Girl Talk Show Notes: Season 2: EP # 10: Heaven

Show Notes:

Heaven book by Randy Alcorn

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Transcript

[Girl Talk Season 2_ EP # 10 – Heaven]

[Beginning of Recorded Material]

Carol:               Hello there, you are listening to the light FM’s Girl Talk podcast my name is Carol.

Alicia:               This is Alicia.

Tricia:               Hey, I’m Tricia.

Carol:               And today, we are covering the subject of heaven. Now I have to tell you a story about one of the girls that I go to church with. So I think life gets in the way and we forget about heaven sometimes until we lose somebody, and then it becomes more on our mind than normal. And this girl that I go to church with she has lost some very important people in her life, and she said you know what Carol she said I wake up every morning thinking today could be the day.

And she said that has totally changed my perspective about what I go through, and how I deal with things here on earth that today could be the day that I see Jesus face to face. And that I mean it was huge for me and I’ve tried to do that, although I don’t do it well because everything gets in the way and things happen, and life kind of muddies the water for you.

But I thought that was a great perspective and a great way to launch into this conversation about heaven because we do have a prize waiting on us and we don’t often view it like that. It’s easy to forget that that is what is waiting for us.

Tricia: Here in the middle of a traffic jam, you’re not thinking about heaven, you got to get to work I’m not thinking about heaven. The printer jams, yes, the things that get us frustrated, but that’s exactly today could be the day. I heard it said once, imagine you’re going on a trip that you’re excited about going to Italy, I mean you’re going to research Italy, what the weather’s going to be like, what the food’s going to be like, where you’re going to go you envision it in your head, and you get excited about it.

But we don’t do that about heaven where we’re going to spend eternity. So the more we can think about heaven, I think, the better. Like you said, the prospective change, even the little frustrations that we undergo they don’t matter as much, such a powerful way to think.

Carol:               And I also think that when we think about heaven, there’s a negative connotation there because we’ve lost somebody. So we can’t see heaven for what it really is, we just see it through our grief.

For me, right now, I don’t want to think about heaven, and that sounds weird because I’m a believer. But it just reminds me of all the people who are there who I miss so much. So I think that’s kind of my thing that sometimes I don’t want to…

Alicia:               Like if the person that you miss, because this is something I struggle with. Like if we truly believe in heaven, why are we so sad when someone goes to heaven? It’s like we miss them here on earth and we can’t talk to them, but if they went to Italy and you knew in however many years you were going to go to Italy and be with them, would that make it easier to envision that that’s where they are? And even though you can’t talk to them, can’t see them that you’ve maybe been to Italy before and you know like…

Carol:               That they’re doing great, they’re having fun?

Alicia:               Yes. Is it because we’ve seen something and heaven is just still a mystery even though the Bible tells us what it’s like and we have our own vision of it because we’ve never physically seen it. Is that what makes it harder, because we don’t know exactly what they’re experiencing?

Carol:               If you’re asking me specifically, I think I’m still in the grief process, I’m very much in that, and I’m not there yet. I mean, I don’t doubt that my dad’s no longer in pain and that he is doing great and he wouldn’t come back if he had the choice. That doesn’t make my void in my life any less; you know what I’m saying.

Tricia:               Well, we are forever people; we’re destined for eternity with God. And so when we’re here in this world, we’re not home. And so we don’t feel good.

Carol:               A hundred percent.

Tricia:               We don’t feel like this is where we belong; there’s that piece of us. And when we have to say goodbye to someone, even for who knows how many years and that’s I think part of it, is we don’t know how many years. But if we have to say goodbye to someone, it hurts us because we’re destined for forever.  And I think it’s just so hard; it’s a tension I feel like.

Carol:               I read this; I know you have talked about the book Randy Alcorn’s Heaven Book.

Tricia:               Yes, I’m reading it.

Carol:               You are reading it?

Tricia:               Yes.

Carol:               And it’s helped you process through your grief, but I found this quote from him, and I thought it was so fitting, and it kind of leads into what we’re discussing. He said we’ll never be satisfied with any person less than Jesus in any place less than heaven. And I think that is so true, but there again you’ve never experienced it, you can read about it. I can read about Italy all day long, but if I’ve never gone there and I never experienced and I never taste the food or see the sights, there’s still that ambiguity out there for me that I can only imagine what it’s like.

And I think that’s part of my struggle with heaven. I mean, I think there are a couple of different things. I think part of the grief process is just that void that you’re left with in your life. And realizing all the things that you didn’t, maybe on a daily basis, realize that you are dependent on that person for. And I think that’s one part of it too; it’s not that I’m not looking forward to heaven, it’s just it feels so far away right now. Even though I don’t know that, today can be the day.

Alicia:               But I also think like, I don’t know, even though we know we want to go to heaven, it’s going to be a great experience, and for me, that’s the thing that gets me through difficult situations is knowing that there really isn’t an end. But if someone said today’s my last day, I would be sad; I would be traumatized because I don’t want my life here to end.

