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On Earth as It Is in Heaven

When I moved to Uganda in 2007, resting in a deep certainty that God was going to take care of me no matter what, I named my blog “On Earth as It Is in Heaven”—a phrase plucked out of Jesus’s prayer that He uses as an example for the disciples (see Matthew 6:9–13). I am not sure what I thought it meant exactly, but it sure sounded beautiful.

I had no idea then that I would make my home in Uganda for fifteen years, that I would build my career, meet my dear­est friends, marry my husband, adopt and birth my children there. I had no idea what I would walk through, how I would doubt and rail against the dark and how God would meet me there.

Maybe I thought that if we loved our neighbors hard enough, we’d somehow love our way out of the suffering. But we all know it: There is no love without pain, no path to perfect peace that doesn’t lead us deep into the heart of hardship. Our love is never enough to bind up the hurts of the world or our own broken hearts. But His is. He holds us now on earth as He will in heaven.

The more I make eternity the goal of my day, the less my thoughts spiral into worry. One day we will be able to see how He kept us, how He ordained all our steps, even the parts that didn’t make any sense. God’s dwelling place will be “among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain” (Revelation 21:3–4).

Our story ends the same way it began: A faithful God chooses us, calls us be­loved. When we find our home in Him, we find our deep peace, the peace He has always longed to lavish on us, on earth, as it will be in heaven.

How does the promise of good things free you to let go of your anxiety and fear? Read Revelation 21:1–5 again and identify the promises that speak hope to your heart. Write them down. Meditate on them, especially when the troubles of the day feel overwhelming.