Larry and I have been sad that his 93-year-old mom, Audrey, has forgotten what heaven is. She has Lewy Body Dementia and has deteriorated to the point that she doesn’t know who we are, can never remember that she lives here, and is now actually forgetting how to dress herself. It’s been a long decline.
But when Larry talked to her the other day and mentioned her going to heaven, she didn’t know what heaven was. This is particularly sad because for so long as she hated getting old and would often say, “I wonder why God doesn’t take me home to heaven to see Him. That’s going to be so great,” there was such hope and comfort in her demeanor. Somehow knowing that, it seemed to her, made it worthwhile to wait.
But now she doesn’t have that hope any longer. And she rarely even asks about God taking her home. In her anger, she’ll just exclaim she wants to die.
This has made Larry and I think about how significant it is that we have hope of heaven. And it’s something that most likely should occupy more of our thoughts. This life isn’t the whole story. Everything that happens to us has a purpose–to prepare us for heaven where I believe we’ll serve Him in meaningful ways. I don’t know how but I think the scripture says we’ll reign with Him. We gotta reign over something, right? I think that means we’ll have some responsibilities.
Regardless, we have a hope. When we’re discouraged, we know we’ll never be discouraged in heaven. When we’re in pain, we know we’ll never be in pain in heaven. When we’re grieving, we know we’ll never grieve in heaven. There is so much comfort and hope in knowing it will be perfect there and we’ll continually enjoy Jesus’ very presence.
And the pain of earth will be forgotten. How wonderful.
PAIN UPDATE: I think I’m a little better and my emotional state is definitely better. And I could actually sit in my desk chair for 23 minutes this morning. Yes, it was uncomfortable and I had to squirm into different poses at times but I could do it. Thank you, Lord. You can’t imagine how much I miss sitting at my desk. Laying on my bed with the lap top is not my cup of tea. And I don’t have all my files nor the things on my desk. Well, enough complaining. There is hope. Thank you for your continued prayers.