them to do.  I need to learn that, that is the lesson that God keeps trying to teach me.  I have to learn how to trust God and love him and know that He is in control of my life and that I do not need to fear.  God feeds all of the animals and all the little birds, they depend on Him for life, and He cares for them.  If God will care for His animals and creatures, I have to trust that He will care for me even more.

So even though I'm not in control of my life, I know that I will be okay.  I know that I am loved and I know that He will take care of me.  You can't plan for every moment of your life.  You need to trust God.

I trust God with my life.  I really do.  Now, after everything that has happened in my life, I know that God is taking care of me, because no matter how bad I think my life gets, I still feel His love, and His guidance.  I feel this through my family.  I feel this love through my friends who are there for me.  God takes care of me and I know it.  I'm not scared of what will happen in my future.  I know that God is holding me in the palm of His hands.  I can feel that He loves me.  It is an exhilarating feeling, knowing that I don't need to stress over my future because God is taking care of me.