THERE'S A PLACE FOR US.

Have you ever longed for a different world? 

As readers and writers, I think most (if not all) of us can answer that with an emphatic YES. I'm sure we've all wanted to go to Narnia at some point in our lives. Or maybe Middle Earth, or Neverland, or whatever your favorite fantasy world is. 

Lately I've been feeling a deep longing for another world. In moments that feel so very imperfect, so anti-shalom, I'm reminded that this corruption is not what we're destined for. 

When the hard work of every day seems to be leading nowhere.

When your soul is worn from praying for an unsaved soul who almost ran out of chances. 

When the news is full of people killing people. 

When you ache for your friends to know a life of fulfillment in Jesus. 

There are a million other things that can cause us pain and make us long for freedom from this world. But here's the wonderful thing- someday, that will happen. 

There's a place out there for us

More than just a prayer or anything you've ever dreamed of

So when you feel like giving up

'Cause you don't fit in down here

Fear is crashing in 

Close your eyes and take my hand

This song from The Voyage of the Dawn Treader has been running through my head recently. It's such a beautiful reminder of what is in our future, if we are saved by grace and living for Jesus. 

Maybe it can seem a bit morbid to talk about. After all, short of the Lord coming back, your life here has to end in order to get to heaven. But it's not death I'm longing for- it's peace. Perfect peace, light, harmony. 

Just stop and think about that for a minute. There's a place where all that exists, in perfection. Shalom. There's a place where we can live that way for. ever. And someday we, as His children, will do just that. 

Everything we've ever longed for? Peace, joy, to not be lonely anymore? There's a place for us. God promised not to deny us any good thing, and He's prepared a place where we will receive everything good that He sees fit to give us.

And perhaps that's partly why those fictional worlds mean so much to us.

I'm not at all implying that heaven is meant more for creatives than non-creatives. Heaven is equally for each and every one of God's children, and it would be tragically wrong to suggest otherwise. BUT, I do think that we as writers, readers, other-world dreamers, can long for heaven in a bit of an extra-special way. We spend our lives wanting to visit or even live in a world other than the one we live in. 

I used to wonder if I should feel guilty for feeling that way, for so desiring to step out of this world and into a fictional one. God created this world for us, and it's amazing. It's imperfect, but it's what He gave us to live in, care for, and serve Him with. Worlds like Narnia are fabricated from a finite man's mind- it's not real. So are we disrespecting God and His creation by looking beyond the world we live in and dreaming of living elsewhere?

I truly don't think so.

Let me be clear in saying that we absolutely should appreciate the world God made. It's exactly what He intended for us here, so we shouldn't disrespect it. After all, God didn't create it to be corrupt- humans made it that way. So yes, we should care for our world like He wants us to and know that it's home. 

But I believe we were made to long for another world.

    They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

         -John 17:16

We don't belong here. It's ours to do with as we will for right now, but in the long run it doesn't belong to us and we don't belong to it. We're just living every day getting closer and closer to the day when we'll finally get to go to heaven and leave behind all the pain and suffering and worry and death. 

Why do we read? Why do we watch movies? Short answer: To escape reality. To leave the real world behind for a little while and take a peek elsewhere. To find hope and light and belonging when we can't seem to feel it real life. 

Perhaps God even smiles when we read a book and long to be in that storyworld. Perhaps it deepens His ache to pull us out of this corrupt world and into His perfect one, because He sees that we're not content here. That we were made for more. 

When the water meets the sky

Where your heart is free and hope comes back to life

When these broken hands are whole again

We'll find what we've been waiting

We were made for so much more

Oh my.

We were made for so much more.

How powerfully exciting is that?? We weren't made for this grueling life we live down here. For the doubt and the weariness and the heartache. That's where we are right now, and God wants us to give Him glory while we're here. But ultimately, we were made for fellowship with the King and Creator of the universe. For life abundant, without sin or death. 

Think of the happiest moment of your life. Or the most beautiful sight you've ever seen. Now magnify that times infinity and beyond. 

You still haven't touched the wonder that heaven will be.

Life is hard down here. We experience pain beyond what we could have possibly imagined we could endure. People hurt us. We watch horrible things happen in the world around us. 

Friends... when the corruption of this world wears you down, remember you're not going to stay here forever. There's a place for us.

So hold on 

Hold on

We could be the kings and queens of anything if we believe

It's written in the stars that shine above

A world where you and I belong

Where faith and love will keep us strong

Exactly who we are is just enough

There's a place for us.

So, next time you read The Chronicles of Narnia, or Lord of the Rings, or whatever story that has a world you're wistful for, remember- someday, we'll have our chance to experience a journey to a wonderful land of paradise. We'll stay there forever. And it will be better than anything we've ever longed for.

Don't give up. One day we'll move to our forever home, and there will be joy and fulfillment like we've never known. That's where we belong.