 

Tricia:               Hold on to this life.

 

Alicia:               And so I struggle with like if heaven is that great, why wouldn’t I just be like okay that’s great. Hey guys, I’ll see you in heaven whenever that will be, but I don’t feel like that today.

 

Tricia:               Yes, that’s exactly what he talks about in that book; in heaven, he talks about it. And he talks about why we should be excited about it, and maybe this will help on some level I know it has helped me. He talks about heaven as not being like the clouds and sitting there and playing harps and angels flying by.

 

Carol:             It though you were going to say sitting there playing cards! (laughter)

 

Tricia:               Who knows, I don’t know, but he talks about it as being earth perfected. Because God created this earth, it’s not just going away; he said its earth perfected. So when you look out of your window, and you see something beautiful, it might be the mountains, or it might be the ocean, it’s that in a perfect form.

There are no weeds, there is no dangerous ice situation, or there is no whatever it is, it’s perfect. I like to imagine I was reading that book when we went to the beach, and he was talking about that, and so I was looking at the beach differently. I was like what if, what if I was on the beach in heaven like I was at the beach with Jesus, how awesome is that? Everything is perfect.

 

Carol:               It would not be shark week.

 

Tricia:               Right. No jellyfish, no itchy singing getting into places you don’t want it, it’s just perfect. You know the waves and the sunsets and the glory of it all, he has created this, this is his creation, and it’s going to be in its perfect form. And so I love to think about it like that, and then I can get excited about it, even though I’ve never been I’ve been to the beach, and I’ve been to the mountains, and I’ve seen beautiful things, it’s that just intensified, and we get to do things that we love to do.

My mom couldn’t wait to go to heaven, because she wanted to do art for Jesus and she read somewhere that in heaven your ability to do the things that you love is just amplified beyond and beyond and she just imagined like throwing her hands up, and art would appear, and in colors and beautiful things that she loved that she wanted to do here and try to do and did a great job, but up there she can do it in such a beautiful way. So that I hope can get you excited, because it gets me excited.

 

Carol:               Right, that’s a period at the end of the sentence.

 

Alicia:               I love that vision.

 

Carol:               Yes, I do too. And you think about what it is that you love to do most, what you feel gifted to do. And you’ll be able to do that for eternity, I’ve never heard it put quite like that, so thank you for sharing that. I’m thinking rolling through the verse from second Corinthians 4:18 that says we fixed our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. And I think I go to that verse kind of in correlation with heaven, and fixing our eyes not on what is in front of us in the struggle and the pain and the grief or whatever the void, and fixing our eyes on something else.

But I also go back to this verse because you have to fix your eyes; your eyes don’t naturally go there. And I think that’s the struggle for me; my eyes don’t naturally look to heaven. I’m naturally looking at what’s in front of me and the struggle and the pain or the heartache that I feel or the void that’s left in my life, and sometimes it’s hard to lift your gaze and just look a little bit higher. I think that’s what’s so powerful about the stories that we hear, especially when talking to people who are at the end of their life, or they know that death is coming and they have such a peace about that.

It’s because they have been able to it, and on some level and you hear people tell stories all the time that we’re with loved ones in hospice or at a bedside when someone passes and they’ll say they had just such a peace or they smiled, or they looked up, I think they’re finally seeing that their faith is becoming sight and they’re able to give us just a little sneak peek of what is to come.

 

Alicia:               And I think that’s a gift to the living; we would see that and share those stories that to have that peace and what could be a scary time. And I wonder about people who don’t believe in heaven, that’s the sad thing I find when people are at the end of their life, or a loved one dies, and the living doesn’t believe in heaven. And so like what do they have to look forward to.

 

Tricia:               It’s very different if you go to a memorial service for someone who strongly believes in Jesus Christ and someone who isn’t. There is such a feeling of Hope when the believer dies, and such a feeling of loss. And there’s a loss on both ends, but like eternal loss, like I don’t know this is the end like I don’t how sad that is.

 

Carol:               Right. And I think we don’t deal with that well as a culture, endings; we don’t know how to end things. Especially hear in the south, I mean we get ready to leave and you have to say bye 28 times.

 

Tricia:               There are seven steps to a southern goodbye.

 

Carol:               Exactly, at least, and that’s just the first part. We got to get you a little dish or something to take with you, but I think we’re so bad at saying goodbyes, I’m terrible at it.

 

Tricia:               I don’t like saying goodbye.

 

Carol:               No, none of us like it. Because we’re hardwired for eternity, and we all are also our eyes tend to go to what’s right here.

 

Alicia:               Like I have a hard time saying goodbye because I have hope that I will see the person again, that it’s not the end. Like if you leave a job after a long time and they give a big party or something, and I’m like, but I still can be friends with you, we still can hang out. And so I personally don’t enjoy those things, because I really want to continue that and think that it doesn’t have to end and it’s the same with heaven.

