Happy Easter! Christ has risen for YOU!

Hey Everyone! I hope everyone is doing well! This past week has been amazing! We have walked through Holy Week from the time Jesus entered Jerusalem on a donkey through his time that led to the cross and today Easter CHRIST HAS RISEN FOR YOU AND FOR ME!
I want to first start off by talking about Palm Sunday! This was a day that people wanted to welcome Jesus into Jerusalem on a donkey saying palm branches saying "Hosanna" "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord" As Jesus sees people celebrating He cries...Jesus wept over the town because they did not fully understand what was going to happen to Jesus.

Well now we are into holy week and we reach a day called Maundy Thursday! Now this is a day that is also called "Mandate Thursday" This command to "meet" this is something that the early church would do every year on a Thursday that would mark a beginning of Easter of what God did for us. The story of God is ongoing WE are Gods story! There is a festival that people did and it was called "Passover" This all started with a guy named Moses. Moses was the one who started "The Passover. At this celebration the disciples took the Lords Supper. Now on this night Our Lord and Savior Jesus took bread and broke it and gave it to his disciples saying "Take and Eat for this is my body which is broken for you! Then Jesus took a cup and said..."Take this and drink this is my blood which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins"

The Lords Supper

Now we go to Friday...Good Friday, this is the day our Savior was handed over to be beaten and killed!
On this day He went to Pilate and He could not find a good enough reason for him to be killed So they took him to King Herod...well He thought he was just crazy so the guards took him back to Pilate and then Pilate decided to have either Barabbas released or Jesus released. The crowd shouted Barrabas, then pilate asked "what then shall I do with Jesus who is called christ? The crowd shouted CRUCIFY HIM...CRUCIFY HIM!! Pilate asked "why" but he got no where with the people they just kept on shouting CRUCIFY HIM! So then Pilate washed his hands in front of the crowd and said I am innocent of this mans blood...it is your responsibility then he had Jesus handed over to be crucified. Jesus was nailed and at about noon darkness came over the land until 3:00. Then Jesus called out in a loud voice" "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”  At that moment the curtain in the sanctuary of the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, rocks split apart, and tombs opened. The bodies of many godly men and women who had died were raised from the dead. They left the cemetery after Jesus’ resurrection, went into the holy city of Jerusalem, and appeared to many people. That is what happened on Good Friday. Our Savior was killed BUT...Sunday is coming

Jesus carrying the cross!

Jesus on the cross

Now we are at Sunday and we can shout....CHRIST IS RISEN FROM THE DEAD!! HE CONQUERED DEATH! Its the greatest day in History! Our sins our washed away and we can now live forever knowing that you are forever in our hearts and lives! I hope each and everyone of you reading this will realize that this verse speaks to you just as much as it did to me...For God so LOVED the world that He GAVE His one and ONLY son that whoever believes in Him shall NOT perish but have EVERLASTING LIFE! AMEN?

HE HAS RISEN

Blessings to everyone to end my blog I want to end with a song by a man named Carman He wrote a song called The Champion and it talks about how Jesus defeated Satan so Here it is..
The Champion Video
Blessings to all!
Happy Easter
Mighty Mariah

Storms of life

Hey everyone! I hope you all had another great week!
Well this blog update is going to be about the storms of life and also you will be hearing the story of Jesus calming the storm!
I am going to start off with the story of Jesus calming the storm!


That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him.  A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”
He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves,“Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.
He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

I want to point out a couple things in this passage. My first point is the disciples were in a boat and when they get out to sea the wind started to pick up and the waves got bigger! The boat started to sway! The disciples were afraid. You read in this passage that Jesus was on the boat with the disciples but the diciples are still afraid! In this passage they ask Jesus don't you care? Then Jesus wakes up calms the storm and asks the diciples a question that strikes them. Do you still have no faith? One thing I realized after I read this story is Jesus never took them out of the water! He kept them in the water to continue their journey! The diciples knew that body of water. They have had repeated storms but they thought that because they knew Jesus and had Him with them, they weren't going to have anymore storms! We sometimes do that don't we? We face storms in life and we think that all we need to get through it is we just need to get Jesus and everything will be okay! Think of the biggest fears and conflicts we face in life issues of health, relationships, work, worry, purpose,   identity. Jesus found me when I was lost and its going to be easy now right? Storms come, storms come regardless of where we are at in life! Storms of life do not discriminate! We ask ourselves one of two questions. What is it that I did wrong that Jesus is trying to punish me for or we ask ourselves, Jesus why have you fallen asleep on me. Is your God angry at you or is He asleep on you? Storms come and they go but if God brought you to that storm in your life He will bring you through it! Walk by faith and not by sight! So to end my blog I want share a song with you it's called praise you in the storm by casting crowns! Praise You in this storm! So to end here's a bible verse to keep and to hold onto when your going through a storm in your life...."I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33 
Be blessed everyone 
Happy spring break 
Mighty Mariah 
Feel free to comment!

Hope Ankeny is growing!!

                                   

Hey everyone! I hope you all have had a great Monday so far! I know it's been a while since I have last written and I am so excited to share some news with you!

Hope Ankeny's logo

                                                 
So I attend Lutheran Church of Hope in Ankeny and we worship at the station which is a building with many offices and we have one service on Saturday at 5:00 and then we also worship at Prairie Ridge middle school in Ankeny on Sundays! We have two services one at 9:15 and 11:00 in the morning! Hope Ankeny has land to start building a church! Hope Ankeny is so great full of what the Lord is doing through Hope! Our church is growing! I just want to give a shout out to my church family for being such a great community! I also want to thank all the staff at Hope Ankeny for all they do! Scott Rains is a great pastor and a great leader of Hope Ankeny!  I just love going to worship on Sundays and seeing it get pact with people! I also love being apart of Hope Ankeny's community! God is good all the time! I want to wrap up with our church's mission statement which is to Reach out to the world around us and share the everlasting love of Jesus Christ! I hope you enjoy reading about what God is doing through Hope Ankeny!
Be blessed!
Mighty Mariah
Heres a link to read the story about Hope Ankeny's new building!
Hope Ankeny will get a new home!