Scripture:

"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am you may be also." - John 14:1-3

Devotional:

Sometimes when I review the list of Scriptures for Pastor Chris's sermon series to determine which ones I might want to write on, the decision isn't so clear. I read each one carefully wondering if God will put something on my heart that He might want me to share. Sometimes a verse is familiar, but the Lord allows me to see it in a completely new way. Sometimes it's a verse I had never really pondered and I pray on it to see if He will reveal something to me through it. This time when I saw John 14 listed for the sermon on October 27, the decision was quick and simple.

Anytime I read verses 1-3 of Chapter 14, I am reminded of one specific moment in my life. There are perhaps no other words in the Bible that have had such an immediate effect in shaping my understanding of heaven and even more so, my understanding of the deep commitment and loyalty God has to His people. 

As a child, I pictured heaven with cherubic angels and puffy clouds, golden streets and pearly gates. I had never thought too much past my childhood imaginations of heaven until one Good Friday in April about eight years ago. I found myself sitting by a lake, terrified and weary, with a certain feeling that on that very day I was going to lose someone I loved to alcoholism. I had come to the end of myself, emptied of any notion of control I had ever imagined I had, completely lacking answers, and exhausted of trying so hard to beg another human's will to bend toward my own. There seemed to me to be nothing left to do, but to wait for the phone call telling me that my loved one was gone. What I saw in front of me was loss, sadness, death, and a depth of grief I had never known. 

As I sat by the lake that morning, I opened my Bible to read the assigned verses for my Bible Study's homework that week: The Gospel of John. Chapter 14. Verses 1-3. As I read the assurance of Jesus that He was preparing a specific place for me and for everyone that I loved, I instantly felt a wave of calm come over me. The peace I felt made no sense at all. The circumstances had not changed. The person I loved was still defiant, still refusing help, still on the brink of drinking himself to death. In that moment, it was not that I saw the promise of Jesus healing him on earth. On the contrary, I still saw his death as the most likely scenario. But I felt unshakeable, inexplicable peace.

Those verses specifically assured me that the promises Jesus made to His disciples - people He deeply knew and loved - were the exact same promises He made to my broken, desperate family member. Jesus knew my loved one's heart. He knew what he needed and He was at that very moment preparing a room specifically meant for him. 

I pictured the room Jesus was getting ready. It would have everything he wanted and needed, down to the most minute detail. There would be no more pain, no more doubt, no more worry, no more destruction. It would be a glorious place full of joy, peace, grace, and love. He would be safe in this room in the home of his Savior. 

I didn't know at that moment that the Lord would in fact, choose not to take my loved one to heaven that day. Instead, very soon after, he checked into a rehab facility and got sober. But I know that my peace and calm that day was not in the promise of God healing him on earth. It was in trusting that no matter what happened on earth, "our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to us." (Romans 8:18) 

I don't know when the Lord will take me or anyone I love home. I do know that I will always remember reading the promises of John 14:1-3 by the lake that morning and I will forever trust that He is preparing a place for us so that where He is, there we may be also. And I will rest in the fact that whenever we arrive there, we'll realize that there is simply no more glorious a place to be. 

Prayer:

Holy, healing Lord. Thank You for giving us verses through which we can hear You, through which we can know You, and through which we can trust that Your words are truth. Thank You for meticulously preparing a place for the children You love so well. What a beautiful promise you have made to us. Amen. 

Written by Jennifer Skinner, member of Arcola Church and a Texan (Texas Longhorn to be specific!) living in beautiful Virginia with her very patient, funny husband, and three very impatient, funny boys/ball players. She is also a blogger, The View From Behind Home Plate, who writes about finding extraordinary grace and blessings among the cleats and dirt and testosterone that fill her ordinary days.