God tells us this life is a vapor. It does not feel like a vapor. It can feel long and laborious, but it did not always feel this way. I grew up in a loving home with two imperfect parents trying to do the best they could to love, provide for, and protect me. I did not realize most people do not grow up like this. It was not until I went to college that I heard other people’s stories of hurt and loss. God started using this to make me more empathetic. But my story remained mostly happy well into adulthood.
I met my mate in college. We got married, struggled financially in the early days, moved around with school and jobs, and had two kids. Life was not perfect as we struggled through disagreements mostly brought on by selfishness. But it was pretty good, better than I deserved or recognized at the time.
Then my father died shortly after my 36th birthday. The week after his death, I wrote a short story entitled God’s Grace and Mercy in the Life of a Daughter. I told of how merciful God was to take my father’s life quickly in an auto accident. He was suffering from peripheral artery disease and would most likely be bed ridden, which he would have hated. At the time I wrote it, I meant every word. But I did not know the depths to which I would shortly plummet. His death shook me to the core, and I intensely grieved the loss for five years. It was one of the worst things I had experienced up to that point. I was a daddy’s girl, and he was a #girldad before it was cool. He represented God’s love and protection and provision. I felt lost. I missed him so much. This was just a precursor of what was to come. And as great as this loss was, it did not compare to the misery that awaited.
Thinking eternally.
God did, however, start to use it to teach me about thinking eternally. I had already been pondering and studying what heaven was like, but this search intensified when Nicholas joined my daddy in heaven. What were the two of them doing? Was it better than athletic accolades, prom, graduation, college scholarships, marriage, having his own children? My conclusion is an emphatic YES!
Is Heaven better than anything here on this Earth?
If we lived here on this Earth with the reality of what awaits us in Heaven, we would pray for Christ’s return every day.There is nothing here that compares. God created everything here to give us a picture of the Glory that awaits. There is nothing better than being in His presence. Nicholas and my daddy are present with the Lord. It’s a glorious comfort and Hope. When Christ returns, the dead in Christ receive their eternal bodies first. They keep their personalities and giftedness and use them perfectly for God’s Glory and for all of eternity.
In 2018, my pastor did a 4 part sermon series based in part on Randy Alcorn’s book, Heaven. After reading it for myself, I had a better understanding of what it was like. It’s not harps and clouds. It’s like the Garden of Eden, only no way to mess it up with sin. We have purpose and work we enjoy, good conversations over good food and drink. Beautiful gardens and music. Dancing. Competitions for the joy of it.
When does it get better?
If I believe that Heaven is so much more glorious than anything this World has to offer, I will slowly start to believe it was good for God to take my loved one there with Him. He didn’t make us for this life, He made us for the next one. This is so hard for me to fathom. But God will be faithful to fix the eyes of His children on what matters.
When does it get better? It gets better when I start thinking eternally. When does it get better? It gets better when I fix my eyes on Jesus and the Blessed Hope to come. For only then can I endure the present suffering.
For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at Home with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:1-8 ESV
