Longing for Heaven (Malerie Taylor)

Today is my little brother Hunter’s birthday. He would be 31 this year. And he is celebrating his fourth birthday in Heaven with Jesus, our Lord and Savior! Hunter professed faith in Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. He believed that Jesus died on the cross for him, was buried, and then rose to life! He trusted in Jesus’s finished work on the cross to cover all of his sins. In honor and memory of my precious brother, I want to share something I wrote in my journal recently.

Longing for Heaven

For most of my life, the thought of Heaven scared me- not just the dying part but heaven

itself. I would try to imagine what it would be like to be there forever and ever…and it

honestly made me so uneasy. The unknown of it all gave me strange feelings, so I tried

not to think about it. Fast forward to now, a mom of two, in my thirties, who lost her

younger brother just three years ago, I now long for Heaven.

I think about it often. I think about it differently and it no longer scares me. Now it is my

hope, my lifeline. A few months ago, my then five-year-old boy told me “Mama, I can’t

wait to go to Heaven and see Jesus!” He often tells me he is so excited about Heaven,

and he reminds me, in his six-year-old way, that this is just our temporary home. “Our

real home is in Heaven” he tells me. And he is right! For those of us who trust in Jesus

as our Savior, who believe that He is the Son of God, that He came to earth, lived a

sinless life, and died on the cross paying the price for our sins that we deserved to pay,

that God rose Him from the grave three days later, our home is in Heaven. We are just

here for a little while, here to love God and love others and bring glory to God. Are we

living like this is our temporary home or are we living like this is all there is? Are we

longing for Heaven? I know I am! I can’t wait for the day when I will see my precious

brother’s face again, when I can give him a big hug and tell him how much I have

missed him. I’m not sure I’ll ever let go. And I can’t wait for the day when I’ll finally meet

my Savior, my Jesus, face to face. Until then, Ill be here hoping to point my family to

Jesus every day, to the one who truly matters. I’ll be longing for Heaven.

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A little bit about Malerie...

My name is Malerie Taylor. I have been married to my wonderful husband John for eleven years and we have two precious children, James (5) and Nora Thomas (2).

I worked as a nurse for eight years before I became a stay at home mama. I love Jesus! 

My favorite things are my family, being outside, studying God’s word, and spending time with other mamas and their kiddos. 

I am so thankful for this season of raising my children and the blessing of being able to point them to Jesus each day!