Tag: heaven

Motivational Monday

On February 3, 2025

In Motivational Monday, News and Announcements

Hey friends! I am so glad you are here reading Motivational Monday! Today, I want to address something I wrote in last week’s motivation. Something I wanted to delete but I knew I needed to address it this week…so, as painful as it is to leave it, I did.

Last week, when I signed off from my motivation I signed it as, “Love, Jennifer AKA Just some girl trying to get into heaven”. It was brought to my attention that it could be misleading to some of you reading these messages week after week. You might think, “well if she’s unsure then I’m unsure.” Well, I’m here today to make sure that I clear the air as much as possible. So let’s talk about it.

There are times when I am asked about a subject that I believe to be gossip. As you all know, I am NOT perfect and there are many times I will engage. But, I have tried to be better about being more intentional in my faith. Therefore, if I am feeling uncomfortable and I don’t want to say anything negative, my go to answer is, “I don’t know. I’m just some girl trying to get into heaven”. That’s my way of saying, “I prefer not to answer because it will be ugly and I need to do better.” Do I think that if I had engaged in the question and was ugly, I wouldn’t get to heaven? No. Do I think I’m not going to heaven because I am a sinner? No. In fact, I KNOW I am a sinner and I KNOW I’m going to heaven.

You see, our acceptance into heaven is not how good we have been. It’s not how many times we attend church, how much we tithe, how kind we are people or how many people we turn to the faith. Yes, God commands us to do certain things as christians. And yes, we should 100% do them. But, if you are like me, you realize the more you study the Bible the more you see how imperfect you are. You have to understand that sin separates us from God. Therefore, to get to His dwelling place, it won’t be on merit. Look at Ecclesiastes 7:20, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.” By His own Word, He knows we are inherently sin.

In order to get to heaven, a person must first understand they are a sinner, and unable to justify themselves before God on their own. To be saved, all you need to do is believe that Jesus is Lord, that He died as the perfect sacrifice for their sins, and He was resurrected. Once someone has faith in Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit secures that person’s salvation until Jesus returns. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13). One of my daily prayers is, “Lord, please forgive my sins I have committed today and in the past. Lord, please also forgive the sins I will commit in the future.” I like to have all my t’s crossed and my i’s dotted. 🙂

Heaven is a magical place with pearly gates, and golden roads. If it wasn’t God’s place, I would think there would be HIGH security but…He kinda knows EVERYTHING that is going on. With that being said, you would think surely, there’s more to it to get in, right? Nope.

Thankfully, it is NOT based on how kind we are or how much we give. Want to know why? For every good, there’s at least 2 sins that outweigh it. I am so thankful that God knows us (because of course He does). He wants us to be in His kingdom forever. He’s our Father. He knew there was no way we were getting to heaven on merit. Hence, Jesus. Jesus’s sole purpose was for us. One man paid the price for ALL of us. Incredible.

So, if I led you astray with my sign off last week, please know that was not my intention. And please know that I am so far from perfect. Maybe that was supposed to happen just for this motivation, right?

Love you all,

Jennifer

AKA Just a girl who is thankful she’s forgiven

Motivational Monday

By Jennifer Robbins

On January 6, 2025

In Motivational Monday, News and Announcements

Hey friends! Listen…LISTEN!! I live in Alabama because I don’t do cold. Honestly, I don’t love hot weather but I’ll take it over cold. It.is.cold! Have y’all been outside today??! What in the world?! As my teeth were chattering in the car, I started thinking about what the weather would be like in heaven (because this is NOT heaven to me 🙂). Once I started going down that path, I thought of a million other questions! So let’s talk about it.

Every week with these Motivational Mondays, we always talk about praying, doing the right thing, loving the Lord, etc. We do all of this to keep our eyes on the prize and that’s eternity in heaven. Heaven isn’t the only prize in all of this but we are promised eternity with our Lord and Savior. But have you ever thought about heaven? Sure you have…we ALL have. Now, I have never been but I hear the accommodations are phenomenal! Like you never want to leave phenomenal, which is good because well, you are there to stay. So today, I wanted to address a few common questions about heaven.

Before I start, I’ll be the first to admit that I DON’T have all the answers (and this applies to ALL Motivational Mondays). I try to put personal feelings aside and look at things from a Biblical stance. If I do state a personal feeling, I try to explain why I personally feel that way. Because I have never been to heaven or have spoken to anyone personally who has been and came back, I am not sure I have all the accurate answers to questions but we can try.

Will we have bodies and live human lives? When I envision heaven, I appear (in my head) as my physical appearance. I envision seeing my loved ones and even my previous pets there. I have always thought that we might look different (maybe we are our younger selves) but we know who each other are. I think heaven is a place of pure beauty with lush green fields, waterfalls and produce galore (I don’t know if we will need to eat but maybe…?). We will laugh with joy and be merry all the time. And I believe this will involve all of those in heaven we love. Why? We were/are created in God’s image. God is creative (I mean, look out your window) and intelligent. I would imagine heaven is a place that fulfills God’s original plan.

Will we still be ourselves with our memories of this life? When Jesus died on the cross and he arose from the dead, Luke 24:36-40 says, “As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, ‘Peace to you!’ But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw a spirit. And he said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.” Jesus didn’t turn into anyone else. He was Jesus. And Jesus remembered what happened to him because he showed his hands and feet. To be fair, when he arose and spoke, he wasn’t in heaven. Isaiah 65:17 says, “‘For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.’”

I genuinely hope I am me when I get heaven and I hope I remember the good in this life. I am sure I will be the best version of me which is sinless. Based on the above scriptures, I am inclined to believe we will be ourselves with possibly some memory.

Will there be animals and will past pets be there? Okay friends, if you know ANYTHING about me at all, it’s that I am a HUGE animal lover. I love all animals. I am sure that one day when I die, I will be trying to pet something that will eat me. I pray for animals almost as much as I pray for humans. So before answering this question, I felt the need to be 100%transparent.

As you know from reading scripture, the Bible is full of references of animals. The Bible is clear about how important animals are to us. God didn’t put them on earth because they are cute (but they are cute!) Animals are the second most important inhabitants on the planet. So what about heaven? Isaiah 65:25 says, “‘The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox,and dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,’says the Lord.” When the Lord said this he was referring to the new heavens and a new earth. I think this shows that we will cohabitate with animals. Maybe in heaven, I can pet all the animals without fear of being eaten!

So for our past pets to be there…I don’t know. There is nothing I can point to in the Bible to say, “This! This is it right here!” What I can say (personal feeling here), is God knew all my animals would be my pet. He knows the great joy they bring me and because he is mighty and loving God, it would be just like him to have our animals waiting on us. At least, that is my hope. But again, I am biased when it comes to animals.

As stated earlier, I don’t have all the answers about heaven. But I can’t imagine a heaven where love isn’t first and foremost. I mean the Lord is there for us to love. He will be right.there. So, if we love things here on earth that were created by him and were “good”, I can’t imagine it not being a part of heaven. That’s our love for each other, our love to help one another, our love for beautiful natural things, and our love (and/or appreciation) of animals. I don’t want to leave this earth until my service here is done. But, BUT! I can’t wait to see heaven! I can’t wait to see what is in store for me. And I can’t wait to see all of you there where we can worship the Lord together, eternally.

Love you all,

Jennifer