Heaven is for Real

This last Monday, my mother, grandmother, and myself all went to see the movie Heaven is for Real. I had read the book, and I remembered it rather well. Originally I just thought it would be a good time to spend with my mom, and grandma. I had no idea what kind of reaction I would get from the movie. Here's some backstory for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about:

Basically the movie is based on a true story in which this mother, and father have to rush their youngest child to the emergency room. They find out that he has appendicitis. His body is filling up with fluids that shouldn't be in certain parts of his body, and he is close to death. Each of the Burpos take it differently. The mother phones friends to ask them to pray for her son, and her husband (who is a pastor) takes some time by himself to yell at God, and let out his frustrations. That right there has a lesson in it, but it is not the focus of my writing today. Let's just leave it at the idea that both responses are perfectly natural. After these natural responses, something supernatural happens. The boy is cured, and healed. Not only is he healed, but he starts to talk about his trip to heaven, and how he saw Jesus. He also mentions seeing a lot of family members that he has never met before this trip. In fact, there are many that he met that were alive long before he was. Only one of these people had a really strong effect on me. That was his sister. Colton Burpo, who is the boy that went to heaven without dying, has two sisters. One of them is alive, and well. The other was a child that his mother miscarried. The Burpos had not named her, so she had no name in heaven.

My mother knows the stories better than I do, but she had told me how she had had six miscarriages before I was finally born. I am an only child, but I am also the youngest of seven siblings, but I was the only one who got to have a taste of life on this earth, while my siblings got to be in heaven much sooner than I. I asked my mom if she had named any of my siblings. I got two names.

Sarah, and Jill.

Oddly enough, these names haunted me in a very strange way for the whole week. A lot of emotions became wrapped up in those names. Love. Hope. Mourning. I felt love for my siblings, and especially my two sisters Jill, and Sarah. I also felt hope that I will meet them someday in heaven, and get to spend time with my older siblings. The last one is the strangest to me because I mourned for them. I felt sad that they did not get to spend time here. I also felt a little guilt that I had never bothered to ask my mother the names of my siblings before, and that in a way I had dehumanized them. I truly hope they forgive me for that someday. I have had many conversations with my best friend about these things, and she has been a great comfort to me with it. It is my hope that I will meet them someday.