Thursday, August 21, 2008

What's Heaven Like?

by Donna L. Watkins

Ever wonder about where you go when you die, or where your loved ones have gone? As a Christian, we have God's Word to tell us about it.

© 2008 Donna L. Watkins - Orchid - Costa Rica
Jesus said, "Let not your hearts be troubled, Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3)

One of the devotions in "The Word For You Today" tells us about what the Bible says about Heaven:

It's an exact square of 1400 miles. It stretches from the Carolinas to California, and from Canada to Mexico. It's 40 times the size of England, 10 times the size of France, and larger than India. And that's just the ground floor; it's as tall as it is wide; 600,000 stories, more than enough space for billions of people to come and go. And come and go they will. The gates never close. Why shut them? The enemies of God will be banished, leaving only a perfect place of perfected people.

Heaven has been on my mind a lot lately since my friend, Louise, died. I'm a very visual person, so I like to picture things and, of course, Heaven is a difficult place to picture since we only have glimpses of it provided by God's Word.

As we lose more loved ones that go to Heaven, it does make our hearts glad to know that we will see them again. Paul had the privilege of visiting Heaven, and wrote, "I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far." (Phil. 1:23). Life on earth can get pretty cushy at times, but we must always keep our eyes and thoughts on the fact that we are only in preparation for the real Kingdom we belong to.

Joni Eareckson Tada says, "What makes home is not a place, but who lives there."

It's been such a blessing to "meet" so many of you via email through this mailing list and I often think about how we will have one big tea party in Heaven one day. I also picture my butterfly bench there. After all who gave Charlie the ability to make it? He had never done anything that artistic before, so God probably has butterfly benches all over Heaven .... or maybe that's what Charlie will be doing in Heaven ... making butterfly benches. We will all have tasks to do and as much joy as that bench has brought to my life and others, it wouldn't be a bad "job" to have.

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© 2000-2008 Donna L. Watkins - This article was reprinted with permission. Visit the author's website, TheNatureInUs.com for more articles and free email subscription.
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