Spring Sweetness

My favorite Spring Sweetness of all is this picture from Easter Sunday. I cannot stop looking at my little grandson, Zeke. Would you look at that sweet face? The pink flowering dogwood, pink azalea and wisteria vine are all so beautiful this time of year - reminding me of the change of seasons. Our lives have seasons and it is my favorite analogy of womanhood. All of life is a season. I am in the season called "empty nest." But this I say...my nest is not empty...look how full my table was Easter Sunday! They come home, they go. You young wives and mothers, please enjoy your time with your husbands and your children. Trust me - it flees quickly. "Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come..." Song of Solomon 2:12 Jan

The HOPE He Gives

Easter is my favorite time of year, hands down! (Actually hands up as I praise His Name for all He did for me on the cross!) HE.TOOK.MY.PLACE. I will never get over that fact - ever - never - ever. (Thanksgiving is my second favorite - family, fall, football, food, and no commercialism...yay!) Y'all know I began this blog out of the hope of waiting for a grandchild (if you have time read some of my very early posts about waiting). I call this bit of cyberspace "Gran Jan's Joy" because of the joy of knowing Jesus and the joy of sojourning here until He calls me home.

Easter is our HOPE - Jesus is ALIVE AND WELL and seated at His Father's right Hand - making intercession for us. Can you hardly stand the blessings and joy of knowing that??? Many so-called gods/saviors have been born and died - but ONLY ONE - JESUS THE ONE AND ONLY rose and conquered sin, hell, and the grave. Hallelujah, He is Risen Indeed!

Another joy is my grandboy. I just got these pictures from my daughter-in-law. I've been outside gardening all morning (another JOY of mine...for I come to the garden ALONE and He walks with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own...)

I mailed Zeke an Easter card and can you believe he is already reading it and he is not quite 8 months old? :) These pictures brought me out of the garden and into the house and straight to my blog to tell somebody -anybody - THERE IS HOPE! We hoped for more than 3 years that we would have a grandchild, and God showed Himself strong when my daughter-in-love became a mother after the doctors said she probably never would! No matter what you are facing today - here is HOPE - Jesus is our HOPE! His resurrection is PROOF OF THE HOPE He gives.

Proverbs 13:12 speaks of that hope and this verse brought me great hope through many seasons:

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the longing is fulfilled, it is a tree of life."

The hope we have in what happened on that TREE as He bore our sins brings LIFE ETERNAL! As we gather tomorrow in our churches all across this country and sing of that HOPE, may you be blessed in knowing there is a HOPE beyond the grave. There is HOPE in daily living, there is a BLESSED HOPE and I know Him personally - His name is JESUS!

Hallelujah, What a Savior!

Jan

Resurrection Ferns

John 11:25

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life.

He who believes in me will live, even though he dies."

I first learned about resurrection ferns while reading the historical novels of one of my favorite authors, Eugenia Price. Most of her books are set on or around my beloved Georgia coast, St. Simons Island. Her books on the beautiful city of Savannah are marvelous. When we built our home and moved to "farm country" almost 2 years ago, I noticed that some of our pecan trees have these resurrection ferns on the main trunks and large branches. They appear dead but after the rain they revive. What an analogy of this great verse from John 11:25 and especially as we prepare to celebrate the GLORIOUS resurrection of Jesus Christ this coming weekend. Resurrection ferns feed off the air and may curl up and look dead, but they aren’t. They’re just surviving... They bloom when they receive lots of water! The resurrection fern gets its name because it can appear dead, but when just a little water is present, the fern will uncurl and reopen, and "resurrect." Sometimes I too may "curl up and look dead" but thankfully, I am not! (I may be in survival mode myself!) But Hallelujah and Praise His Name when the Living Water of Jesus is poured out on me, I will uncurl and open and be alive to Him, and hopefully will remain dead to sin.

Springtime abounds here in Georgia! The hope and power and promise of the Resurrection can be seen, even in the ferns on my pecan trees.
BECAUSE HE LIVES I CAN FACE TOMORROW!
Love, Jan