Have a Blessed Easter

Lemon and Ginger Tea – Finally!

Now, I know that it’s not Thursday, but I’m running waaaay behind time once again. Nevertheless, I’m here, and today:

I’m having:~

A Lemon and Ginger tea with a Wagon Wheel, thanks to Ruby and Jeanne. Yes, I finally stopped procrastinating and bought it on Thursday, and I’m so glad that I did – it smells absolutely delicious – sort of like a hot home-made Ginger beer – YUMMY!

My Mug is:~

One that my fried, Janice, gave to me a very long time ago, and it is fine bone china – the sort that makes you feel very sophisticated and is delightful to drink out of.

I’m Feeling:~

Very blessed that Jesus thinks me worthy of giving His life for me. May I seek to always walk worthy of His calling, never causing my fellow sister or brother in Christ to stumble because of my words or actions.

On My Mind:~

Friendships, and how important it is to cultivate those friendships – just as the ground will not bring forth it’s blessings without careful planting, watering, nurturing, and watching it grow, so it is with our friendships. They, too, need careful attention and then, and only then, can the friendship blossom and grow. I praise God for the friends He has brought into my life – the people who have helped me to grow just a little more like Jesus every day!

“Wishing to be friends

is quick work,

but friendship is

a slow-ripening fruit.”

…Aristotle

Thank you for stopping by to say hello and to share Tea  Time with me. Ruth hosts Tea Talk each week, so if you would like to participate in this Meme, pop on over – I’m sure that she’d be delighted to see you!

The (Scientific) Death of Jesus

At the time crucifixion was the “worst” death. Only the worst criminals were condemned to be crucified. Yet it was even more dreadful for Jesus, because unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion Jesus was to be nailed to the cross by His hands and feet.

Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long.

The nails were driven into His wrist.  Not into His palms as is commonly portrayed. There’s a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder.  The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the wrist that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support himself so that He could breathe.

Both of His feet were nailed together.  Thus He was forced to support Himself on the single nail that impaled His feet to the cross.  Jesus could not support himself with His legs because of the pain, so He was forced to alternate between arching His back then using his legs just to continue to breathe.  Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering and the courage.

Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours.

Yes, over 3 hours! Can you imagine this kind of suffering?  A few minutes before He died, Jesus stopped bleeding.

He was simply pouring water from his wounds.

From common images we see wounds to His hands and feet and even the spear wound to His side.  But do we realise His wounds were actually made in His body.  A hammer driving large nails through the wrist, the feet overlapped and an even larger nail hammered through the arches, then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear.   But before the nails and the spear, Jesus was whipped and beaten.  The whipping was so severe that it tore the flesh from His body.  The beating so horrific that His face was torn and his beard ripped from His face.  The crown of thorns cut deeply into His scalp.  Most men would not have survived this torture.

He had no more blood to bleed out, only water poured from His wounds.

The human adult body contains about 5 litres of blood.

All these without mentioning the humiliation He passed after carrying his own cross for almost 2 kilometres, while the crowd spat in His face and threw stones (the cross was almost 30 kg of weight, only for its higher part, where his hands were nailed).

Accept the reality, the truth that JESUS IS THE ONLY SALVATION FOR THE WORLD.

God has plans for you – think about what He experienced to save you. May God bless your life richly!

What Do We Celebrate when We Celebrate Easter?

This is a card that I made for my friend, Gwenda, and it has symbolism within the design of the card. The red symbolises the blood of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ; the black symbolises our sin prior to His death on the Cross and the white represents the righteousness of the Saints, which is only received through God’s grace and Jesus shed blood on the Cross of Calvary.

Do we celebrate Easter? Well, I know that Easter has long been associated with Ishtar, the goddess of fertility, but we don’t worship her in our home. We worship the one true God, the one who died on the Cross so that we could have everlasting forgiveness of our sins. There was to be no more sacrifice, as the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world.

Easter has been associated with many things – Easter eggs and hot cross buns, but we need to remember the true reason for Easter, and that is the love that God had for us in sending His Son to be the substitutionary sacrifice for us all. It’s not about furry bunnies, Easter eggs or hot cross buns.

Easter is defined by Merriam Webster’s Online Dictionary as:

• A feast that commemorates Christ’s resurrection and is observed with variations of date due to different calendars on the first Sunday after the paschal full moon.

