Because of Him

Oh how sweet the joy this sentence gives: I know that my Redeemer lives.

I'll never forget sitting in a small hospital room with an entire family of brothers and sisters and cousins and aunts and uncles and spouses and children, all gathered together around my Grandpa whose time left on this Earth was not long. We knew it would probably be the last time we would be able to say goodbye, the last time he would be here with us, the last time we would be together as a family with Grandpa in the room. I remember the sadness I felt, of course, you could see and feel the sadness of everyone in that room. It was the first time in my life someone who I knew and loved so much would pass away. But I also remember the feeling that this would not be the end. This would not be it. I just knew it, just like I knew anything else. I felt it. We would, each one of us in that tiny hospital room, be together as a family again one day with my Grandpa there too.

Today, I still know that there is life after death. There is life after mistakes that take us down a path we don't want to go. There is life after heartbreak. There is still life when you feel that all is lost. Because of our Savior, nothing is no longer impossible, nothing ever will really be "the end." There is always hope. We all have a Savior, the Savior of the world, who is never going to give up. Not on you, on your neighbor, on your best friend or on me.

How grateful am I again this Easter that He paid a price none of us could pay, and how grateful I am for the joy this sentence gives: I know that my Redeemer lives.