It's Almost Done!

My latest song that is....
I was asked more than a year ago to write a companion song to my cousins new book about to be published this summer on Heaven. My cousin has spent years studying the bible and specifically what the bible says about heaven. You see several years ago when his Daddy passed away suddenly, he found himself wanting to know more about this place we as Christians call Heaven. He knew what he had been taught all his years, from Sunday School to vacation bible school, to church and even bible studies. But had he really sought to study everything God had to say about this Eternal Paradise where we all will be with Him and our loved ones? So for a couple of years he set his goal on learning all he could about Heaven. For cathartic reasons he began to also write about his Dad and what a great spiritual leader he was for our family. These two topics coupled together in a nice blend of theology and a fun story line of what "could be taking place even now in unseen heavenlies" makes for a great read. My cousin thought it would be great to have a companion song to go along with the book. Well, I prayed God would give me the words and He did. The song is called "Glimpses of Heaven." I wrote in last December and am just finishing up the arrangement. Look for it soon on my music website www.aperfectweddingson.com
Until then here are the words:

Gimpses of Heaven by FaithfulPraise

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars
All that You have set in place, teaches me just who You are
The beauty of Your creation, overwhelms me
Yet it's just a glimpse
You are in our midst
Declare Your kingdom come

Glimpses, Glimpses of Heaven
They're all around me
If I open my eyes
The closer I get to You
The more You reveal to my heart
Glimpses, Glimpses of Heaven

You show me your love in the ocean, a vast, deep sea
Your unfailing grace reaches to the highest mountain
Your faithfulness is like coming seasons
So how can I not see
This place you've built for me
My home in the Holy City

Glimpses....

Jesus said "The kingdom is heaven is near...
Where the last will be first and the first will be last!"
Lord, how I live for that day
When the trumpets will sound and You come riding in
In Your robe and Your crown
And we all sing....
To the King of Kings....

Glimpses, Glimpses of Heaven
They're all around us
Just open your eyes
the closer you get to Him
The more He reveals.......
Glimpses.....Glimpses....Glimpses...Glimpses of Heaven

Dream Home Sweepstakes!

I have been faithfully entering the HGTV Dream Home Sweepstakes for 5 years and counting.  I am not typically one to enter contests, but there is something about this one.  I am so in to homes and decor that this contest is my thing.  I secretly see myself winning each year and make plans in my head as to how I will move all my things to my new home.  What I will keep and take with me and what I will give away.  These dream homes come loaded with practically everything one needs to keep a home, so really all that you need to bring with you are personal effects, such as pictures and memorabilia and clothes.  Oh yes, your wardrobe.  These closets are fit for a king and are empty awaiting your garb.  This years dream home is set in Sonoma California; a most beautiful place.  The grounds around the home are perfectly manicured, landscaped to the hilt.  They include a vegetable garden and an herb garden and flowers galore.  It is prime growing country.  There is plenty of room for entertaining inside and outside this home.  I know our family would have a blast living there, at least for a while.  

As much as I would love to win this home, I must admit, it would be quite an ordeal to uproot our lives and just take off to Sonoma.  We would have to consider jobs, schools, friends and family. I heard that most people who win these homes, sell them, because they don't want to change locations and the taxes on their winnings, make it almost impossible to keep.    As I was pondering these things this week, I believe God brought to my mind another Dream Home.  My Dream Home in heaven or as some call it, my Mansion.  First I wondered, am I as apt to think about my mansion each day, as I have been that dream home in Sonoma?  Am I as motivated to register for my home in glory as I have been to register to win this home on earth.  I have been known to put a sticky note on my laptop as a reminder to enter my name in the dream home drawing.  Do I put that much effort in my preparation for the dream home that is already mine?  You see when I gave my life to Christ and He became my Lord, I won the real, Dream Home Sweepstakes.  Immediately, I had my Mansion next door to Jesus.  There was no hoping to win, keeping my fingers crossed, competing with other entries.  Nor will there be any disappointment, when that day comes.  No one else will take my dream home away from me. Or win it instead of me.   He has already signed the property deed and He put my name on it.  And the great news....there are plenty of Dream Homes to be had. No one has to be disappointed.  No one has to lose. John 14:2 says "In my Father's house, there are many mansions..."  Many mansions.  A gift to those who ask Jesus to be Lord of their life and follow Him.  Fully equipped with everything one would need to keep a home.  Beyond breathtaking, perfectly manicured gardens. Trees with twelve types of fruit on them each month.  Rivers that flow clear as crystal.   I could go on and on.  Read it for yourself in Revelation chapters 21 and 22.   It's truly amazing and truly a Dream Home beyond anything we could ever build or even think of, on earth.  Our minds can not fully grasp what He has in store for us in the New Jerusalem.  But let me tell you, I'm registered, my name is in the Book of Life, on that deed and I am ready to go in the blink of an eye.  And I don't even need to pack.  Glory!

Build My Mansion by Dottie Rambo

Just build my mansion  next door to Jesus

And tell the angels   I'm coming home

It doesn't matter   who lives around me

Just so my mansion  sits near God's throne

I have no castles no earthly kingdom

but my cabin will do 'til I get home

My mansions yonder  on the hills of glory

Oh I know my mansion  sits near God's throne