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Amy stamped her foot. "Why can't I have a new dress for Easter? I don't like this old pink dress any more."

Mother answered, "Your pink was new last year, and it still fits you. I will iron it and put new buttons on it. Then you will like it better."

But still did not like it. She still wanted a new , and she was very unhappy.

was still unhappy when Easter Sunday came. She put on her pink . She looked into the mirror and frowned.

"Why are you not happy?" asked .

"I wish I had something new at Easter," said .

put her arms around and said, ", there is something much more important to think about at Easter than a new . Easter is the day when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead."

did not answer. had listened to and talk. He thought and thought and suddenly and excitedly, he said, "Oh,, you do have something new!"

did not understand and asked, "What do I have that is new?"

answered, "You have a wonderful new gift that gave you! When you asked to come into your heart, took away your and gave you a wonderful gift."

"What gift?" asked .

" gave you a new kind of life," said . "The Bible calls it 'everlasting life,' and we receive it the moment we take the Lord as our Savior. The says in Romans 6:23, 'The wages of is death; but the gift of is eternal [everlasting] life through Christ our Lord.'"

"Yes," said . "The reason can give us everlasting life is because His Son, the Lord , died for our . He was buried, but on the third day He rose again. That was the first Easter! The important thing about Easter is not the parties, or the new clothes, or the Easter eggs.

"We celebrate Easter because rose from the dead! He has everlasting life, and He gives us everlasting life when we believe on Him."

"But how do we know for sure that we have everlasting life?" asked .

"We know for sure because says so in the ," said . "Remember the verse we learned in Sunday School, 'He that believes on the Son has everlasting life.' Everything says in the is true, He would never tell us a lie. You believe on the Lord , don't you, ?"

"Yes, I do," said excitedly. "I took the Lord as my Savior the day I fell into the creek and was sorry for the wrong things I did.

"But what does it mean that we have everlasting life? Does it mean that we are never going to die?"

"No, it does not mean that," said . "Our body is like a house we live in. When we die, our body goes into a grave, but our soul goes to Heaven to be with the Lord . The tells us that one day, will raise our body from the dead and will give us a new body—one that will never die.

" has a wonderful book in Heaven. It is called 'The Lamb's Book of Life.' is 'the Lamb of ,' so it is His Book.

"When you take the Lord as your Savior, He writes your name in His Book.

"All people who have their names written in 'The Lamb's Book of Life' will live with in Heaven forever and ever. Aren't you glad, , that you have everlasting life?"

smiled and said, "Oh, yes! That is the best gift of all. Now I know that everlasting life is better than a new at Easter or anything!"

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Learn this verse so you can say it:

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