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“If I only knew
then what I know now!” I found myself thinking this more
often. I was turning 40 and becoming discouraged. I thought back
on all of the mistakes I made in my life and wished I could have had
the experience and wisdom I had at now at this old age when I was
young and had a youthful body and my whole life ahead of me!
It seemed ironic
and depressing to me to have learned so much, to have experienced so
much, and then at the peak of it all, to die. There were still
so many things that I wanted to accomplish in my life and I felt
that I had not accomplished most of them yet. I was getting old and
didn’t have that much time left. I was scared that my life was
almost over. I was upset. I started to think, “What’s the use?
What could I still accomplish?”
Then the Lord began to put things into perspective for me.
He
showed me that many people live until they are 80 years old or
more in this modern age. I quickly calculated and realized if
this were true for me, I still had over 40 years left! That
was as many years as I already lived, which seemed somewhat
long when I looked back. I still had time to get something
done!
I thought
of others who had reached success later in life. Colonel
Sanders started the Kentucky Fried Chicken when he was in his
60’s. Ray Croft started McDonalds in his 50’s. There was a
good chance that I could still do something with my life too!
My whole
attitude changed. When I thought my time was almost over, I
was ready to give up. I thought, “What's the use? What can I
still accomplish in the short time that I have left?” Then
when I realized I probably had a long time left - 30 years, 40
years, maybe even 60 years - I was inspired! I was
motivated! I still had time to get further ahead on the
things I wanted to accomplish during my time on earth! I had
to get busy!
It was all
in the way I looked at it. I had a whole new outlook on what
I could accomplish now that I thought I was going to live a
long time!
God wasn’t
done talking to me about this though. I turned 40 and the
Lord began to show me more.
You’ve
heard of the saying, “Today is the first day of the rest of
your life.” He told me to look at it another way:
“Today is
the first day of the rest of your forever!”
God showed
me that I not only had 20, 30, 50, 60 years left, but an
eternity. My life was not ending after 80 years or so on
earth. I was going to live forever!
God showed
me that I actually had FOREVER to continue working on the
desires of my heart! Forever!
And then
He showed me that not only can I continue working on the
things that I desire in eternity, He showed me that
everything I was doing today was either adding or subtracting
from the life I was going to live for all eternity.
He
showed me that the life I was living now and the life I will
be living in eternity are already closely related. And the life
choices I make now are already determining things about my life in heaven.
When I
started to really think about this, it was revolutionary.
Even though I became a Christian in 1986 and learned then that
I would be living forever in heaven with Jesus, I didn’t make
much of a connection between my life now and my life then. It
seemed like they were two separate lives that seemingly two
different people were going to live. I never took it too
seriously.
God
started to make it profoundly clear to me that the life I am
living today is closely connected to the life I will be living
in eternity. He impressed on me how serious of a matter this
was and to make sure that I was actually living my life with
that fact in mind.
I started
to question my priorities. I knew I was going to live in
heaven, but was I really living my life according to that
belief? Or was I more concerned with right now?
Many times
life
in eternity is an important aspect of our lives we neglect to
think about when we plan for our future or measure the time we
have left to live. We forget that we have a beginning, but no
end. We don’t realize that when we leave this earth, we will
be living somewhere for all eternity. We don’t let ourselves
think about what it means that our lives do not end at 65, 75,
85 or even 100 years of age!
As
Christians we don’t take into account that our lives will go
on forever. We ‘know’ we are going to live forever but we
take it for granted. We still focus primarily on today. We
focus on finances, homes, jobs, promotions, leisure,
enjoyment, and a few even think about retirement. But heaven,
and what we should be doing to prepare for it, is not included
in many of our plans.
If we
really believe that eternity exists, why don’t we adjust our
ways? Why don’t we look forward to that phase of our lives
and get our daily lives in line with it as much as we could?
Why we don’t we all live more with eternity in mind?
The Lord
started making heaven REAL to me and I wanted to make sure I
was living my life in a way that mattered for all eternity. I
wanted to learn more about where I was going. What was it
like? What will I be doing there? What can I do to get
ready? What can I do to help others get ready? I had so many
questions.
Now I felt
I really didn’t have that much time left in my earthly life.
I had to start preparing for my eternal life. Up until
now my life had not been focused on eternal matters, so I had
to get started quickly to make up time!
I began to
search the Scriptures during my daily 430 AM prayer and study
sessions and asked God to show me what I should be
doing to prepare for my life with Him in heaven. It was as if God turned a switch on and His voice,
instruction, and message came through stronger than ever. God
began to reveal things to me that changed my whole outlook on
my time here on earth and what I will be doing in all
eternity. He showed me awesome and exciting things!
Everything
instantly made sense to me. The Lord began to show me
what the treasures, crowns and rewards that the Bible talks
about are. He showed me how we start storing them up
while we are alive on earth. He showed me how everything I was
doing was going toward or against the reward that He wanted to
give me when I got there. He showed me how I could start
developing the life skills that I will be using in heaven -
what I call my Eternal Life Skills - right now.
Over a
two-year period, God incubated me in my home and prepared me
to share this important message with others. The Lord showed me
His truths, and out of these truths, the message about heaven
was born. He then led our family to Branson, Missouri
for the next step.
In 2004 we
moved to Branson. We
began to present this message, now called "Exploring Life in
Heaven with Rose Martin" to the visitors of Branson at a
theater on a big screen. Through beautiful pictures,
Scriptures, illustrations, and music the Word came alive and
audiences discovered the wonderful future they had to look forward
to...and what they needed to do to prepare. Many
people's lives were changed.
After many
requests, the teachings from this presentation were made into
a DVD version. Now people that saw the live presentation
were able to take the message home to their friends and loved
ones.
"Exploring
Life in Heaven with Rose Martin" DVD explores several aspects
of eternity in heaven. It takes the mystery out of it.
Viewers see that it is a place to get excited about - right
now! They get a clear picture of what heaven is really
like.
Now this
life-changing, inspiring DVD is now available to you!
You can
join me as we
look at truths found right in the Bible. You will be
amazed what you see that you never saw before and comforted by
what you learn. You'll realize Jesus was preparing us for this when He
came. Many of us just didn’t realize it.
We
will also look at well-respected accounts of people who have
made the journey to heaven and back to see what they have to
say about their brief visit.
We are not
going to know it all while we are on this side of eternity.
Our minds can’t conceive it all in our present stage.
However, the information you will get from the information put
together in this presentation will give you a much better
understanding of where you are going what you need to do now to
get ready.
You will
be able to reevaluate your goals, life, purpose, and
direction. Your life will take on a new direction as you
see everything from a new perspective. From this new
perspective, God can add to your understanding daily.
Comfort those who have lost loved
ones with the assurance of heaven.
If you
want to start to make sure that you are doing all that you can
to prepare for your future, you need to view all of the
information on the "Exploring Life in Heaven with Rose Martin"
DVD! You are not reading this by chance! God has a way of
getting us to where we need to be to find out what He has to say.
Welcome His leading today and ask Him to show you what He has
in mind for you in eternity!
Experience love,
joy, comfort, peace, security and direction from answers found in
the Word of God!
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