I imagine Heaven is like...

God put this devotional on my heart this afternoon and I couldn’t get through typing it without breaking down several times as He revealed it to me. I want to share it with you because Jesus assures us that, no matter how difficult it gets, no matter how much we feel like quitting, no matter how bad the odds look, He will prevail and that by simply believing in Him we can be 100% assured that we will meet Him in Heaven...and catch a glimpses of Him here on earth!

I imagine Heaven is like…

… freezing cold all day long in a winter’s storm and coming home to a warm house and a cup of steaming, hot chocolate with little marshmallows that your mom made especially just for you.

… blasting your favorite song full-blast to sing-along at the top of your lungs.

… witnessing a breath-taking sunrise dawning a beautiful day that God’s created, special and unique like none other…just like Him.

… toiling all day in a garden, swatting biting insects in the sun-scorched heat, your fingernails encrusted with earth, and then being rewarded with a cool, refreshing shower, washing all your dirt, aches, and pains away, and emerging clean.

… tears streaming down your face as you touch your Bible just to see if the ink might still be wet on the beautiful scripture you just read because it speaks exactly to your heart, so much that it almost appears that it had been written just for you.

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8 (NIV)

…working up a really good appetite after a particularly difficult day’s labor and sitting down, in the presence of all your family and friends, to a home-cooked, Thanksgiving-style meal with all the trimmings.

… wrestling with your kids and them, bubbling up with joy to tell you, out of the blue, that they love you…they REALLY love you.

… entering early morning into a bakery to catch the delicious aroma of the day’s hand-prepared, fresh-baked cakes, bread, pastries, and pies.

… the wonderful anticipation you enjoy of yearning all day to be with your wife and the kids are safely asleep for the night.

… knowing you did the right thing, even though it was difficult and unpopular and enjoying the Holy Spirit’s peace that passes all understanding.

But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13b-14

… the deep peace you experience when you’ve finally fallen asleep after a violent thunderstorm has run its course.

… being a little boy in your daddy’s arms – your hero and your role model – and him encouraging you that he’s so proud of you, and that one day only too soon you’ll be a grown man, too.

… the smells of a Christmas tree on Christmas morning as your just awakened, giggling children scramble down the stairs with eager expectation and wide eyes.

… taking in a free, Friday-night jazz performance on a warm summer’s evening.

… standing in the most beautiful field you’ve ever seen, alive and green with life, and hugging Jesus, just basking in His comfort and breathing in His scent – a spring in full-bloom – and Him assuring you that it’s all going to be all right because He loves you and you love Him.

“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. You know the way to the place where I am going.” John 14:2-4 (NIV)