Jabulani!

Hey friends!!

It's time to celebrate! It's time for some jabulani! It's Easter! Jesus is alive! Hallelujah! Though it has probably been stressful these past couple of months, now is the time to take a minute to smile and celebrate!! We have the promise of hope and a future!

Jabulani is the Zulu word for "rejoice". Here on the Africa Mercy we sing a song that goes like this:

Jesus, life and hope to heal our land

Saviour, reaching out with your mighty hand

Sing for Joy, Oh Africa

The Lord your God is risen upon you

Sing for Joy, Oh Africa

The Lord your God is risen upon you now

Jabulani, jabulani Africa 

Jabulani, jabulani Africa

So let's celebrate!! Let's honor and praise God! Let's rejoice; jabulani! But how? With this virus going on, how are we to throw a celebration and rejoice? It's gonna look different. Maybe you won't get to go to church in person, or have a big Easter brunch with all of your friends and family, but there is one thing that will be the same: Jesus. The most important part of Easter!

Hebrews 13:8 NLT says:
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever."

How amazing is that! To know that Jesus is still the same good, loving Savior today as He was yesterday and will be forever! He still does miracles, he still loves you, he still accepts you. That's something worth rejoicing about!

Also, just pause for a minute and think. Jesus rose from the grave! I mean how amazing is that!? God loved you so so much that He was willing to send His very own Son to die on a cross to save you from the grips of sin. If that's not love, I don't know what is!

And on top of that great love, Jesus rose from the grave proving once and for all that Satan and death will never win. We will have eternal life in heaven where we will get to celebrate and rejoice for forever! We will sing "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty!" all day and all night.

The one thing about Easter that has really hit me hard is that God says that we are worth it. He looks down at our world - our broken, messy world - and He says, "They're worth it." He looks down and finds the beauty amidst the chaos. And He decided that He didn't want His children to suffer so He sent His Son to die for us because He loves us. It's so hard to wrap your head around, but it's true!!

Philippians 4:4 NLT says,
"Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again - rejoice!"

As I was writing this I thought, "Hold on a minute. What does the word Easter mean?". So I pulled up Google and looked it up and this is what I found:

"Another theory is that the English word Easter comes from an older German word for east, which comes from an even older Latin word for dawn. In spring, dawns mark the beginning of days that will outlast the nights, and those dawns erupt in the east."

(https://time.com/4738876/easter-word-origin-history/)

Days that will outlast the nights. Love that will outlast death. How beautiful is that?

So this Easter, remember to celebrate and rejoice, for He is risen indeed! It's time for some jabulani!

Love, Emma

"When Christ died, He died for you individually just as much as if you had been the only person in the world."

-C.S. Lewis

Until God opens the door, praise Him in the hallway.

Gotta give credit where credit's due:

Pictures:

1. thehoneydesignco

2. jenessa wait 

Definition:

1. Google