"Our courteous Lord answered for comfort and patience, and said these words: Suddenly thou shalt be taken from all thy pain, from all thy sickness, from all thy distress and from all thy woe. And thou shalt come up above and thou shalt have me to thy meed (reward), and thou shalt be fulfilled of love and of bliss. And thou shalt never have no manner of pain, no manner of misliking, no wanting of will; but ever joy and bliss without end."
Julian of Norwich (Ch. 64)
Julian of Norwich saw so much suffering and hardship, sorrow and trouble around her. She thought about how hard life is down here and how wonderful life is up in heaven, and she longed to go there. And Christ told her that one day she would be taken away from all her pain, distress, sorrow and sickness, and would come to heaven and have Him for her reward. No suffering or trouble on earth is even worthy to compare with the glorious joy of being with Christ in heavenly bliss! Just being with Him like that fills a person with joy and love so that they are saturated through and through with the presence, love and happiness of Christ. All will be purity of love, fullness of wellbeing, happiness without end! We can certainly know some of that heavenly bliss here on earth as we commune with God in our spirit, Spirit and spirit being one, but oh what a fulfillment it will be heaven, knowing Him so fully and being so full of love and joy, with no presence of sorrow, pain, fear, doubt, worry, struggle, sin or trouble! All will be well! What a wonderful future we have to look forward to. And every day just living here on earth, not yet in heaven, we are bringing the presence of heaven to earth by just living here as God's children, for the Spirit keeps shining through us, spreading the love and joy of heaven here on earth, getting us all ready for the glorious fulfillment of all our hopes and dreams of love and belonging and joy in God's presence!
"We are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord."
2 Corinthians 5:8 (NASB)
A Prayer: I look forward to coming home to You and being happy forever in Your presence, with no sorrow or pain!