We are excited that Angela Morgan's Easter story was chosen and featured in Joy Magazine. Well done Angela!
If ever there was a story to transform and energize you, giving you back your long-lost Hope, rearranging the interior of your heart and pulling you to your knees in utter awe and amazement, it is, undoubtedly the beautiful, breath-taking, ‘too-good-to-be-true’, yet real life story of Easter! The wild passion, the powerful Love, the tender Grace and the intoxicating joy that this story brings is unmatched by any other narrative! It is an elixir, a balm, a lightning bolt, an invitation, a guarantee, an opportunity, firm ground to stand on, a breath of fresh air, a panacea of note. It is radical forgiveness for the wrong-doer, healing for the infirm, strength for the weak and wealth for the poor. It is also Peace for the anxious, beauty for ashes, wholeness for the broken and freedom for the slave. It is ancient and historical, timeless and classic, as well as poignantly relevant and modern at heart. It is a tireless, timeless Love-story that will simultaneously captivate and emancipate. It is a tale of epic proportion, still reaching the human soul, here, in the 21st century.
The Easter story was birthed in the heart of our God outside of time and space. He penned it before the mountains and stars came to be. He unfurled it and shed light on it through the generations. He breathed it into being.
I have found myself returning to this story time and time again. I think on it daily, not just when the leaves are falling, and autumn has arrived. I ponder it, not just when I attend church or watch my children hunt down their chocolate eggs. I own this story as I get dressed in the morning, do my grocery shop at noon and tuck my children into bed at night. It is always with me. I’m never without it. It’s there in the quiet and in the chaos. It meets me when I’m broken, wearing shame like a cloak. It reaches me there, where my heart is a mess. It finds me when life lies in gazillions of pieces and seems beyond repair. It speaks to me when my body is ill and the doctor’s report is terrifying. It cuts through my unforgiveness and enables me to let go. It shouts calm to my anxious thoughts and stills my inner turmoil. It deals with my pride and stubborn selfishness. It transforms my thinking and puts me back on my feet.
This story lodges so deeply in my inmost being because I have tasted its sweetness and known its goodness for over 40 years. You too can know the fullness of it. You, Woman, wherever you are today, can grapple with its truth and allow it to settle you.
Roughly 700 years before our Saviour hung on that tree, the prophet, Isaiah, scribed God’s incredible intention. We read of it in chapter 53. Here he spells out, in detail, what God intended for the salvation of mankind. This is the crux of the matter, Friends. This is the story that sliced history into two. Read these words slowly (pondering each one), they hold the power to change your life radically should you choose to accept them, believe them and orientate your life around them:
“Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains (of punishment), yet we (ignorantly) considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God…
But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement (needful to obtain) peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes (that wounded) Him we are healed and made whole.” Isaiah 53:4-5 Amplified
Do you see the provision? Can you feel the Hope rising in your heart? The death and resurrection of our Saviour made abundant life possible for us (John 10:10). Our guilt, our shame, our sin was paid for once and for all! We have unlimited access to the Father! Our weaknesses (be they mental, physical or spiritual), He has carried. Our grief and pain He bore. As they punished Him, He was making a way for us to have Peace, and well-being. As they lashed Him, He was taking our every disease, ailment and infirmity.
We need to get back to the cross. We need to pause there, considering the fullness of all it means. It truly is a sacred place of divine exchange. Your rags for His riches. Everything you lack, given to you at that tree. No challenge or obstacle that you face today is beyond the power of our Saving One. His Grace, our ‘élan vital’; His Peace, our safe place in the storm; His unstoppable Love, our power!
Among many significant elements in this story is the moment when our dying Lord looks to Heaven and declares, “It is finished” (John 19:28-30). Three words that say it all! Our Jesus had completed His mission in full. Not one detail missing. The work was done. Completely complete! Salvation for all of mankind, for all of eternity. Your only work is to believe and receive!
Can you fathom the enormity of the resurrection, the pivotal point of it all? The very epicentre of the story! This is our victory! This is why we celebrate! Where our hearts were once dead, resurrection life now pulsates! The tomb is empty; our Triumphant One is alive and well!
And so it is, dear Reader, that you are “blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3) right here, right now, wherever life has you at present. As He gave up His life for you and for me, He was thinking about us, His beloved Bride. Every day since that very first Easter, He has been pursuing you to show you His goodness! His Love is relentless!
My prayer for you echoes in these words from Ephesians 3:16: May He “unveil within you the unlimited riches of His glory and favour until supernatural strength floods your innermost being with His divine might and explosive power. Then, by constantly using your faith, the life of Christ will be released deep inside you, and the resting place of His love will become the very source and root of your life.” (The Passion Translation). May it be, and may the victory of our risen King be your story too!