Seeking and finding...

The joys of Easter…church services, the promise of spring weather coming, family and friends, egg hunts, candy, and of course the joy of knowing that we have a Risen Lord…

Easter is just one of those days that though we see the pain and horror of Good Friday, we can find hope in the promise of Sunday.

At our home, Easter was full of wonderful blessings and exciting surprises as the girls got to experience just a glimpse of the Easters that I grew up having as a child.

As per every Sunday, we walked to our small Telugu church (where we double the size of the congregation gathered in a 10 x 15 ft room) to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord as a family. After a joyous celebration with the body of Christ, we headed home to prepare for our afternoon fun- an Easter egg hunt!

We had 84 bright colored plastic eggs (thanks Mom for hauling them from the States!) filled with delicious candy. We hid the eggs all around the house and let’s just say the girls were pretty excited about the new game…

They searched the house high and low looking for every egg. They absolutely loved it and could hardly wait to dig into the candy that awaited them.

It was a game full of laughter and joy and I loved seeing them experience the fun of an egg hunt.

But this wasn’t the only blessing of Easter Sunday, for their second surprise held eternal ramifications that far exceed that of an egg hunt.

For two weeks, we have two long-term SCH supporters and prayer warriors visiting us in Ongole. Aside from their uplifting spirits and helping hands, they blessed us tremendously by collecting in the States and hauling along in their suitcases twelve Bibles- one for each of my girls! What a wonderful Easter blessing! Each one of my girls received her very own Bible bought specifically with her in mind. Even sweet Phoebe, who is blind, received a Bible, but one just for her as it is an audio dramatized version.

How special they each felt as they held God’s Word in their arms, close to their hearts, so proud to have a Bible to call their own. To see their excitement puts me to shame as I think about the countless Bibles that I have possessed throughout my life. It was precious to see as they opened them up and asked for the Scriptures to be read aloud.

 

As I think about Sunday, immediately my mind goes to the concept of seeking and finding. In Deuteronomy 4:29, Moses gives the nation of Israel some advice on seeking and finding:

If from there you seek the Lord your God,

you will find Him if you look for Him

with all of your heart and all of your soul.

To think if we would all have the enthusiasm to dig through God’s Word as if searching for an Easter egg. To feel the anticipation of knowing that His Word holds promises so good and so sweet that we can’t bear to leave any part unread.

Oh how I pray that these girls would learn to seek their Heavenly Father and His Word as they sought out Easter eggs on Sunday, that they would look for Him in every nook and corner of their lives, and that they would find Him and taste of His sweet promises.

So will you pray with me? Will you plead with the Father on these girls’ behalf that they would know the HIs love and goodness, that they would crave His Word like they craved more chocolate and jelly beans on Sunday? And may we pray for each other. How different my life would look if I saw the value of digging into the Scriptures and not just reading it but eating it up. How different the world would look if we as Christians took the time to seek the Lord our God with all our hearts and souls and if we applied His truth to our lives.

So may today be a day that you seek out Your Heavenly Father. May it be a day that you look for Him in every area of your life. May you hold His Word close to your heart like my girls and see the joy and privilege of having it as your own. And when you’ve done that with all of your heart and with all of your soul, may you find Him. May you be satisfied with His goodness and want to share that sweetness with the world today…