EDEN-LIKE PARADISE

As a kid, I ran from my shadow. I can look back now and understand why- I was running from the dark side of myself and the secret life I would live in later years. Living in the shadows is a miserable place to be, separated from the fullness of God. Living in the lies of the enemy, just trying to survive.

As I reflect on my rescue from that life and what I look forward to in the next, I don’t believe there will be shadows in heaven. God’s light will saturate everything leaving no room for darkness of any kind.

This hope lives in my heart, by way of the Holy Spirit, allowing me to live vicariously through it until the day of Christ’s return. It may look different for you, but my Eden-like paradise and hope manifests itself as a valley-floor sitting at the base of a majestic mountain, vestured in wildflowers of every variety and color imaginable. The greens are so vivid, the ferns, moss, and trees are the lushest of all, like a magnificent rainforest, flowing with streams of living water in every direction.

There are birds and butterflies of every species; foals, foxes, and fawns delightfully playing in the distance. There is a ray of light ‘reining’ down from above that never goes out. I am not only living by the Word of God, but this place allows me to live in the Word because the Word is God. He permeates my whole being. A unique and special place in my heart that supplies the hope to push through the shadows of this life and persevere as I lead others to the Glorious Kingdom of God.

What does your hope look like? Spend some quiet time with the Holy Spirit, finding the Eden-like paradise that will allow you to push through the shadows of this life- to not just survive but to thrive until Christ returns.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1, ESV).

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come” (Rev. 4:8, ESV)!