Under Heaven Podcast: Trish Hodges - This World is NOT My Home

Under Heaven Podcast host, Trish, looks at our eternal home. We are so blessed here, on Earth, but Heaven will be even greater.  Trish talks about blessings, trial, and a HOPE for the future.

If you are concerned about the afterlife, tune in and receive joy and expectation.

Trish: patricia@lookingup24.org

Web: https://form.lookingup24.org/trish-hodges

Eternal Life, Book of Revelation, Home in Heaven, Afterlife, Hope in trials

Under Heaven Podcast, Faith, Trish Hodges, Testimony, Christian Women, Encouragement, Testimony

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Some things that people don't like to look at is death. And it just frustrates me where we can't even say DIE on the internet without being censored. We have to say unalive. But you know what? Jesus went to the cross to DIE. He put to death his own life for us that we could live. And Father God didn't leave him in the grave. He resurrected him. And it's that same resurrection power that lives in us. You know, some of you say, well, what do you know about death? I know it affected my life as a child because my mother died when I was just over a year. My grandpa, who was my whole world, died when I was eight. Both my adoptive mom and my birth dad both have passed away. And I'm the oldest. I do have half-sister, stepsister, half-brother, but I'm the oldest of the family. I'm going to be 71 this year. And I realize that nobody lives forever. Do you know what the death rate is? A hundred percent. Everyone that is born into this world and takes a breath of life and cries out is going to take a final breath. And I have I could tell a whole story about my dad when he passed on into glory. Oh, that last breath he took. The last breath here on earth. But it was just the beginning of eternity with Jesus Christ. And real life. Real life. This is just a temporary place right here. You know, um, I have struggled with health issues since I was, well, ever since I was little, because I had asthma terribly as a child. And then arthritis hit me in my 20s, and I didn't realize that's what it was at the time, but I haven't been able to ride a bicycle since I was in my 20s because of arthritis. And um, I was diagnosed, I've been diagnosed with two different immune disorders, and health has been a struggle as far as Jesus has had to step in so many times. I'm functioning where I should not be functioning, and it's all glory to God. I realize that every breath I take, and every morning when I awake, that it's all by the grace of God. And I'm not expecting to pass on into eternity anytime soon, but I know it's all up to him. He is the one who decides when our journey here on earth is complete. I know I've been able to do a lot on this earth. I've been able to be a wife for over 45 years. I've been able to be a mom, a grandma, and now a great grandma. So as far as that, I've done a lot. I've been a teacher, I've been a salesperson, I've been a manager, I've been a secretary. I have done all kinds of things. Manual labor, yeah. I cleaned houses for a little bit, you know, and the best, I mean, the kids to me are the best part of all that. But you know, the icing on the cake was when I was 23 years old. And I said, God, if you're real, show me. And he did. He drew me to that nightstand drawer. And many of you have read my books where I tell about that supernatural drawing by the Holy Spirit, and I picked up the Bible and I began to read from page one, because I thought it was just a book, and I discovered I had purpose and that my life had meaning. So I've not only been part of a family, I've not only worked, had a career, and worked, oh yeah, I wrote the four books, so I'm an author too. And a podcaster. There you go. Um I've not only done that, but best of all, I've been able to share the love of Jesus Christ. And when I was a new Christian, that's one thing the Lord had told me. I just felt it in here so strong, that I was to show the love of Jesus Christ to the world. And in 1 Corinthians 13 is the definition of love, and that has been my message for over 40 years. That God loves us, he loves every one of us, and it's not his will any should perish. He wants all to come to everlasting life. He sent his son, Jesus Christ. What a treasure! God's own son. He let him go to the cross so that our sins could be put upon him and crucified. He became our scapegoat. Look that up. So that we can live today. And we have everything we need. We've got that Holy Spirit, that resurrection power inside of us. We've got that well of living water and the streams of life flowing through us. And the best part of all that is we get to share it. We not only have our relationship with the Father, but we get to share it with others. Being on mission trips, that was like so awesome. And seeing faces come alive when they heard the message of Jesus Christ. And stepping off of a plane after hours of travel in the middle of the night and going directly to a basketball court and presenting the gospel. You know, he says that he'll tell us what to