While the Collins Concise Dictionary that we have at home defines Easter as:

• A festival of the Christian church commemorating the Resurrection of Christ: falls on the Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox.

And World Book Encyclopaedia defines Easter as being:

• The most important Christian festival of the year. Easter celebrates the return to life of Jesus Christ, the founder of Christianity, after His Crucifixion.

Jesus came to give us life and that we might have it more abundantly (John10:10), and it is only through our faith in Jesus Christ that we receive this free gift of eternal life. Christ’s death and resurrection is the message that we should be sending to our friends and loved ones, and it should be His death and resurrection that we celebrate, knowing the love that our heavenly Father has for us.

Pull Up the Anchor from Your Past and move On!

These are today’s sermon notes that I took during church. The lesson today is that we need to pull up the anchor from our past and move on, and not let the past hinder our future.

Bible Verses Used

Isaiah 43: 18, 19

Remember not the former things, neither consider the things of old.  Behold, I will do a new thing. The purpose of a boat anchor is to stop the boat from moving and crashing into rocks, but if the anchor is stuck firmly in the sand, there is no way that the boat is going to move, so the anchor is more of a hindrance than a help in these circumstances.

There are so many people that allow their past to anchor them to the things of the past, but God doesn’t want you to be immovable, anchored in one place. When God determines your future, He doesn’t remember your past. The best days of your life are still ahead of you. Your past doesn’t determine your future.

Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus’ most devoted followers, but she had seven demons driven from her. She remained until the last moment at the Cross when Jesus was crucified, and was one of the first at the sepulchre to anoint the body of Jesus, but found the tomb empty. She brought Peter and John to the tomb, then, after they had left, Mary Magdalene met the risen Jesus.

Peter sometimes acted or spoke with too much haste and had to be rebuked, but God filled Peter with such an anointing that He preached an awesome message. God didn’t take any notice of Peter’s past, nor will He take any notice of yours. God is the ultimate makeover expert.

Jacob’s proud self-confidence had to be broken if he was really to receive God’s blessing, and God taught Jacob through a conflict with a special messenger of God. He changed Jacob’s name to Israel, that means ‘an overcomer with God’, and made Him over.

Ruth was a Moabitess and came from a background of worshipping idols, and yet, Jesus came from her line. You see, God changed her. He still directed affairs in the everyday lives of His people for their good.

Zacchaeus was an embezzler, a tax collector, and was considered by the people as a sinner and a renegade. Yet, he was considered worthy enough to host Jesus, and Zacchaeus changed and became benevolent toward others. He gave half of his goods to the poor and restored fourfold all of the money that he had embezzled.

Paul (Saul) killed Christians. He considered that Stephen deserved execution, and after this Paul led the persecution of the Christians, imprisoning both men and women alike, and yet, Paul was extremely blessed by God, as He took him into heaven and showed him glorious things.

God has set all of these people free from their past. What God did for these people, He can do for you. Do not dwell on the past. Do not let the anchor hold you back. Failing is rarely fatal – it is normal. You need to use failure to make you stronger in the future.

Abraham Lincoln lost so many elections that it’s a wonder that he ever became elected. There’s hope for us yet. You have to be prepared to let go of the past to do what God wants you to do in the future.

The humble Kleenex tissue was a failure in the beginning – in World War 1 as a gas mask filter during the war, and as a replacement for cotton used in surgical dressings. It wasn’t until someone suggested that they be marketed to remove cold cream and for colds and hay-fever that they became a success, and they are now a successful multi-billion dollar company.

Charles Darrow was married, and he promised his wife that they were going to be millionaires, but the Great Depression hit, and Charles became very disgruntled, but his wife told him not to lose sight of his dream. He had a vision of buying and selling properties and paying with cash, and that vision became a board game. Can you guess which one it is? Yes, that’s right, it’s Monopoly. Charles tried to sell it to Parker Brothers, and he was refused each time, but then, eventually Parker Brothers asked how much he wanted for the board game, and he said, “One million dollars”. They became millionaires, but only because they didn’t give up on their dream.

Stop using your past to excuse you from doing things. Pull up the anchor, hoist the sails and get ready to move on. By the grace of God, we don’t have to be a product of our past. Pull up the anchor from your past, and move on!