My Wandering Heart

Easter Testimony Tree

I can't stop listening to  His Love by Nathan Pacheco . He has such a beautiful clear voice and the lyrics really touch my heart. 

"His loving eyes see past my weakness to my needs
softly He whispers and I feel His healing hand
deep in my heart I understand
and I know His love can heal
His love will lead me and His love will endure forever
His hands reach out to hold and to lead me
and His heart long to bring me home again
though I am weak he makes me whole again
He heals the heart and soul with His love."

No words can adequately describe the love that Christ has for each of us. It's beyond our imagination. And yet we feel it everyday when we let Him into our hearts. To show a bit of gratitude to all He has done for us, we made our own version of an Easter tree. It's our Easter testimony tree. We found these little eggs with string at Target, but you could use normal Easter eggs and attach ribbon to hang. We collected branches from a nearby park and made a little tree to display our eggs. Lyla, our 5 year old, is still learning to read and write, but she wrote Jesus on all of her eggs with little hearts. At such a young age, she knows already that His love brings us such peace. When listening to spiritual music, she often says "Mom, my eyes are getting a little watery because of this song."

Dear to the heart of the Shepherd

(Rescue of the Lost Lamb by Minerva Teichert) 

 

 

The Lord is my Shepherd; no want shall I know.

I feed in green pastures; safe-folded I rest.

He leadeth my soul where the still waters flow,

Restores me when wand’ring, redeems when oppressed,

 

Thru the valley and shadow of death though I stray,

Since thou art my Guardian, no evil I fear.

Thy rod shall defend me, thy staff be my stay.

No harm can befall with my Comforter near.

In the midst of affliction my table is spread.

With blessings unmeasured my cup runneth o’er.

With perfume and oil thou anointest my head.

Oh, what shall I ask of thy providence more?

Text: James Montgomery, 1771–1854; based on Psalm 23

Music: Thomas Koschat, 1845–1914

 

 

I have always loved the symbolism of Jesus Christ being my shepherd. Shepherds love their sheep and know them by name and would willingly give their life for their sheep. As I enter Easter season, my mind turns to these sweet lambs. This year, as I really learn to make Christ the center of everything I do, making Easter memorable and Christ-centered was especially important. So I planned a special dinner for my family on the first Sunday of March. The menu was nothing fancy- just baked potatoes, lentils, mixed vegetables with cherry crisp for desert... but I set the table fancy with little ceramic sheep at each place setting and we had a good discussion about sheep and the Good Shepherd during dinner. First we talked about the sacrificial lambs of ancient Israel, and followed that discussion with the symbolism of Jesus Christ being the Good Shepherd. I used the following scriptures as points of discussion, although I knew there are a lot more in the scriptures!

Psalms 23:1
Isaiah 40:11
John 10:11
Alma 5:37
Luke 12:32
Matt 18:12
1 Nephi 22:25

Here are some amazing talks as well for reference:

Thoughts on the Good Shepherd

Behold The Lamb of God