say. And it says to be ready. And when I was asked to speak at that time, just stepping off of that plane, I was able to tell the people there about the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is He is moving even when we don't see it. And there was a breeze. Oh, it was so awesome the day that we stepped off that plane. It was hot and sunny. And when we got to that basketball court, a cloud went over the court and shaded us from that hot sun. Just like he did for the people in the desert during Moses' day. And there was a soft breeze, and I had bubbles in my uh pocket because I was going to share the bubbles with the children there. And the Holy Spirit just gave me the words, and I talked about how we don't see the wind, but we can see the effects of the wind. And I had those bubbles, and I went like that, and the air just took the bubbles, and everybody was like, wow, they could see how the Holy Spirit works. The Holy Spirit is that river of life that Jesus talked about that will flow out of our innermost being and spread among others. So anyway, I'm talking about this world is not our home, and I'm telling you all about the awesome things while I'm here. So anyway, I have been so privileged to be able to share the gospel with people around the world. I've been privileged to visit Israel, walk the streets of Jerusalem, same streets that Jesus probably walked. I have been very blessed in this life. You know, those of us in America are very blessed. In spite of all the problems with this nation, it is created one nation under God, and we have the word of God. Plentiful. We can read it in a book, we can look at it on our phones, we can get on our computers and see the word of God. And the word is life, the word is health, the word is instruction. And I am so blessed, and I know most of you are as well, and you see that. You see the gratitude, you have the gratitude of what God has done for you. When we open our eyes, we begin to see the little things that God does for us. We miss so many things. I know I miss things, and I always am looking for something. When I wrote the book called Overflowing, I talked about many of the instances that you would not have realized it was God, but I knew it was. Okay, this world is not our home. Jesus tells us that He He told His disciples, I go away to prepare a place for you. And I will come back and take you with me. And when we read Revelation a few weeks ago with the group that we have on Tuesday nights, we read about how God seals his people. That the enemy cannot have us. When we have acknowledged Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, when we have put our faith not just ankle deep, not knee deep, not waist deep, but completely in him and are led by him, nothing he tells us, nothing can snatch us out of his hand. So we're looking at that home in heaven. I have notes I will get together and maybe do a teaching on this at some point. There are so many scriptures that talk about Jesus' return. In fact, there's more scripture in the New Testament about Jesus' second coming than the time he was born. Did you know that? That's something our churches have neglected to teach. I believe most churches have. Jesus is coming again. And he's coming for us to take us out of this world. If you read Revelation or listen to the study series I have on it, you will see how God's plan shows his mercy. In spite of all the evil done by people in this world, he doesn't want them to perish. He doesn't want them to live everlasting life in eternal damnation, but he wants us all to live in glory with him. And that's what I am looking forward to. Yeah, I look forward to seeing more great grandbabies born. I look forward to seeing my youngest grandchild graduate from school. I look forward to celebrating 50 years with my spouse. But you know what? My heavenly home and eternity is going to be with the Lord of all, the King of Kings, the Savior and the Creator of all the world. And that is what I'm looking forward to. There comes that time when this heart will stop beating, the lungs will stop taking in air, and these eyes will not reopen here on earth. But I will be resurrected because of the power of God. It says to be um to be gone from this world is to be present with the Lord. As soon as our heart stops, and the doctors or nurses begin to disconnect all the wires and things if we're in the hospital, before that, we're already in his presence. So I just want to encourage you today that no matter what you're going through, whether it's family, career, health, finances, you have a hope beyond this world. But I know in the scripture it says, I would have fainted unless I would have believed I would see the goodness of God in this land. And we do see the goodness of God in this land. But we have even more. This is only temporary. This is only temporary right here on earth. So I encourage you today. I will have some scriptures that you will be able to download and study a little bit about the home, our eternal home, when Jesus returns. Love y'all. Have a great day, and we'll talk later. Bye bye.