A Weekly Devotional Journey Toward Easter Week 1 I’m excited to share something new with you this year as we approach Easter and reflect on the miracle of God’s love, grace, and resurrection! With special input from friends in Africa, we’ve prepared a series of weekly devotions that we believe will be a wonderful encouragement to your life and walk with God. While we can pursue the things of God throughout the year, the weeks leading up to Easter can provide us with a special time to focus and reflect on our life with God. In fact, the word “Lent,” which is associated with the 40 days leading up to Easter (not including Sundays), originates from the word for “spring.” So this is a time of renewal, a kind of “spiritual spring cleaning”: a time for taking inventory of our walk with God and setting aside anything that hinders His love from having first place in our hearts.

In Kenya, there was a group of 47 women who came to learn alternative ways of earning income other than the illegal business of brewing and selling changaa (meaning “kill me quick” — a dangerous and illegal alcohol). They were with us for four days, and as we shared business ideas, we also shared about God’s love from scriptures like this one from the Psalms.

I wish you could have been in the room on that second day of training when one woman raised her hand and said,  "We need this training on business. It can help us have a different life, but what I really need is Jesus.  I need permanent change from the inside out! " There it is! What she needed — what we all need — is a change that begins from the inside . . . from our hearts. That is why Jesus came, died, and rose from the grave: to give us that cleansing, forgiveness, and the gift of His Spirit and grace that transform us and this world! A powerful way to prepare your heart to embrace God’s love and presence this season is to begin with this prayer today.

I hope you are encouraged as you draw near to the Savior.  I can’t wait to share a special message with you next week that comes from the kids in the ELI Children’s Homes.  Feel free to reply with any reflections or feedback you may have, and if you want to dig deeper into the Lenten season, you can click here or below. Have a blessed week! It is a privilege to know that together we are…  Empowering lives, Don Rogers Founder empoweringlives.org

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