Heaven On My Mind

"He's so heavenly minded he's no earthly good!"

Ever heard that one? Is it really possible to be too heavenly minded? One of the things I talked about this past Sunday is how losing someone can change your perspective on this world that we live in for the time being.

When you've lost someone, especially a child, it changes how you view most everything in life. Next week Susan, Arianna, Jayden and I will again face the anniversary of Heather's departure for heaven. This will be our 4th year without her and even though you might think the pain would subside, I can tell you that it does not. Grief turns into mourning and mourning is with you for a lifetime. I've often described Heather's absence as a hole in my life. That hole is still there and I'm sure it will remain for the rest of my days.

Even though the pain is intense, God has brought good out of this ordeal. One of the things that has changed for me is my view of what's important. I find I'm much more heavenly minded than I've ever been. In other words, I look forward to heaven more than ever. Ecclesiastes 3:11  says, He has also set eternity in the hearts of men. I believe that means that God has created us to long for heaven.

I do that. I think about it a lot. I think about what it will be like to go there myself. I think about what it will be like to see Jesus. I think about what it will be like to see my little girl again and be with her forever. God has used this loss in my life to make me more heavenly minded.

But I'm more heavenly minded in another way. I want to take as many people there with me as I possibly can. In fact, it has become a driving passion in my life. I've never considered myself an evangelist. I have friends who have the spiritual gift of evangelism and I've always been in awe of how they can seemingly turn any conversation into an evangelistic opportunity. But not me. It has always been an effort for me and I've never considered myself very good at it.

That all changed 4 years ago. No, I'm still not a Billy Graham, but you'd better believe that every Sunday I'm going to call people to Jesus. Why? Because I want everyone to go to heaven. I guess I'm just too heavenly minded!

Here's what I believe: Heaven is a real place that Jesus has prepared for those who are prepared. Are you prepared? If you want to go to heaven you have to make the decision to go there. You don't go there by default. You don't go there because you're such a good person (you and I both know that one's not true!). The only way you can get there is by receiving the forgiveness of God through Jesus Christ. Putting your faith in Jesus and only in Jesus is what will get you there.

Jesus said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

The one thing that God doesn't want is for you to spend eternity separated from him. That is why he sent his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to die in your place. Put your faith in him today. Do it now and you can know for sure that you have the guarantee of heaven in your future.

Comments

[Jean White]

When Heather died, it was like a gut-punch. She was my "special girl." I had known her from when she was the age Arianna was when Heather died--when NHC was just a handful of people. That year had been a rough year for me, the end of a terrible five-year period in which I had lost 7 or more people that I was very close to, several close family members, and several close friends. When I got the call about Heather, we had just settled in Florida. We were returning home NC because of Heather and Dave and Sue, and so much had changed at NHC. We had waited 17 years for the church to be built, and just before it was built, we moved. Instead of "going home," people were leery of us because they couldn't understand why we had left. We were grieving alone, because Dave, Sue, Arianna and Jayden were rightfully surrounded with their current support group. I just wanted to run straight into Sue's arms and stay there. I wanted to hold Arianna in my lap and cuddle Jayden. But Jayden didn't know me; I had only held her as a tiny baby when she was still in the hospital after her birth, then I had to go, moving away.
After the funeral, we had to come home to Florida, then George had to leave me, driving his truck away. I only had a few friends, but they were devoted to the Lord, for God had led us to a church like NHC. I came home and fell into the arms of my spiritual Mom here, and cried myself out time and again. It was so hard, missing Heather. She leaves such a hole in my heart, for I was her "other mother." Dave is right, the missing doesn't end, the hole doesn't get filled with something else. Some days I hear music that reminds me so much of Heather's that it brings tears to my eyes and a pang to my heart. Heather had that great ability to lead in worship, to draw people, in the Spirit, closer to God.
But Jesus said that when we ask why God does something, we can't get an answer because we are asking the wrong question. We should be asking instead what God can do. God has taught me through all these losses to have a deep compassion, one that drives me to write about my faith, to love others through their pain, and to console others in need.
After all the deaths in such a short time, just after Heather, my Mom had a bad stroke. I begged God not to take her. I felt like I was just panting with grief. It just wouldn't stop--all these losses. I told Him I couldn't take it, asked Him, "Please Lord, give me a break. Not now, not Mom. I can't bear it." God honored that prayer and spared my Mom. She is not well, but she is still with us and she does okay "for an old lady."
I have lost so many that, for a time, I was frightened of loving again because, after all, I would just lose them. What was the point? So I isolated myself. God showed me this was wrong, and taught me to love again--to reach out. It took a long time, but I got there. It still hurts, but so many of the other senseless (to me--God has His reasons) deaths--like my lovely and beloved, strong, smart faith-filled 13-year-old niece who died of heart failure just 6 months before Heather, the suicide of a Christian friend--these I live with and God calms the storms within me. I'll never understand until eternity, when it won't matter, the "whys", so I just trust and wait to see what God can do. Until then, there is only faith. The tears still come, but there is faith.
Be blessed, Dave. I wish you peace. We will always love you and Sue, Arianna and Jayden. You are a cherished part of our lives, even though we are, for a time, apart.

[Becky Butler]

Thanks, Dave. Love you guys.