We wanted to share some of our favorite books with you on the topic of heaven. Many of these books were given to us this past Christmas. Bethany and I read them non-stop during the month of January and were dramatically encouraged, filled with peace, hope and longing for the reality of heaven. Most of our conversation that month revolved around the stories of the books we were reading. Many times we were brought to tears or made to laugh because of the goodness of God that was revealed to us through the reality of heaven and eternity. The chapters included topics such as the throne room of God, the cloud of witnesses in heaven, family in heaven, babies in heaven, houses, eternal rewards, river of life, Jesus and the Father and hell.
Little did we know that the following months would be filled with difficult stories of sickness, death and miscarriages in our family, friends and those in our spheres of life. Every situation has been difficult but at the same time we have been filled with real hope because of the hope of heaven, the eternal age with God and the resurrection from the dead. With so many painful losses in 2013 it has been amazing to picture what our loved ones are doing and experiencing in heaven. As a fun fact, the vast majority of references to Hope in the Bible are in context to heaven and the resurrection from the dead. Paul prayed in Ephesians 1:16-19, that we would have supernatural hope in our hearts from understanding God’s eternal calling in our life. We can pray the same thing for ourselves.
Check out some of these books if you are interested. We liked some of the books better than the others and some of the stories were easier to believe than others but for the most part they were all good (you don’t have to believe everything you read). Most of these books go chapter by chapter through parts or descriptions of heaven from their personal encounter. The last two books have more story material than descriptions of heaven but both of these were amazing reads and encouraging as well. You can look these up online or go to Amazon.com to purchase them.
1. My Time in Heaven – Richard Sigmund (Our favorite)
2. I Saw Heaven – Roberts Liardon
3. Heaven – Jesse Duplantis
4. 40 Days in Heaven – Elwood Scott (Free to read online if you don’t want to buy it)
5. Heaven Revealed – Kat Kerr
6. My Journey to Heaven – Marvin Besteman
7. Heaven is For Real – Todd Burpo
8. The Boy Who Came Back From Heaven – Kevin Malarkey