 

Carol:               Yes. And I think of so many times when if you’ve ever been away from what you call home, whether it’s your family or the actual structure of the home if you’ve ever been homesick. I think that’s kind of the underlying feeling that we’re supposed to feel as believers, like a little homesick. I remember when I was a kid going away for the first time, and you feel that oh, I just want to be at home after you go on a long trip. There isn’t nothing like sleeping in your own bed and taking a shower in your own bathroom; you know all those little things.

I can distinctly remember this like I could close my eyes and tell you exactly what’s around me. But I can remember when we would go to my grandparents’ house; we did it every Christmas, every Christmas that I ever remember we got in the car and went to my grandparents for Christmas. And I can remember I would be laying in the backseat of the car; this is way before seatbelts. Laying in the backseat of the car, and I could tell you how close we were to home by the lights we were passing.

You know, because I would see this particular gas station sign and I would be like okay, we’re almost home, and you see those signs, and I think that’s kind of how the Bible’s laid out. And the Bible says when you see these signs, you’re almost home. I was thinking this morning about some friends of the ministry who lost a loved one recently, and the song almost home by Mercy Me came on.

And I was thinking of that how I would lay in the back seat of the car and be like okay we just passed the Chevron station, we’re almost home. Okay, we’re going to turn right up here at this light, I mean I have it memorized. I didn’t have to sit up; I could just lay there and watch as the lights went by.

And so I think that gives me comfort at least to know that we can see some signs, the Bible also says no man knows the hour of the day, but we can see some signs happening when we all will go home if we don’t leave before then.

 

Tricia:               One of the gifts of grief that I have found is that every time you lose someone that you love, it does put your mindset more in heaven. And that’s a good thing, that’s a good thing for us every single day, and I have found for me it only has come through losing my mom. It’s a gift of grief because it helps us. Like if your imagine grasping this life, it’s just like one finger or two fingers letting go of that grasp on this life, and then you start to think more about heaven, and you think more about here, and I think that is that peace that you’re talking about.

I want to share one quick thing with you from the book heaven, so what’s happened a couple of times like something good has happened a couple of months ago or something in my life, and I’m like oh, I really wish mom could have seen that. And people that I know, people that I love and respect say she has seen it, she’s seeing it. And then I was reading a little bit more in that book because I wasn’t really sure about that. But he talks about the fact that the loved ones that we have, the believers that have gone before us, are aware of things that are happening down here.

Maybe not everything, but they are aware, and they’re praying for us, and Jesus is praying for us, and they’re loving us. And a friend shared this with me because I was like well how am I going to do this because my mom always prayed for me, so how am I going to do this thing. And she said well she was praying, but she was praying to Jesus, so now you’re praying to Jesus.

 

Carol:               So it’s not like you’re on your own.

 

Tricia:               Yes, you’re still praying to the one who answers. So if that’s comforting at all to you because it’s comforting to me, just to think that my mom can see that she is cheering me on. And when things go well, that she is a part of the celebration as it draws me closer to Christ.

 

Carol:               And I think one of the honest questions that people ask is, how do you know heaven is real? I’ve had many discussions with, I have family members who aren’t believers, and we get together with your family like don’t discuss religion or politics, just stay away from those. And every single time, this group of family members would get together both of those things would come up, and so I’ll be like oh my goodness. And so one of the family members said to me, she’s like what if you’re wrong.

And I don’t remember who I heard say this, but at some point in my life I heard somebody say if I have lived my life as a believer, and I get to the end of my life, and this is all there was, I still lived a good life. But if you as an unbeliever live your entire life, and you’re wrong, you’ve lost eternity. And so that is what I want to say to you today if you’re struggling with the whole idea of heaven and you’re struggling to make it make sense.

Maybe you grab this book by Randy Alcorn, pick up your Bible read it, there’s plenty of talk about heaven, and you can get in there and study, and we’ll try to list some of those resources for you. Billy Graham has a book about heaven. I mean, there are so many good resources out there, solid resources that will educate you on heaven. But the final thing that I would say to you is if you don’t believe in heaven and you get to the end of this life, and you’re wrong, you have wasted an eternity.

And so if we can help you work through that, if you have questions or comments or things that you want to say, we’ll try to interact with you via the Facebook page. You’re always welcome to email us Girltalk@atthelightFM.org. Know that we love you so much and that we’re on this journey with you. And as we walk through and struggle through things and have questions, you’re welcome always welcome to ask questions.

And we may not always have the answers, but I tell you we can point you to some people who are much smarter than we are who can answer those questions and be there for you. The important thing is know that you’re loved, you’re a part of this girl talk family, and we so enjoy gathering around these microphones, and we will see you next time for the next Girl Talk podcast.

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