Elianna's First Easter
Praise God that God the Father sent God the Son, Jesus to earth...that Jesus lived the perfect life, yet died the death that a sinner deserved while bearing God's fury against sins that he never committed, God's fury against my sin and all those who would trust in Him...that I get Jesus' righteousness accounted to me while me sin was accounted to Him...that God raised Him from the dead after three days proving that Jesus death conquered death and conquered sin. So now I have hope that my death won't be the end, that my meeting with God will not be a meeting with my judge but with my Father.
And now that I have a daughter (Albeit still inside my wife), this reality is all that much more sweet. If all I knew of God was his perfection and justice - if GOod Friday (the cross) and Easter (the resurrection) had never happened - the expected birth of my first child, Elianna, would be a bittersweet thing. It would be an undeserved blessing for sure, but all that my daughter, born into sin with Adam's curse, would have to look forward to would be judgment. But Easter proves that there is hope, not hope that Elianna will be good or that she will impress God, but hope that she can beg God for forgiveness, and trusting in Jesus', she can receive Jesus' righteousness and have her sins taken away.
So now my prayer is the same today as it was the day I found out we were pregnant: God, save my baby; give her faith. The goal of my parenting will be to help Elianna to see, believe, and trust more than anything else, the gospel: The good news that Jesus died and rose again so that man could be with God forever.
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
1 Peter 3:18
Here are some of the most recent ultrasound pictures of Elianna, click to see all of them:
Finally, you can check out the progression of Elianna's growth from just a little sac to a 3 pound baby at 29 weeks.