Hello, God. It's me, Mara.

You know, Lord, many precious friends and loved ones have been called home in recent month — it’s almost like we’re missing the party but each departed friend is a magnet that attracts us to the next world.

When a loved one who knew Jesus passes away, our thoughts often wander to “the other side” as we wonder what they might be experiencing right now. With our limited knowledge and brief glimpses given in Scripture, we try to imagine the glories of a heavenly realm.

Heaven. Our parents and grandparents are there; aunts, uncles and cousins are no longer on this planet. They’re all there. We pause a moment and wonder what they experienced when they got there, to that greatly anticipated and beyond-imagination land.

Heaven is the home of our dreams, a home of eternal peace and safety that’s filled with family and where we will be wanted and welcomed. Best of all, Heaven is a home we are invited to claim as our own.

Try as we might, we can never come close to understanding the magnificence of Heaven until we experience it ourselves. What a glorious hope we have because of God’s love and the finished work of the Jesus on the cross!

Until we reach our ultimate home, whatever it may be like, we have a job to do … a commission from God to share the good news of his love and the hope of eternal life with Him. The truest end of life is to know that life never ends … death is no more that a turning of us over from time to eternity.

1Cor.2:9 “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love Him.”

Thank You, Lord, that life is a voyage that’s homeward bound; thank you for Your house with many rooms.

Love, Mara