I too believe in more than "just an avoidance of hell."
I believe that to be with the Father for eternity means just that. To me, the
IS the definition of heaven. That after I am done with whatever life I am supposed to endure here on Earth, I will have been forgiven for all the sins I have committed (there are some doozies
) and those I will inevitably commit. I believe that because I believe in Jesus as the Christ, no matter what church I attend (if I ever end up "joining" one), He will be the Light that leads me to eternal life with God the Father. I'm so messed up right now that there are days I can't even pray without breaking down. But the little comfort I have is that the Bible (also known as the Word of God
) tells me that the miniscule, puny, less than a mustard seed faith that I have that He is my salvation and my only path to the only Heaven there is. This bible tells me that my miniscule faith in Him is enough to pardon me from those truly awful sins and grant me eternal life in His Heaven, with Him, in His Glory and Exaltation, at His throne when I'm done here on Earth.
It doesn't specify that I have to attend a specific church to achieve that. It says that I cannot get there by works alone, but that without works, my faith is dead. I don't know what specific works He has in mind for me, but by my faith and the minimal talents He has given me, I do what I can to help the people I can help. Sure it helps that my job puts me in a position to help people, but I now believe that without His help, I probably would not have even been called to this job, much less qualified for it. After all... how many women do
any of you know that can pass the physical strength and endurance as well as mental and emotional testing not only to qualify for a paid professional firefighter position, but maintain it for an entire carreer, including promotions? It's not easy for anyone, including volunteers. Sure there are departments where affirmative action rules have enabled more women to be hired but still there are not that many women who can or want to do it as a full time career. But even on my department, where there are no affirmative action hiring rules, and in a state where women in general tend to be more independent and physically stronger than a lot of places, there are less than 5% of the "front line" (firefighter, engineer, captain) positions that are filled by women. I'm not good at the one-on-one doing good for folks like people in the mental health or pastoral or mission type fields. But I think I fill a niche that people need. I'm there on the worst day of their life - they were in a bad car wreck or their house is burning down or a trench collapsed on them. I pray silently for them and physically do whatever it takesto mitigate their situation.
Anyhow, in the emotionally crushed state I have been in for about a year now, there is no possible way I could do this on my own. I also know that with my messed up back (completely blown lumbar disk), I should not be physically able to do this job.
But....
I believe that because I can somehow still have enough faith to pray to the Heavenly Father that I know is watching out for me, He gives me the physical and emotional strength I need to keep doing this work.
I guess in this rambling post, my point is... I do not in any way think this work is going to "get me out of hell" or even "get me into heaven." I believe that because of my faith, I will bewith Him for eternity and that because of my faith, I can do the work He has called me to.
