This is a message from leading the way with Dr. Michael Youssef.

We pray that it will encourage you in your walk of faith.

If you would like to learn more about Dr. Youssef or leading the way, please visit

ltw.org.

Before founding the Church of the Apostles, I had traveled overseas a great deal, probably more than

my family would have liked or I would have liked. When I traveled, I deeply missed my wife and

children. But one of the things that ease the pain of separation, one of the things

that ease the pain of loneliness, was the very thought of seeing the joyful faces again.

It was the thought of the joyous reunion, was the thought of closeness again, the thought of hugs and kisses,

and the thought of being with my wife and children for an extended period of time before I get

going again, and the thought of catching up on all the things that I've missed, both good and

bad and joyous and saddest and successes

and failures on the whole package. And then, of course, a little while later will be another

trip and I would go through the same emotions once again. I think anybody who had experienced

separation and reunion of loved ones

understand exactly what I'm talking about. You know exactly those emotions and you've experienced

them. And when I began to think about heaven and the truth about heaven, there's one thing

that kept going through my mind. I found myself

focusing not on the streets of gold and the pearly gates and all these symbols that we have

in the scripture, but I found myself focusing more on the joy of seeing the face of God. I asked several people this week,

what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about heaven? I'm not going to ask

you that now, but I asked several people. And everybody gave a different answer. To be truthful,

...