Preparing to Say Goodbye

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am." - John 14:3

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This verse was one of the first verses I ever learned in Sunday School. My teacher was Mrs. Maddocks, and I remember her telling me this verse was important to us, because it was our hope as Christians. That God had promised to go prepare a place for each one of us in Heaven, and she wanted me to imagine my "mansion" and draw a picture of what I thought my home in Glory would look like. 

As a child, I don't think I quite understood this, because I didn't understand death, and the pain of separation from those I loved. As an innocent child, I didn't need any hope for Glory, because my life on earth was so good. I remember being excited for Heaven, because it sounded so pretty, with all the gold streets and glimmering crystal lakes and of course, Jesus was there, but my heart didn't begin to understand this scripture until much later in life, when pain began to hit home. 

Between the ages of 8 & 11, I lost a lot of people I loved, and watched as my parents mourned the loss of theirs, and other loved ones. Dad always did a lot of funerals in our small community church, and for the longest time, our high school senior class had a running "curse" of a senior dying every year. I said "goodbye" to a lot of people I loved in my youth, and it was through those losses that I began to understand just why we need hope for Heaven, just why I needed it. 

I became to understand in a personal way that my loved ones were in Glory waiting for me, that they were happy, and healthy, and safe there. That they were with Jesus, and couldn't be in any more pain, and couldn't feel any more sadness. These thoughts comforted me, and as a child when I would pray at night, I would ask God: "Please say hello to Grandpa for me, tell Grandma I miss her too" convinced that my loved ones were right there next to Jesus' side as I was praying, waiting for my word for them. 

Growing up only brought more losses, and when my Gram died on my 21st birthday, hope for eternity and seeing her again was all I held onto for months. I missed her so much, here on earth, and kept scripture all over my dorm room reminding me of Heaven, and God wiping away our tears. I clung to this promise, as pain broke my heart, and everything around me felt meaningless. I just longed for Heaven, and having my heart whole again. 

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Suffering loss is the hardest thing we do on this earth, and there's no real way to prepare for it. The only thing we can do is fill our hearts with God's promises, so that they fill us up, and hold our hearts together when they break.  

God's promise for us today is this: "I go to prepare a place for you, I will come back to take you with me." This promise is the most significant in time of loss, because this is where our eternal hope lies: we all die, but God Himself has prepared us a new home with Him, and He's coming again to take us there. We will be safe, our loved ones will be safe, because God is prepared. 

Our death, and the death of our loved ones, is no surprise to Almighty God. He knows our days, and prepared for them long ago. And in preparing for our life, He also prepared for our death, and we know that our eternity is secure in Him. 

As we prepare to say goodbye, may this hope help heal our hearts: We have a God in Heaven Who is waiting for us, and waiting for those we love. We can say goodbye with assurance that we will see them again, and that they are going to the very best place, a place God prepared long ago.