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| My very favorite alter |
1 Peter 1:3: "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." 1 Corinthians 15:21:
"For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes
also through a man."
Easter, a joyous day as we celebrate Jesus rising from the
dead. A beautiful season of hope, renewal,
and new beginnings. A season of love and
Christian fellowship.
I hadn’t realized how much Christian fellowship was lacking
in my life until I spent a beautiful day interviewing Lisa French for the Home
& Harvest magazine a couple years ago. Lisa explained she and her family are part
of a Christian community called Heritage
Idaho , an agrarian and craft-based Christian community. It was all about
coming together to live a God-centered life.
As Lisa spoke about the people in her life, how they help each other, their
values and basically life in general, a slow yearning started in me.
And with that Rod & I began our search for our own Christian church family. We spent several months attending different churches and then one day, we walked into the Venture Church . One sermon by Pastor Scott, the welcoming people in the church and we were hooked. We’ve been attending and active ever since. One of the best things we ever did was to join a small group where we gather 2-3 times a month to have dinner and discuss life & the gospel. There is seriously a magic that happens when you surround yourself with likeminded, God centered people.
Rod grew up in a church centered family, I did not. Over a year now, I’ve been studying the bible and strengthening my relationship with God. And it fills my life with a new kind of joy and peace. The best way to describe it is I am living a “hallelujah” kind of life. And as I texted Lisa recently, I shared her impact on me, thanked her and closed with that she has helped "a stray lamb come back to the Shepard".
With that, I sincerely wish each and everyone one of you a
blessed Easter. I hope that you too are living your life as a “hallelujah”,
where you will be filled with the beautiful love from our Savior.
Xoxo Gayle
