Have You Ever Thought About Heaven

Isn’t life wonderful for the most part? Sure we have those days that are less than perfect and maybe some past memories that aren’t so pleasant, but for the most part, life is such a gift.

Admittedly, there were days in my life where I thought how could I live through another day. But getting through those trials, I found that those down days would soon pass and that there were always better days ahead. Some may even question what is the purpose of life. I used to always question that as a very small child, until I grasped on to learning about the Bible and throughout my life studying and learning about what is my purpose. It’s wonderful that I’ve had some amazing mentors who have encouraged me and supported me through my life journey.

Today, as I listened to Pastor Greg Laurie speak, for some reason I was very emotional to what he had to share about. The main topic was about Repentance in Luke 15. But he touched upon a couple points that are near and dear to my heart. I’ve spoken of this topic before regarding my children and how my hope is that one day, they will return to church. However, now that they are grown adults, all I do now is pray and hope that God works on their hearts without me being that nagging Mom they don’t want to be around. But back to Pastor Greg’s message. He was talking about heaven and about our loved one’s who have preceded us in death. That when one person comes to repentance and becomes a believer in God, how all of heaven rejoices — not just the angels, but everyone. He also brought up how the praying grandmother who has prayed for all her children and grandchildren — how she will know when her prayers have been answered when one of her children come to repentance and how heaven will rejoice along with her. It reminded me that even if I don’t get to witness my children returning to what they were taught as children, I might get to experience it when I get to heaven. There is biblical scripture that supports this perspective. I don’t know how the veil (life here and life in heaven) works because the bible is silent about it and I don’t believe that our loved ones are up there watching everything we do, but I do believe that there might be messengers that report to them when something monumental and positive happens to one of their loved ones still alive on earth. This may sound strange, but sometimes as I’m playing my piano, which for the most part are worship songs, I can feel God’s presence and I can see that my piano playing is evolving into something more pleasant and easier to play. 

My brother always comes to mind during these times, because he was very instrumental in teaching me how to play the guitar. One day I was learning a song and my playing became smoother each time I played it and then I realized it was the song that was comforting to me during the time soon after my brother was called to heaven. The song is Forever Reign and the part that reminds me of my brother is I’m running to Your arms, I’m running to your arms. The riches of Your love will always be enough. Nothing compares to your embrace. Light of the world, forever reign. Toward the end of my brother’s life, it had become very difficult for him to walk as he was so full of pain. One thing that remained in tact until just a few days before he shut his eyes, was his love for Jesus and he wrote his last devotional (he had a devotional that he wrote almost daily). His words were always inspiring to read. So I knew my brother was a believer and is in heaven. But I imagined when he opened his eyes for the first time in heaven, he saw Jesus and for the first time in years, he was pain free and he just ran straight into Jesus’s arms. I know that my brother would pray for his prodigal sister throughout his life and although I’ve loved Jesus all my life, my full transformation and freedom was felt in 2018 when I attended a Freedom class with the church I was attending at that time. My brother went to the Lord in 2015, so I can’t help but think his prayers, along with my other loved ones who soon followed him into heaven and those who were mentors who preceded him were instrumental and in fact, rejoiced when God took full hold of me at that point in my life. I do believe that ministry is still very much alive in heaven and as we continue our journey, we not only have our prayer warriors here on earth, but also in heaven.

I felt that God had given me today’s message as prior to Pastor Greg concluding his message he read Isaiah 46:4 - “Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry and will deliver you.” — Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. (Matthew 4:17) — He also ended his message with this statement, “What brings Jesus Joy? You!!”