Sounds wonderful to me. I guess if we were meant to be together on this earth, we are meant to be together in heaven too.

An eternity with Mark sounds wonderful to me - whether it be here or in Heaven. I agree with Debbie - if we were meant to be together on earth - we are meant to be together in Heaven.

Chris

500 years?? When my husband was a child the nun informed his parents that he was very lavatory minded. Not much changed when he grew up. So, I wince when I think his first words to God might have been "pull my finger" or "Hey God, look what you can do with a match." I suppose if we have been given the full armor of God and it includes a gas mask I could be on board. Wow, 500 years.

Count me in.....
L

500 years would work only problem i have is what do i buy her for that anniversary ? Zoe the "pull my finger" or "Hey God, look what you can do with a match. truely made me laugh i always said god has a sense of humor he create me

Hope I can word this so you will understand my meaning, but no.

Don and I had a wonderful marriage and I will miss him forever. That's not it. It was three years in June and for 2 1/2 of those years I probably would have said 'me too.' but in the past 6 months I've grown spiritually, emotionally, and even intellectually.

I rely heavily on my faith and I've learned the meaning of "A Time for All Seasons" There's a bigger plan than life on this earth and I'm looking forward to eternity. My life with my parents, marriage to Don, raising my children, even relating with friends have all shaped who I am now and I can look forward to continue this life into the afterlife. Having Don go before me IS a very hard lesson to accept and if I hadn't found DS (which was also part of the plan) or if I was where I was in 2007 or 2008 or even 2009 I wouldn't be writing this.

It's 2010 and as the old saying goes: I'm not the person who married Don. I'm not the person who buried Don. I am a new person and it is good.

Here's hoping you can understand what I'm trying to say and not think poorly of how I feel. Sharon

I understand where you are coming from Sharon. I too know that I have changed since losing Roxanne 15 months ago. For all the writing and talking I do I find it hard to explain to people quite what I mean.

There were a few times I felt my faith shaken and I had to wrestle with doubts about faith. There were plenty of days that had me wondering if my faith was all a waste.

Since I lost her I have seen so much at work in my own life and in the lives of people around me I am convinced that there is a reason why I am still here. I hope nobody feels offended but I just have a feeling there are things for me to do that I couldn't do while I was taking care of her.

For many years I struggled with feelings that I was never good enough for God. There was a constant battle with my desire to be a better person, always there were feelings of being inadequate.

I rarely even think about those things anymore. I have grown in my faith and found it to be much simpler than I always thought it should be. The whole concept of faith confused me. It finally makes sense to me that faith isn't so much something I have to do but it is just part of who I am.

I guess what I am trying to say is that I have been kicked, dragged and chased through hell so many times and am still standing that my confidence in my faith and my relationship with God has been proven to me. I sometimes wonder if I "needed" to go through all those things to make me stronger, to make me able to stand straighter and more confident.

Something that has always fascinated me is the process metals go trough to be made more pure. I have watched as metal has been heated to it's melting point and seen the impurities, or dross, float to the top and be skimmed off. Each time the metal goes through the process of being heated it becomes more pure, it becomes more "simplified" because it is closer to containing only the base metal and less complicated with other things that do not belong.

If a way I feel that being "dragged through hell" has been the process by which my faith is shaken and heated so the dross can float to the top. I used to fear the process often realizing there would be more trials ahead. I don't fear them anymore.

I'm not saying I am perfect, I don't expect to be in this lifetime on this earth but my faith is simpler, stronger and more pure than when I first started this life.

In answer to the question I don't think I would want to live forever in this life. I would have to watch all my friends and family die and leave me behind. I think eventually I would start to feel left out. How many "lifetimes" would it take before I started to feel as if I had been rejected even by death. The only reason I would want to live longer than my own natural lifetime would be if there were some incredibly important, exciting, engrossing work to keep me occupied.

Hugs,
Matt

I have to agree with Sharon and Matt. There are so many things they said that I have already felt. No, one lifetime here is enough. The next life is the one where we will be perfect, not here. I'll see Joe again and we will be young forever, in a spiritual sense. Hugs, Joely

I'm throwing my hat in with Matt and Sharon. I don't want to live forever. If you have forever, how precious can each day be?

Stephen's death has just made me realize how precious our lives are and how we should make the most of each day. It's early days for me, and I'm just now starting to even think about what to do with the rest of my life.

I feel VERY strongly that eveything happens for a reason and according to God's plan. I know God had a reason for taking Stephen so young, and I have to leave myself open to learning what that reason is. Time will tell.

I also believe that after my time on earth is complete, I'll rejoin my husband in heaven. My goal is to make sure that when we meet again his first words are, "Well done, you made me proud."

If living forever here on earth would mean that my family was also here, yes. But without them - no. There was a time when I thought how nice it would be to live to be old and experience so much. Now - I do not want to live long, It means that you will experience grief over and over as loved ones die and you are left behind.

In heaven - yes. With my husband and my loved ones.
As for living 500 years with the same man - my husband, sounds wonderful to me. We enjoyed life together, having gone through the difficult years and passed many milestones. We knew each other inside and out and loved each other completely.

....for all of our days on Earth and for all of our days beyond. Love has no beginning and it has no end. Death will not part us.

Kaaren (words from our wedding)