I know that all my life, my Mother was telling me how wonderful heaven was & that when it was her time to die, she would be looking forward to it.

I was with her continually the last month of her life when the cancer had taken over her body & I think the mind. At that time, she wasn't even really mentally there or able to comprehend much of what was going on around her. She continued to hold on & hold on. It seemed that her mind just wouldn't let her go. The fear of that unknown seemed to hold her back from letting go. It wasn't until I sat there, holding her hand & telling her that the only way God was going to heal her was for her to die & let him take her to heaven. It was as though she needed reassurance to know that is was ok to die & that God really was there with the place he had prepared for her & my Dad was there waiting for her.

From that experience, is seemed that no matter how much she was looking forward to heaven, that fear of the unknown had a strong hold on her considering her body was more than ready to go.

As for the question of being saved, I know that we have the freewill to choose to believe or not, but I also when reading Ephesians 1:3-6 & 11, it makes me think (?). Those verses say: 4) For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy & blameless in his sight. In love 5) he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure & will -- 6) to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves..........11) In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
Thoughts but mostly questions:
- Those that believe were chosen from the beginning of time
- Those struggling with believing, are chosen because they have the knowledge of what they are struggling to believe & that knowledge can only have come to them through God & the holy spirit.
- Those that don't believe, aren't chosen....BUT there is the possibility they may come to believe in which case, they may have actually been chosen, it's just that they haven't come to that point in their lives yet.
- If by freewill, one makes the choice to reject their belief in God, then they weren't chosen in the first place?

These "wondering about's" are all part of my looking forward to heaven....I just started a bible class & these are readings made me stop & think.

Debbie

My parents were Christians before I was born, so I never knew anything different but when I read this, it made me a bit