Dreams of Heaven (part 2)

Rebecca Ruter Springer was an American who went on a two year tour of Europe to improve her health. While there in 1870 she became very ill and lay in a coma for several days, during which she had a vision or dream of heaven. She describes her dream in wondrous detail in her book Intra Muros ( my dream of heaven).
I love the book. I bought a copy years ago and it inspired me to envision what heaven will be like.
She speaks of the mansions prepared for each person… hers had perfect roses strewn over the floor…yet when she walked on them they were not crushed. She could walk into the beautiful lake …the water a perfect temperature.. she did not get wet and she found to her amazement that she was able to breath underwater. She describes how , even when she was underwater, she heard the rippling melodious sounds of the bells coming from all directions and harmonizing as they came together…. calling her to worship, her favorite time of day.
The fruit hanging on the fruit trees was ripe for her to enjoy .. she could just reach up and pick it any time, enjoying the sweet taste , the juice running over her hand and down her dress but leaving no sticky residue or stain.
She adds a disclaimer in her account of the dream that she does not mean for it to be used as ‘doctrine’ but as a comfort and inspiration.

The apostle Paul writes about his vision of paradise (II Cor. 12:2) …. but he was not able to repeat the indescribable things he heard and saw.
I am so curious to know what he experienced there and I have sometimes wondered why God doesn’t give us more details of what it will be like… but maybe He delights in keeping it as a wonderful surprise. Don’t we love planning surprises for our loved ones? Maybe that is a God-characteristic… and He gives us just enough to whet our appetites and stir up our desire to be there !!

My granddaughters and I have had many good conversations about God and heaven , a favorite subject of theirs since they were very young.
When my youngest granddaughter , Elora , was four years old she informed me one day that she had had a dream about heaven.
She said , “You and Opa and I went to heaven to celebrate God’s birthday. Some of the people there did not have angel clothes and I told God that my Nanna could sew them clothes. There was a sewing machine there and God said, ‘That would be good for Nanna.’
Then He healed your hands , Nanna, so that you could sew. And then you made clothes, just like the angels wear, for all the people who didn’t have any !” .

At first I was a little disappointed to think that perhaps I would have to work in heaven !! But then I realized that sewing in heaven would be a delight – the machine would never break down, the thread would never break, I would never make a mistake… and sewing angel clothes would definitely be a job I would love !!
( at the time she had the dream, I was in a very severe Rheumatoid Arthritis flare and could not use my hands)

Having just recently started my blog, I had been praying, hoping that God could perhaps use it to bless someone, ... but I was feeling some trepidation thinking about what I had started !

Then a few days later my older granddaughter , Elise, told about a dream she had.
She said, “I dreamed that I went to heaven… but heaven was at Nanna’s house.”
Her mother asked her if she saw Jesus there.. She replied , “Yes, but He was typing on the computer.”

I do know that heaven will definitely be better than my house… so don’t worry !! You won’t be coming here when you die!
But I do think about that now … Jesus sitting in my computer chair with me…. and I pray that He inspires my thoughts.

We went to a funeral today for a man named John ( from my husband’s side of the family).
We learned that John had told his family he did not think he would live to see his 90th birthday which was only a couple of months away. He told them about a vivid dream that he had had. In this dream he had been sitting on a bed talking to his son.
(This son , while still a teenager, died of leukemia many years ago.)
Shortly after he spoke of this dream, John had a stroke and died , at peace - and leaving a wonderful heritage for his family who all spoke of a father, grandfather and great grandfather whose life reflected his love for God and others.

I don’t believe that dreams about heaven, our own or someone else’s should be taken as presenting literal facts to cement our concept of heaven… but simply to open the door to let our imagination fly out on wings far beyond the limits of this world as we know it.
This isn’t a dream but I’ll share it anyway because I loved it when I heard it… I was listening to a scientist speak and he explained that our physical eyes are limited to seeing only a small portion of the color spectrum. He said he believed that in heaven we will be able to see the complete spectrum , which means we will see many more colors than we see here… colors we could not imagine. He also spoke of us being able to hear colors and see sounds.

Oh… how exciting it will all be !! Much as I love my life here…. I love knowing that as I get older… the best is yet to come ! I am but getting closer to LIFE as I have never experienced here !!

“But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” I Corinthians 2:9