Photo by Tj Holowaychuk on Unsplash
One of the gifts of the Spirit fueled my childhood imagination
In my childhood room, the wall beside my bed featured blooming pink and purple flowered wallpaper.
As a child, I would sometimes stretch out on my bed and pick at the seam of the wallpaper to see if I could peek into what lay behind it. I imagined there was another world beyond the flowers and desperately hoped to catch a glimpse.
I can remember the longing I had for a different world. I remember the desire I had to escape into a new place that existed outside of my small bedroom. Outside of my home. My life.
Although when I picked at the paper, I only discovered white paint and drywall, I held on to my faith that there was another world out there.
I wonder if that was the early stirring of my desire for heaven.
The Bible says that we all have a longing for heaven. We all suffer from homesickness, a desire to be there.
My parents raised me in the Catholic faith. I believed in God. I believed in what I learned at school and at church. I believed in heaven and hell.
While I witnessed others struggling with their faith, I never had a moment of doubt. I believe that I was blessed with faith as a gift of the Spirit as outlined in 1 Corinthians 12: 7–11, NIV:
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.
The gift of faith is to have extraordinary confidence in God. I had a simple confidence that heaven existed and I looked forward to spending eternity there. 2 Corinthians 5:1–2 says:
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling.
Although I never discovered another world behind my wallpaper, I imagine if I did it would not even come close to what I will experience the day I open my eyes in heaven.
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If you like open, humourous, and nostalgic stories like this one then you’ll love this memoir of young life experiences that take you down memory lane. Buy East City Girl: A Memoir of Growing Up Catholic In A Small Town to learn how your childhood experiences affect your adulthood today!