Easter is a fun, colorful holiday of easter egg hunts, and candy (which I love), and cute little girls tripping around in fluffy floral dresses and white shoes.

As if it couldn’t get better, Easter means even more to me.

It’s a sign of hope, and a reminder that what I believe transcends all other beliefs as true. You’ve read my God’s Not Dead post, you’ll know I don’t speak theological whatchamacallits. I’m a regular girl. This is my simple yet powerful belief, and it’s true.

God’s not dead, I explained that in a previous post you can read it here.

So what? So God’s not dead. A Great Being actually created the universe I live in. What’s that supposed to mean to me?

If it was Someone’s plan that the universe be created, with a sun and a moon, and bunnies, and chocolate, it was Someone’s plan that you were created.

You’re more special than you thought.

God has a plan for you and your life. And God loves you. This is how I know.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

God gave his son to DIE for you. How do I know it was for you, personally? The verse says “loved the world”, you’re a part of the world, right?

Everyone of us has sinned (lied, cheated, stole, etc). If you sin, you’re dirty and you can’t be with God and you can’t enter heaven. This is where God’s love plays a part. He wants to spend time with you, He wants to save you from an eternity of burning in Hell.

But God is a just God. Someone had to die to pay the penalty of all our sin.

God sent his SON, the only one He has–the one human He may have loved more than all us stinky sinners– He sent His son to die, for you and for me.

He must love us quite a bit.

However, this isn’t the celebration of Easter. Jesus Christ died a horrible death on the cross for us, being beaten, whipped, spat on, and mocked. But three days later, something happened that gives every Believer eternal hope in salvation: Jesus rose from the dead.

He even visited his disciples and friends. They became witnesses to “a dead man walking”. He showed them the scars in his wrists and sides before they believed he was real. And he was.

Jesus has been the only man to rise from the dead, because he is God’s son. Buddha, St Mary, all these other “gods,” they’ve all died, and stayed dead.

We celebrate Easter because this is the day he was alive again! Proof that Jesus truly is the Son of God.

Jesus dying payed the price for our sin. Believing that he died for me and rose again, confessing my [many] sins, and making a commitment to live a life pleasing to God is what makes me a Christian and a born-again believer.

Heaven is real, and Hell is a horrible reality. But I live life with the peace of God’s direction (I’m not in control, I can’t mess it up) and a new hope in His love for me (the big guy is on my side, watch out Haters), and I will be with Him in heaven, without a doubt.

This is what Easter means to me.

What does Easter mean to you?