If you know me, you know that there are two things that will always make me sit back in awe and excitement: nature and the thought of Heaven.
For a long time I never thought of Heaven. For me, following Jesus actually has very little to do with what happens to me after I die. Instead, it has everything to do with life now. I get to live every single day of my life with Jesus – with the God of the universe who wants me, who chooses me, who calls me daughter and friend (friends!!). What more could I want?!!
Well, actually, I would really love if I could physically be with Jesus.
That would be the more that I want. I feel like my relationship with God is like a super long distance best friendship. It’s like we’re constantly on the phone and facetiming, and I just FaceTime Him into my daily life so He can see what’s happening even if we’re not talking. So even though He’s totally there and totally present, we’re not actually physically together.
With that being said, and with my love languages mostly being quality time and touch, it would mean the world to me if the two of us could sit down, snuggle, talk about life, and just be together.
I feel like I’m literally longing to be reunited with my best friend.
And that’s where Heaven comes in. Heaven to a lot of people is just a place you go after you die, but to me, it’s the place I finally get to reunite with my best friend forever!! Forever dudes! I literally get to just follow Him around and hang out and be together for all the time in the world. Again, if you know me, you know that’s my favourite thing ever.
To be together in a perfect place with the perfect person for the perfect amount of time (all the time hehe) sounds to me, honestly, a lot better than here. And to clarify, I LOVE life. I love learning and growing and meeting people and discovering new places. But none of us can deny that our world is broken and that things need to be fixed. In Heaven, they will be. Everything will be new and clean and good. And that’s what I long for.
This is where nature comes in.
When we were in Langkawi, an island in northern Malaysia, we walked the beach everyday, at least twice a day. You’d look out and see the sparkling water welcoming you in, and you’d see these glorious, luscious green mountains rising from the waters in every direction.
Now we’re in Lesotho and the mountains surrounding us look as if green satin had been spread out like a bed sheet on top of them. In the evening sun they shine with warm gold.
It’s stunning. These places may very well be some of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been.
To me, I feel like every part of the planet is just a little bit of what God looks like, and what Heaven will look like. And think, this most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen is literally the world in its most broken form. If this is it when it’s broken, think of what it’ll be when everything is made whole and perfect and as it was meant to be. Think of what Heaven will be like.
And even more, think of how gracious God is that this broken part of Heaven that we call the world is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. He’s so kind to make even the ugly things beautiful.
I guess I’m just writing this blog to say that I really love life here. I live on the most beautiful planet, with deserts and forests and oceans and mountains, and mountains in the oceans! I get to live everyday with Jesus! It’s literally amazing!! But I love that I get to look forward to something even better. Something even more beautiful. Something even more perfect.
I love that after my life here life just gets better. I literally get to live life in the most perfect, beautiful place with my very favourite person forever.
If my life here, that which I love so so much, is brokenness, I can only imagine what Heaven will be like.
There’s so much good to come, my friends, I can’t wait.
Ps. These pictures give a little window into the beauty God’s been showing me over the last but two months, and this song captures exactly how I feel about Jesus. It makes me cry tears of excitement and joy. Enjoy, dear ones.
Be With Me – Bryan & Katie Torwalt
