Welcome, Home!

     The first six years of my life, I took home for granted. One day, Dad and Mom moved, and then I had to walk home. That was the day I realized how much home meant to me.  It wasn’t the house we lived in; it was Dad and Mom’s welcoming hugs and constant love.

         We moved again when I became sixteen. A new school with new teachers, making new friends and a new church.

         It didn’t seem difficult at all, just different. Then the fall of 1947, I went to college.  I would travel by bus home. Because of financial restraints, I couldn’t go home for six weeks. As one of my sons told me much later.  “Being away from home means wondering what is going on at home.”  And I wondered.

         Marriage in 1952, brought a new meaning to Welcome, Home!  Especially when our four children were born.  Dad and Mom enjoyed visits with our four little ones.  We so enjoyed their laughter and joy when we announced a trip to go see Grandpa and Grandma’s house.

         One time we visited, my Dad and I took a walk. He seemed to walk slower. His heart weakened, and he was often ill. Each trip home, I wondered if it would be the last time would be the last time I would see him. Then he died.

         In 2012, I found myself packing to move again. My husband had Dementia and I packed our belongings to move to be near our son, Tim. All our children came to help from four different states. The sound of clear tape ripping, boxes being put together filled the house. I thought about the things we packed.  I thought about the phrase, you can’t take it with you!  Oh, the futility of packing things.

         I realized for my last move to Heaven; I need to fill my heart and mind with Jesus Christ.  Then I remember John 14:3, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also.

          I pray for God to help me pack my heart with Prayer and Love for those who surround me, for I know when I unpack my Heart in Heaven will be a time of glory for me! 

         As the Dementia took a deeper hold on my dear husband, we placed him in a Memory Care Facility.  My days of Care Giving changed from Hands-On to Hearts-On.  We listened to hymns; we held hands and read scripture.  He lost his ability to see, feed himself, or walk. And in his constant state of confusion, I talked about to him about Heaven. Now I wonder if I prepared myself or him?

         We talked about Heaven where his mind would be clear, where he could walk through woods, his favorite place to be, and how he could see all of God’s beauty in the place prepared for him. 

         One day, as I sang Jesus Loves Me, I thought about the lyrics.  Surely this song is just for children! I realized then the words spoke to me, at nearly 90 years old. The strength, faith, love, and trust touched me.  Jesus loves me, this I know, For the Bible tells me so, Little ones to Him belong, They are weak, but He is strong.

            We often talk about the reality on earth, when the truth is, the promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ is our true reality.

         But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him”, these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. I Corinthians 2: 9-10.

         There is one more reunion and one more ‘Welcome, Home’ that will come. Jesus tells about this in a parable in Matthew 25. The Master of the home went on a journey and gave his property to his servants and left for a time. When he returned, he checked with his servants and found which had used the talents wisely and brought more. To these servants, He said, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

        And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Revelation 21:3-4.

 

More about our coming Reality in Heaven:

        Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  Revelations 21:1-2.

          And He carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.  It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates, the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. Revelations 21:10-13.

          “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.” Isaiah 65:17-19.