Heavenbound

After reading Randy Alcorn's book "Heaven" it has given me a new perspective on Heaven, I am even more excited for what comes next! Have you thought much about heaven? Perhaps this virus has everyone thinking about it.

Did you experience the death of loved ones when you were young, if so did it impact you? I am guessing it did. For me my Uncle Louie's death is the one that impacted me the most. I grew close to him in his final years as he lived across the field from us. He would call & ask me to watch western movies with him. I was learning how to drive at the time, so he would come pick me up & we would go for drives. I had an up close perspective on what cancer can do to a person, it diminished his body weight down to 90 lbs, but what it didn't diminish was his smile, sense of humor & his spirit. I was so fond of him & really enjoyed being around him. When he passed away I was devastated, I had never experienced grief like that before, until our son Nathan died. After Nathan's death I no longer feared death, not that I feared it before, but it was as if I looked forward to it now because I knew who was waiting on the other side!

Are you counting down & anticipating the day you are reunited with your child(ren) again? I know I am! Do you wonder what that reunion will be like? They say there are no tears in heaven, but I feel like I will have tears of joy when I see all my loved ones who have passed on before me.

Revelation 21:4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

Heaven - No Tears Past The Gate

Several years after Nathan passed away my sister Amy took me to The Precious Moment's Chapel in Joplin MO, it was a healing & comforting experience for me. The chapel has become a special place that I like to visit from time to time. I hope you will have the pleasure of visiting it sometime too! Sam Butcher is the creator of the Precious Moments figurines & this chapel. He experienced the death of his son Phillip and created a special room called "Phillips Room" at the chapel. I had the pleasure of meeting Sam when he signed the piece Heaven "No Tears Past The Gate" in memory of Nathan.

Randy Alcorn says: "Anticipating Heaven doesn't eliminate the pain, but it lessens it and puts it in perspective. Meditating on Heaven is a great pain reliever. It reminds us that suffering and death are temporary conditions. Our existence will not end in suffering and death - they are but a gateway to our eternal life of unending joy. The biblical doctrine of Heaven is about the future, but it has tremendous benefits here and now. If we grasp it, it will shift our center of gravity and radically change our perspective on life."

What a great reminder to us all, I encourage you not to allow your grief to keep you stuck, focus on the future and what is yet to come! Allow yourself to move through grief while taking your precious memories of your children with you. Before long we will be reunited again! If we believe in Jesus we know we are all Heavenbound...

Written by: Jill Theriault

Crossroads Coaching - @crossroadscoachingongodstime