From the Heart
Louise Gibson
When was the last time you looked up?
I mean “REALLY looked up”?
As I stand on earth and set my sights on high,
I marvel at God’s handiwork-
the Mystery of the sky.
When I look up as far as the eye can see-
There is evidence of God’s planning-
How beautiful Heaven must be!
My Take
Divoran Lites
1 Corinthians 13:12 Paraphrase
Comforter-Heaven is in your Future
You do not see things clearly. You’re squinting in a fog, peeking into a smoky mirror. It won’t be long, though until everything clears up. When you see the Kingdom of Heaven you will know Me as thoroughly as I now know you. You will see with your spirit. Wondrous things you have seen on earth will be as nothing to you.
Until that completeness comes you have four things to do. One, trust steadily in Me; two, constantly hope for the best; and three stop considering the worst that could happen; four, love with all your heart and with all My power.
Trying to imagine what old age or Heaven will be like is the same as worrying about the future. Faith, hope, and love is your focus now. You can never understand until you get there, so don’t dwell on it. It’s a promise that will come true and that’s all you need to know.
Faith, hope, and charity. And what is charity? It is goodwill toward others. Liberal giving of all kinds. Mercy. Minimal judgment. I will give you plenty of people to love and help. Your love will not come out of your need, but out of the power of My Holy Spirit who is your Helper.
Live now as you did under your parents’ protection, never worrying about the future. Whether earthly parents were good or bad really makes no difference, though. I have always been the one who looked after you and I always will be.
My Take
DiVoran Lites
For most of my life, I’ve been wondering what Heaven is like, or will be like for me personally. One of the first blogs I 
wrote was about the time, when I was five-years-old, that I saw the neighbor on her way to Heaven. I may have dreamed it — doesn’t matter if I did or not.
Anyhow, I saw her walk down to the end of our street and up a staircase and I knew where she was going. Later that day Mother told me the neighbor had died and gone to Heaven. Sorry, I don’t know the doctrine in this story. I do know that seeing people go up a staircase is not uncommon. I Googled it.
In college, I wrote an essay wondering what Heaven was like and the class discussed it until the teacher brought us back to earth.
I read a reliable “doctrinal” book called, Heaven, by Randy Alcorn that I enjoyed, but I still wanted to know more.
Finally, a tiny flame started to flicker in my imagination and I came up with an answer that satisfies me. I take no responsibility for whether this is true or not and when you get there, don’t blame me if it’s nothing like I’ve thought up. Ask God for your own vision of Heaven.
I don’t know who will greet me or what that will be like, but it will be a warm welcome, I know that much.
In the song, “Amazing Grace,” it says, “When we’ve been there ten-thousand years, bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun.” So, theology (and practicality) aside, what’s going to keep us entertained for ten thousand years and more?
Here’s my take on it. I will never be alone unless I want to be alone. I’ll be with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit as well as the people I have loved, love now, and will love when I meet them. Much of our time will be spent in celebration and praising God.
That leads me to the next phase of my fantasy. I will have challenges (and success). I will learn every song I ever wanted to know, play every instrument I ever wanted to play, and see every sight I ever wanted to see. I will learn, do, and share everything I’ve ever wanted to know, experience, or contribute. Life will be full of awe.
Bill and I aren’t in any hurry to go to Heaven. God is so good to us now. We do everything we can to stay healthy and happy. We try to listen to Him and we ask Him to empower us to do the work He sets out for us. We have accepted Christ’s death on the cross for our sins. That means that when our spirits split out of their cocoons, we will go to Heaven. We will fly free of all pain, confusion, and sorrow. Rejoice now. Rejoice later.
“When we all Get to Heaven.”
Heaven, by Randy Alcorn
From the Heart
Louise Gibson
Life presents many challenges from birth to the grave
But lift your thoughts to God above,
He promises to save.
God fashioned us in our mother’s womb
So I am certain He had a plan.
We were designed in His own image-
To serve our fellow man.
When I was a child, I thought as a child-
Striving always to please-
It took a lot of challenges
To set my heart at ease.
My heartfelt wish, as I was growing up,
Was to be a caring soul.
I desired all humanity
To make loving others their goal.
I know it is unrealistic
To expect Heaven here on earth –
But wouldn’t it be wonderful
If every soul felt its worth?
Reach out and “touch someone”-
A word of encouragement, or a smile will do.
Your kindness will be rewarded-
It will all come back to you.
I am especially pleased with this offering from DiVoran. It made my soul lilt. Today I am blessed to be undergoing a cornea transplant because someone chose to give a stranger sight. I am humbled and do not take lightly the gift. I pray my donor is enjoying a” wonderful place” and I pray for comfort for their family. Onisha
My Take
DiVoran Lites
“full of glory and grace, I want to see my Savior’s face, ‘cause heaven is a wonderful place.”
When I was about four years old, I lived with my family in Crowley, Colorado, and I played with a little boy next door almost every day. One day when I was going over to his house I saw that the sidewalk continued and became a stairway. My friend’s mother was walking up it away from me. I called out to her, but she didn’t turn around. Sometime in the next day or so Mother told me the lady had died and I thought without emotion of any kind, “Oh, she was going to Heaven.” That’s absolutely all I can tell you except that I have never in my life had a doubt that Heaven exists and that I’m going there. Of course, since then I have been grateful to have an opportunity to take the step, which would guarantee it. When looking for a picture for this blog I saw something like the stairway again. I suppose someone else has seen it too.
Today I read in Streams in the Desert that a Christ Follower, who had a short time to live on this earth, looked at a mountain and said, “I may not see you many more times, but mountain, I shall be alive when you are gone, and river, I shall be alive when you cease running toward the sea.”
Fancy that. Have you ever seen the Rocky Mountains? We will outlive them all.
I’ve done some thinking and reading about Heaven, but unfortunately my imagination balks at the grave. Right or wrong here’s what I believe.
I believe the crystal sea runs down from the throne of God.
I believe the walls are made of precious and semi-precious gems and the gates are made of pearl.
I’ve heard about the mansion next door to Jesus in a song.
I would imagine that if something is special on earth, like love, it will be a million times more wonderful in Heaven.
We could take all the small things that give us happiness and multiply their effects. For instance, I have a calico cat with soft fur and a loud purr crowding me as I write. One day when I sneezed, she even acknowledged it with a prrrt. I thanked her.
Looking at the garden I see lavender plumbago flowers and yellow orange cosmos backlit by the morning sun.
Yesterday Onisha came for tea and we prayed together and spoke in sweet communion. Both our days were better because of that friendly interlude.
I don’t mean to leave out family, I can barely express how much mine means to me, and though there is no marriage in heaven, I believe again you will love each person there a million times more than you could the best spouse and children on earth.
I wonder about projects. What work, what projects will we have in Heaven? We’ll be making music, for sure. Will I have a beautiful singing voice and be able to play the harp without working up calluses? God must store up absorbing and enjoyable tasks for us or he wouldn’t have given us a need for satisfaction through a job well done.
This I do not believe. I don’t think we turn into angels when we die. I don’t think we are reborn as cattle or even humans again, thank God. Hebrews 9:27
It’s probably better that I don’t know what Heaven is like. I might yearn for it too much and miss out on all the joys available to me in the now. I am content to wait, but still, sometimes I wonder.
“Whoever lives and believes in me (Jesus, the incarnation of God) will not ever die.”
John 11:26
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