Heaven is For Real


I just turned the last page of "Heaven is for Real".  I finished this book in a day and a half and have been thinking non-stop about Heaven.  In reading about Colton's experiences of being in Heaven, I have been more hungry to search the scriptures and learn more about what Jesus really looks like and what Heaven is like.  Todd Burpo, the author and father of Colton, said he found out about a young girl named Akiane, who also at age 4, had a visitation and also saw Heaven.  Her paintings are unbelievably mature for her age.  Whenever Todd saw pictures of Jesus, would ask Colton, "what's wrong with this one?"  When Todd showed Colton Akiane's painting of Jesus (which she completed at age 8), Colton replied, "Dad, this one is right".  

I am struck by this paragraph, "Markers, Daddy...Jesus has markers (nail pierced hands and feet).  And he has brown hair and he has hair on his face," he said, running his tiny palm around on his chin.  I guessed that he didn't know the word beard.  "And his eyes....oh, Dad, his eyes are so pretty!"

"Well, what did God's throne look like?" "It was big, Dad....really, really big, because God is the biggest one there is.  And he really, really loves us, Dad.  You can't belieeeve how much he loves us!"  When he said this, a contrast struck me:  Colton, a little guy, was talking about being so big- but in the next breath, he was talking about love.  

After putting the book down, I am left with the hunger to look into the eyes of Jesus and to discover more about the love that Colton described.  I am also left with the desire to return to simple Childlike Faith.  This book has left me with the realization that Jesus does indeed love children!  Children are pure in heart,"...in Heaven, their angels always see the face of God."  I want to be someone without guile, without an agenda, without fear.  I want to possess an un-self-conscious honesty, the humility to accept reality for what it is even when it is hard.  I want to abandon the pursuit of acquiring knowledge and facts about God in exchange for the simple wonder of learning about Jesus as a child would learn...by being with him, hearing his words, sitting on his lap, and gazing into those beautiful eyes.  

I want to experience Heaven!

Akiane's Jesus

A wise woman told me this yesterday:

"When you look at nature (God), you see time.  Time makes all things beautiful.  Beauty is Love, therefore God is love."

I have decided to surrender to the process.  I can't measure my growth in days or even weeks, sometimes not even in years.  I have to let time work it's magic, the process of being patient and waiting.  I can look back and see the growth if I'm not trying to rush the process.  I've been rushing trying to make the fruit happen and putting pressure on myself to make a million decisions.  I cannot rush any process if I want it to become beautiful.  Like Revekah said, "Time makes all things beautiful."

"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed...though it is the smallest of all your seeds, when it grows it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree."  Matthew13:31-32

"Who despises the day of small things?"  Zechariah 4:10


Thank you Revekah for sharing life's simple truths with me in a profound way.

"Healing in his Wings"


Malachi 4:2
"But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.  and you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall."


I am thinking about the healing power of God's wings and thought of another verse about the woman who touched the hem of his garment and was instantly healed.  "If I just reach out and touch his garment, I will be healed."  


I started to review the word "wings" in Hebrew today from a few verses in the OT and discovered that the word wings means the following from Malachi 4:2


Wings:  from Kanaph #3671
Corner, Covering, Edge, Ends, Folds, Garment, Skirts, Winged; Wingspan


Psalm 91 talks about the refuge of resting in the shadow of his wings.  The whole chapter is about the one who finds refuge in God in when enemies are all around.  God says that for the man who rests in his protection, no harm will befall him and no harm will be able to touch him, even though he may see the destruction all around him.  I am greatly encouraged today to realize that the feeling I have of being in a dark place is actually not at all a bad place to be, because God has his wings over my life to bring healing.  His wings are healing, and if I rest under his wings, I am going to be healed and delivered.  When I am under his wings, he is VERY close to me.  I may not be able to see, but I feel him, I am protected, and I am safe.  It's kind of like being in a cocoon; the more you rest (trust), the more you are transformed, so that eventually you emerge a butterfly. 


In this season, God is calling me to Rest and Contentment, but I have not responded to that call in quite the way I should have.  I feel as if I've been wrestling with God and fighting him rather than just receiving what he wants to do in me.  It's been so hard for me to just surrender to love and rest.  In my heart I want to rest, but my soul has tried to work hard to earn and work and strive to get the freedom and healing I want.  All along, God has been trying to give me the easy route, and I've chosen the hard route.  It's like a light bulb went on today and realized that the only thing that can set me free is the Love of God, and his love his found in his wings through rest and trust. 


I had two pictures today that describe what seems to be going on:  


One is that I feel like I'm in Noah's ark, a dark place, a waiting place, with no view of what is going on outside.  Yet, God is with me and is changing the land as I wait in the ark, trusting he is in control.  There will be a time in which the suddenlies happen and the healing comes quickly...the breakthrough that I'm looking for in which he leads me out into a new land filled with his promises.  


The second picture was one of a bunker.  A bunker is for safety in warfare.  According to wikipedia, "A military bunker is a hardened shelter, often buried partly or fully underground, designed to protect the inhabitants from falling bombs or other attacks."  


Zechariah 9:12 "Return to your fortress, O Prisoners of Hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you."  God promises that when we rest in the fortress...aka, his wings, shelter, etc, He will fight for us and deliver us!  He will restore us and even give us a double portion!


I feel as God calls all of us in seasons to rest and wait under the protection of his wings.  God is saying that even in the attacks and warfare that there is rest and security if we are willing to wait in his dwelling.   We may not be able to see what's going on outside, or understand the circumstances, but there is a time in which He will make all things new.   


So, the lesson for me today is learning to rest content and to wait for him to move on my behalf, "But I have stilled and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child with its mother is my soul within me" Psalm 130:2.  I learn to wait, even in darkness, when I don't know where he is leading me or understand what's happening around me.  "Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God."  Isaiah 50:10


So many verses come to mind, but this one sums it up well:  "Though I look for him, I do not find him, but he knows the way I take and when he has tested me, I will come forth like gold".