Longing for Heaven
May 21, 2023 — Laura House
Over seven years in and the waves still come. Thankfully, they are now few and far between.
Sometimes grief is surprising, isn’t it? But I suppose the waves shouldn’t really be such a surprise. When we are separated from someone we love, whether by estrangement or death, the reality of the separation can hit us unexpectedly. Today was that day.
It’s a gorgeous day here in Virginia, and I was making an early morning trip downtown to run an errand. Listening to my favorite CD of Larnelle Harris and enjoying the clear blue sky and cool breeze, I was filled with joy; and then out of nowhere, bam.
Suddenly I was overwhelmed with a deep sadness and my mind began the million question game that I have played so many times before. As I passed the familiar sites of our town where Nathan had lived so much life, I began the interrogation—and the list was long. I revisited the deep pit of “what ifs” and “should haves.”
Because I am farther down the road of loss, I quickly checked myself and the interrogation ended. I know better. Through the years, I have learned so many spiritual truths, and one big one is that God is God. He is sovereign. He knew the illness that Nathan would experience and He allowed it to happen.
I don’t know why God heals some of our children here on earth, and other times they move to eternity ahead of us. I don’t have the answers to the majority of my questions. But I do know that God loves each of us more than we are able to fathom. I know He is good. I have seen and experienced His goodness, faithfulness, compassion, and His heart toward His children.
If you have lost someone dear to you and are in the middle of the inquest, that’s okay. I hope you’ll cry out to the Lord and ask Him all of the questions that you have. Part of grieving is dealing with those questions.
But there will be a point where you become comfortable stopping the asking and just resting in knowing that the Lord loves you and He knows the answers. You won’t have to know. Your joy will be restored, your eyes more widely opened, your heart more compassionate, and your purpose more defined. Keep trusting Him and letting Him comfort you and that day will come.
I’m sure today’s tsunami won’t be the last, but down the road when the next one comes, I’ll still seek my shelter in the only safe place — the loving arms of my Savior.
A few weeks ago at church on Easter Sunday, the pastor asked a question. He was talking about the fact that most humans are concerned with earthly things and he said, “Do any of us really wake up each day thinking about Heaven?” My daughter and I instantly looked at each other with a little grin and pretended to hold up our hands. Yes!! We do!
I look forward to Jesus' return every day.
Until then, let’s challenge each other to wake up each day determined to honor the Lord in all that we do and say. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…”— Hebrews 12:1-2a
Aren’t you glad that you know how the story ends?
“For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.”— I Thessalonians 4:16-18
