We went to my Grandmother’s church today for the Easter Egg Hunt. There was this maze-like bounce house there that the girls immediately ran to as soon as they saw it. They love bounce houses. I had never seen one quite like this before and as we approached it, I had a bad feeling from the start about Sweet Pea going in there.

I figured she would get lost and scared in there and finding her would be a nightmare as you can see from this picture:

Little Bug was raring to go and Sweet Pea was right on her heels saying she wanted to go in too. Sweet Pea is timid about most new things so I didn’t want to squelch her sense of adventure in wanting to give this different type of bounce house a try. But I still had that bad feeling about letting her go in.

Little Bug went in and Sweet Pea followed. Two minutes later we could hear the shrill cry of Sweet Pea absolutely freaking out in there…..just like I knew she would.

There was a moment of panic between my mom and me as we tried to figure out how in the world we were going to rescue Sweet Pea. Within half a minute, I was diving in myself to go find her.

Oh my word. Talk about claustrophobia! I wanted out myself…but I had to get my baby out! It was hot and there were tunnels going every direction and I had no clue which way to go. To make matters worse, Sweet Pea had stopped crying so I had no clue what was going on.

So I started yelling like a crazy person: Sweet Pea!! Sweet Pea!! Come to Mommy!!! Come to Mommy!!!

I kept saying that over and over and over, hoping she would hear me and follow my voice.

I’m not sure how many minutes went by, but eventually Sweet Pea rounded the corner and I grabbed her and we got out of there as fast as I could!

Once my heart stopped pounding, I started thinking about all that. I was in there screaming my child’s name, hoping she would follow my voice to safety.

God calls us by name too. No, it’s not audible and He doesn’t scream at us. It’s a quiet, gentle calling for us to surrender our lives to Him.

After the Egg Hunt, we went to see a Passion Play put on by one of the mega churches in our city. As I watched Jesus being beaten and nailed to the cross as payment for the sin’s of the world, I thought about how everything changed in that moment.

There lies the hope for the world. For you reading this post right now.

I have no clue who my audience is in reading what I post here, but I can guarantee you there are some hurting people reading this right now.

I want you to know no matter what you are going through, there is hope! We serve a God of redemption who makes all things new in His time. Today, He just may be calling your name hoping you will follow the sound of His voice to safety.

If you’ve been wrestling with God, not ready to give in to His plan (even if you don’t know what that plan may be)…..surrender to Him today!

You cannot go wrong in surrendering to God. As I tell my story, you will again see how I had to surrender my plans for God’s plan. Surrender is a HUGE part of following Christ and allowing Him to lead you.

It’s not easy, but the results are far greater than the human mind can ever foresee.

<p align="center">That was the best picture I got of the girls today! The sun was bright and Little Bug always has a hard time taking pictures in bright sunlight. They were waiting for the Egg Hunt to begin!</p>

- Elaine