I have been thinking a lot lately about Heaven. I have some dear friends who follow Christ but don't think pondering Heaven is worthy of their time. A few years ago, I accepted this belief & somewhat agreed that we need to spend each day in the present, not dwelling on our future. The only problem was, thoughts of Heaven kept nagging at my heart. I wanted to know more about Heaven. I wanted to dwell on Heaven.
While browsing at my favorite bookstore, I ran smack dab into an author that would save my life. His name is Randy Alcorn. He founded a ministry called Eternal Life Perspectives. He wrote 2 of my favorite books, If God is Good and Heaven. He relieved me of my guilt for wanting to dwell on Heaven. I wasn't dying at the time I met this author on the bookshelf. In fact, I was trying to live. I had just suffered a few deep losses, & I was trying to make sense of my new life.
So if I wasn't dying, how did this author save my life? I was trying to reconcile how a loving God could allow (if not cause) suffering & evil. I had just been the recipient of what I believe was evil. This evil affected me emotionally beyond what I can even comprehend. The mental suffering I would experience over the next 2 years was almost more than I could bear.
I knew God was with me. In fact, I never felt deserted. He took time to comfort me in every moment of my pain & to help me see the picture clearly. What I didn't know was that He was also preparing me for the next phase of my life: cancer. Probably a good thing I didn't have a crystal ball. God was preparing me for suffering by giving me a faith deep enough to stand up in the midst of personal anguish. The joke was on me. I thought I was reading these books so He could use me to help others. Truth is... He was saving me.
Okay... so God has allowed cancer to seep into every facet of my life. I am forever changed in every way: physically, mentally, emotionally, & spiritually. FACT: we will all die sometime. Dwelling on Heaven does change how we live today. It gives us a hope that can only come through Christ. I am quite at peace saying that pondering Heaven has saved my life. Without Heaven... I would be short sighted. With Heaven, my focus is eternal.
How do I know all of this is real? Could the joke be again on me? I know this is real because of my personal experience. I believe what I read in the Bible. But... what if that's manufactured by humans? There is one element of the trinity that cannot be manufactured or disputed. However, I believe you have to experience Him, the Holy Spirit, to actually say beyond the shadow of a doubt, He is for real.
Before Jesus ascended into Heaven, He told his disciples that He would ask His Father to send an Advocate to be with us forever: also called A Comforter, a Healer, a Counselor, a Spirit of Truth... I can say that this promise has been fulfilled in my life. I have experienced the Holy Spirit personally in each of the capacities Jesus used to describe Him. I have troubles like everyone else on this road called life, & I have a Holy Spirit that is forever with me touching my life in unexplainable ways.
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