I’ve actually asked that question out loud to my father many times.  Thankfully when I’m alone, running in the woods.  My dad passed away January 3^rd, 2023.  My dad dealt with multiple sclerosis most of his adult life.  He spent the last few years of his life, talking about heaven a LOT.  He couldn’t wait to meet His Savior. When I was a little girl, it started with some numbness, he started using a cane, then a walker, and by the end of his life, he was much like someone paralyzed from the neck down. He had nothing but time to think about heaven. 

I’ll admit, since losing my dad, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what heaven is like, what it’s like to have a body that is whole and complete that can dance before Jesus and even hug his Savior. It’s fun to picture my dad not just walking, but running. 

But I don’t think I’ve been focusing enough on how my dad has been spiritually made new.  My world was rocked the other day when I saw a quote from Joni Eareckson Tada who dove off a dock into shallow water as a teenager and has been paralyzed since: 

“You look at me in this wheelchair, paralyzed for 52 years, and most people would think, O, you’re looking forward to a new body.  And yeah, that’s one of those fringe benefits.  But I’m looking forward to a new heart: free of manipulating others with precisely-timed phrases; a heart free of fudging the truth; a heart free from hogging the spotlight;, believing my own press releases… a heart free of not believing the best of others; a heart free of caving into fear or anxiety about the future.  I can’t wait to have a heart free of sin.” 

Wow, thanks Joni, for the reminder of just HOW MUCH we have to look forward to in heaven. Most importantly, praising and thanking our Savior for sacrificing his life for our sin so we can be there! I’ll think much differently next time I’m alone and say out loud, “hi dad, what’s it like there?” 

With love, 

Taylor