To My Father’s House I Go…
Every once in a while I find my thoughts drifting and before I know it, it’s over the hills and through the air to my Father’s house I go… my Heavenly Father that is.
It’s not that I’m in a hurry to get there but some days I’m homesick. Maybe it’s because I have so many loved ones gone before me that I miss something awful and I long to see their faces, hear their voices feel their hugs…
But, I’m here and they’re there. Their work here is done and it’s now up to me to make sure that this separation isn’t permanent.
It’s easy to say, I’m going to heaven when I die. I’ve said it all my life even before I made Jesus my choice. I thought being good would get me there. I was wrong.
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NLT)
I plan to go there… someday. However, I realize that although salvation reserves a place for me I still have to show up to fill it. That sounds strange, but I’ve been to many events where seats were reserved but no one showed up to fill them.
I have a place prepared for me in heaven but in order to go there and reunite with my loved ones I still have to make daily choices that sometimes aren’t easy to make.
I have to say no to some things that it seems would be easier to say yes to.
I have to sometimes be quiet when I want to lash out in anger.
I have to forgive when I want to hold a grudge.
In essence to ensure I fill my reserved place I can’t afford to react the way I did before I accepted Him. However, on the days when I’m feeling less than Christ like and I make choices that I know does not please my heavenly father I ask for His forgiveness and I remind myself in the words of one of Dottie Rambo’s song,
Too many sunsets lie behind the mountain
Too many rivers my feet have walked through
Too many treasures are waiting over yonder
There’s too much to gain to lose.
I wrote this devotion some time ago. However, I decided to share it again. Recently I’ve been feeling as if I have almost as much family in heaven as I do on earth. Within the last two weeks I said goodbye to my dear mother in law and just yesterday I got the news that a beloved cousin died suddenly. Even as I grieve my Heavenly Father reminds me that the separation isn’t permanent. I will see my loved ones again.
I’m so sorry for your loss Bernadine. I’m so happy that God has prepared a place for us to go and be reunited with all of our loved ones and to be with Him for all eternity!
Oh goodness, Bernadine, I am so sorry for your loss. Yes, it is hard sometimes to not be able to talk to our loved ones. However, there is still work to do on this side of heaven.
My friend and I discussed our late fathers today and we considered “that great cloud of witnesses”that has gone ahead. A song on Christian television many years ago asked ” Don’t it make you want to go home? ”
Yes.poor grammar but precious thought to know we haven’t lost our loved ones in Christ forever, just a while. But Christ’s resurrection is much more precious because we know they will be resurrected as well. I understand exactly what you mean.