At this stage of my life I’ve sat at the bedside of several who were actively dying, including my mom, who passed away on May 13 of this year.
I must confess, all those I’ve watched pass away were followers of Christ, so I cannot address the experience of others with any first-hand knowledge. But for those I have known, I’ve never seen panic, worry, stress or fear. Never. I’ve witnessed pain, and tears from that pain, but somehow God gives them peace as they’re dying.
“Let heaven fill your thoughts; don’t spend your time worrying about things down here” (Colossians 3:2 TLB).
I don’t hear much about Heaven these days, to be honest. What do I hear?
“Let me give you my laundry list of issues…”
“When the sun hides and the dark clouds of depression show up on the horizon, I know I’m gonna have a bad day.”
“I’m very limited in what I can do, I have anxiety.”
Issues, issues, issues. Please don’t get me wrong, I do this, too, and that’s why I’m writing about it. Additionally, I’m not raggin’ on anyone who says these things; I just find it sad we seem to direct 100% of our attention on today instead of dreaming about tomorrow.
Life has beaten many of us down to the ground and below, but we are charged to keep fighting until the very end. God just showed me within the last year that, since I don’t have clinical depression, I don’t have to just sit back and accept it. I can fight back!
“But you must be strong. Continue to be brave” (2 Chronicles 15:7a EASY).
Like many of you, I have a long list of people who have glided through that mystic veil of eternity and into the arms of Jesus. While Heaven itself remains clouded in mystery, as Christians, we have a fairly solid notion of what awaits us, yet we still seem to let our minds get caught in today’s web of sorrows and torments.
Did I sleep well last night? No. Do I still fight pain as my body recovers from back surgery last year? Yes. Does depression and worry still plague me? Yes, and often. Have I figured out how to fully live in joy, embracing all things good and putting to death every sin and negative thought that tries to bog me down, like traipsing through marshland? Absolutely not.
But I’m getting there. I have to be honest, I’m sick of wallowing in my “issues”. I’m taking a social media break right now so I can draw closer to the Lord. I’ve been “merely surviving” for so long that I don’t know what “living in victory” looks like, but I’m gonna do my best to find out. This past Sunday I was in church and felt the Lord tell me to step back from being “busy” with God’s work, and just spend time with Him for a while.
In Luke 10:38–42, we read a story about the sisters of Lazarus (yes, the one raised from the dead). They had a houseful of guests, and Mary was working hard to serve everyone, while her sister Martha sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to His teaching, and learning more of Him. Mary freaked right out, so much so that she didn’t ask the Lord, but rather, told Him: “Tell her that she should help me! (Luke 10:40).”
Jesus responded, “Martha, Martha, you have troubles in your mind about many things. But only one thing is really important. That is what Mary has chosen to do. Nobody will take it away from her” (41-42). That’s what I felt Jesus telling me: “Just sit at My feet and spend some time with Me. Your work for the Kingdom is wonderful, but you need to take a break and refocus your energy on Me.” So I asked ChatGPT to create this image, and pinned it to the top of my Facebook page:
I even asked Ai to “place a bald man from modern times in there”, to represent those, like me, who just need a spiritual break.
Wow, “troubles in your mind about many things.” Does that sound familiar or what? Seems most of us these days have troubles in our mind about many things.
So what has you bogged down? Job stress? Anxiety? Depression? Sickness? Pain? Financial worries? Family conflict? Grief? Loneliness? An uncertain future? A strained marriage? Worry about your children? Caregiving? Exhaustion? Sleepless nights? Disappointment? Regret? Guilt? Shame? Unanswered prayers? Broken relationships? Feeling overlooked? Bad news? Political division? The pressure to keep up? Fear of growing older? Feeling like you’re never enough?
Or maybe it’s a combined weight of several of these, ripping the joy from your spirit, clogging your soul’s arteries, so bad that some days it’s hard to breathe. Well, first, please allow me to pray for you:
“Lord Jesus, I wanna thank You for all Your many, many blessings, the greatest of these being YOU, and the salvation offered by the shedding of Your blood. Secondly, please touch my friend reading this, right now, God, even as they read! Reach deep into their spirit and tear away that which would steal their joy. Remind them how blessed we all are, and plant Heaven into their heart…into their daily thought process. Whether eternity is a week or 80 years away, I pray You give them an excitement for our next life that no human, no worry or no emotion can thieve from them. I pray You fill their heart with light and hope, in Your name. Amen.”
And on that positive note, here are my 10 favorite Bible verses about Heaven. Save these someplace where you can access them quickly, to battle any negativity that tries to destroy you! Hide these promises in your heart, and hold tightly to them:
- “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that 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. You know the way to the place where I am going” (John 14:2-4 NIV).
- “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:1-5 NIV).
- “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth” (Colossians 3:1-2 NLT). I repeat this verse because I love both the NLT translation, “set your sights on the realities of Heaven”, and the TLB translation, “Let Heaven fill your thoughts.
- “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21 NIV).
- “I forget what is behind me. I push hard toward what is ahead of me. I push myself forward toward the goal to win the prize. God has appointed me to win it. The heavenly prize is Christ Jesus Himself” (Philippians 3: 13b-14 NIRV).
- “But our homeland is in heaven, where our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is; and we are looking forward to His return from there. When He comes back, He will take these dying bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like His own, using the same mighty power that He will use to conquer all else everywhere” (Philippians 3:20-21 TLB).
- “But God has promised us a new heaven and a new earth, where justice will rule. We are really looking forward to this” (2 Peter 3:13 CEV).
- “Here on earth we don’t have a city that lasts forever. But we are waiting for the city that we will have in the future” (Hebrews 13:14 ERV).
- “And God has reserved for His children the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in Heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And God, in His mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely to receive it because you are trusting Him. It will be yours in that coming last day for all to see” (1 Peter 1:4-5 TLB).
- “Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered— to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing'” (Revelation 5:11-12 NLT).
I’m praying for you, friend. Hang in there, and continue to seek the Light!
