A Need for Heaven
I have been reading Sally Clarkson’s book “Dancing with my Father”. It is a wonderful book and has helped me press on in my quest for joy. In the chapter I was reading the other day, Sally Clarkson was sharing about her experience as a missionary in Communist Europe and how it related to the idea of finding joy in the midst of suffering.
As she pondered over how people living in such great oppression could express such joy and hope, a woman shared the following with her:
“When you really need there to be a heaven and when you believe in it with all your heart, you have great reason to rejoice because you know this life is so short. You count on the fact that you will live forever in a place that you were designed for from the beginning of the world. The problem is that, sometimes, you who live in the Western world have so much of heaven on earth, with all your things and relative security and stability, that you can’t clearly see the world that is ahead. And often, I think, you don’t feel as much a need for heaven. The one who can clearly understand why heaven will be such a place of blessing will never demand too much of life in a world that has been separated from God. We know from the shadow of beauty we see here that we were designed for a better place. It is for our joy in that very real fact that our hearts are full and that we sing so strongly.” (pp. 159-160)
I’ve been thinking on this so much the past couple of days. In general, we have a great deal of freedom and abundance in our lives here in America. But more and more we are seeing various types of suffering. We deal with things like disease, death, loss of jobs, financial struggles, and even a gradual whittling away of our freedoms. During these times of struggles, people have two choices. They can either become anxious, worried and/or bitter over their circumstances; or they can seek hope, joy and peace in the midst of their difficult circumstances.
Not long before my husband was diagnosed with colon cancer, I was listening to Mercy Me’s song “Bring the Rain”. There are the lyrics, “bring me joy, bring me peace, bring the chance to be free, bring me anything that brings you glory. And I know there’ll be days when this life brings me pain, but if that’s what it takes to praise you Jesus, bring the rain.” At the time I was doing a Woman of Faith study on living a life of worship and I remember lifting these words up as a prayer to the Lord because my desire was to worship Him in all things. Little did I know at the time that I was going to be asked to put that prayer into practice.
Which takes me back to the quote from Sally Clarkson’s book. It was during those first days of my husband’s diagnosis, going through treatment, dealing with large amounts of medical bills and now working through recovery that I have begun to see that this life is indeed short, that we were not made for this world, and that I have much to rejoice over as I have the hope and joy of heaven because of my relationship with Jesus Christ. Compared to eternity, this life is short and anything pleasurable or difficult will not last.
I am grateful for the heavenly perspective I have developed through our trials. It is my prayer that I will continue to see my need for heaven. May I keep my heart and mind focused on the eternal things to come and not seek the temporary things of this world, the world for which I was not made. If it takes difficult things to keep that mindset, then I accept them willingly; because living a life of worship here with pain is more valuable than a life of ease with no hope for eternity.
As she pondered over how people living in such great oppression could express such joy and hope, a woman shared the following with her:
“When you really need there to be a heaven and when you believe in it with all your heart, you have great reason to rejoice because you know this life is so short. You count on the fact that you will live forever in a place that you were designed for from the beginning of the world. The problem is that, sometimes, you who live in the Western world have so much of heaven on earth, with all your things and relative security and stability, that you can’t clearly see the world that is ahead. And often, I think, you don’t feel as much a need for heaven. The one who can clearly understand why heaven will be such a place of blessing will never demand too much of life in a world that has been separated from God. We know from the shadow of beauty we see here that we were designed for a better place. It is for our joy in that very real fact that our hearts are full and that we sing so strongly.” (pp. 159-160)
I’ve been thinking on this so much the past couple of days. In general, we have a great deal of freedom and abundance in our lives here in America. But more and more we are seeing various types of suffering. We deal with things like disease, death, loss of jobs, financial struggles, and even a gradual whittling away of our freedoms. During these times of struggles, people have two choices. They can either become anxious, worried and/or bitter over their circumstances; or they can seek hope, joy and peace in the midst of their difficult circumstances.
Not long before my husband was diagnosed with colon cancer, I was listening to Mercy Me’s song “Bring the Rain”. There are the lyrics, “bring me joy, bring me peace, bring the chance to be free, bring me anything that brings you glory. And I know there’ll be days when this life brings me pain, but if that’s what it takes to praise you Jesus, bring the rain.” At the time I was doing a Woman of Faith study on living a life of worship and I remember lifting these words up as a prayer to the Lord because my desire was to worship Him in all things. Little did I know at the time that I was going to be asked to put that prayer into practice.
Which takes me back to the quote from Sally Clarkson’s book. It was during those first days of my husband’s diagnosis, going through treatment, dealing with large amounts of medical bills and now working through recovery that I have begun to see that this life is indeed short, that we were not made for this world, and that I have much to rejoice over as I have the hope and joy of heaven because of my relationship with Jesus Christ. Compared to eternity, this life is short and anything pleasurable or difficult will not last.
I am grateful for the heavenly perspective I have developed through our trials. It is my prayer that I will continue to see my need for heaven. May I keep my heart and mind focused on the eternal things to come and not seek the temporary things of this world, the world for which I was not made. If it takes difficult things to keep that mindset, then I accept them willingly; because living a life of worship here with pain is more valuable than a life of ease with no hope for eternity.
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