Heaven

"The heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands."

Psalm 19:1

The bridge is closed on the route to take my son to school so we have been taking an alternate route through the back country roads.

At 7:20 a.m. not much is awake but I have been seeing the first signs of Fall along the way.

Even though it is a cloudy, dreary kind of morning, I found myself praising God for the beauty around me. If my heart can swell over open fields in Upstate New York on Earth, how much more when I can see the glory of Heaven in person? Scriptures indicate that we cannot even fathom how glorious Heaven will be.

Questions started popping in my head.

Will the greens and golds of the fields be even more vibrant?

Will the sun peeking through the clouds be more majestic?

What will the weather be like?

Perfect, I think.

Will there be colored leaves falling from the trees? Will there be snow?

I hope yes on the former and no on the latter!

Will there be seasons? Will it always be Fall because that's my favorite season?

Do the flowers ever fade, like ours are now?

Randy Alcorn wrote a book called Heaven that answers some of these questions from a biblical point of view.

It is human interpretation though, which in no way compares to God's reality.

What do you think Heaven will be like?

Traveling on this road called life, I can only imagine.....

AnnMarie xoxo

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Sharing My Daily Devotions with You

Like everyone else, I have my routines that I do everyday. They are such  a normal part of my life that it is easy to forget that not everyone may enjoy the ones that I do.

For example, every night, whether I am sick, so tired I can't keep my eyes open, or we are away from home, I read all of my devotions before I go to bed. There are at least six of them. I thought I would share them with you because they speak to me every night through scriptures and the wisdom from those that write them.

I read them in the same order every night. I start with the Daily Bread which is a free publication from RBC Ministries. It is a monthly publication with a devotion for every day written by Pastors and Christian leaders such as William E. Crowder and H. Dennis Fisher. A page of scripture follows each devotion.

The next one is the monthly InTouch magazine from In Touch Ministries by Dr. Charles Stanley. There are wonderful articles by Dr. Stanley and others with a daily devotion in the back called "early light" with scripture references.

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young is the most talked about new devotion right now. It is a yearly devotion written through the inspiration of the presence of God in Sarah's life. The beginning of the book explains how it all came about for her to hear personal messages from God. It is one of those devotions that always seems to have just what you needed to read that day. It is available in most Christian bookstores, or here at Amazon.com .

 

The other three or four devotions I read every night vary. Right now I am reading 100 Days of Prayer for Women, a gift from my husband. There are many books like this out in the marketplace to encourage the specific needs of women. Check out that the book is scripturally sound and it can be an assest to your scripture reading and prayer life.

Another such book is by Beth Moore, one of my favorite evangelical woman bible teachers. I have done many, many of her video/workbook bible studies through my church and she has a way of getting God's word to you in a clear, scripturally sound and funny way. Her book Praying God's Word, Breaking Free from Spiritual Strongholds is a must read. It looks like a bible with leather cover, gold gilt on the page edges and an attached ribbon bookmark (it is the fourth one down in the first picture). The chapters include subjects like Overcoming Idolatry, Overcoming Unforgiveness and Overcoming Food-Related Strongholds. She includes scriptures and prayers you can recite to help get you through that particular stronghold.

 

My newest devotional reading is a book called Prayers for Prodigals, 90 Days of Prayer for Your Child by James Banks. These are direct prayers to God written by Dr. Banks for his children. They are encouraging and are a model for how we can specifically pray for our children too. It is published by Discovery House which is the same publisher for RBC Ministries.

Last but not least I am reading a book called Heaven written by Randy Alcorn. It is 476 pages long and I am on my third renewal from the library to finish it! It gives a lot of insight and scripture on what Heaven will be like for those who have given their lives to the Lord. He covers everything from what we'll eat and drink, what our relationships will be like to the animals that will be there, and everything else in between. A very good read. According to Stu Weber "Other than the Bible itself, this may well be the single most life-changing book you'll ever read".

Of course our Bible should be the first source we go to for answers for all that goes on in our lives. A devotional can supplement that and help interpret things that you are experiencing in your life daily. If you were thinking of getting a new devotion to read or just need some encouragement in a particular area, I hope that these particular ones that I enjoy reading will become your daily devotions too.

AnnMarie :)