LDS thoughts on heaven

[Irishcolleen]

From what I've seen (and my perception may be wrong), when LDS talk about heaven their focus is on family. Do LDS get excited about being in the very presence of God, of being with the One who loves and knows them completely and perfectly? I love my family with all my heart, but I am really excited about being able to see my Savior face to face, to hold His hand, to walk with him, etc...! Do LDS share this excitement?

[Windseeker]

Absolutely

I once had a dream I was in heaven. I was in the arms of my Heavenly Father and surrounded by so much love, acceptance and understanding I was overwhelmed and it felt like my whole soul was sobbing in relief. I didn't want to wake up.

[Guest]

When I was a younger woman I would often feel very acutely homesick and long to be with my Father. Not in a suicidal way or anything, just that I wanted badly to be in that peace and feel of His love.

I have also had a dream of being in His presence, and I'll never forget the feeling. I've also thought often of being face to face with the Savior. When I was in seminary as a teenager I remember talking about the woman who washed His feet with her hair. Since then I've had a hope that I will have that opportunity; to kneel at his feet and wash them with tears of gratitude and my hair. That sounds weird when I type it. . .

But yes. I look forward to a reunion with Them and being in Their presence.

[Dravin]

From what I've seen (and my perception may be wrong), when LDS talk about heaven their focus is on family. Do LDS get excited about being in the very presence of God, of being with the One who loves and knows them completely and perfectly? I love my family with all my heart, but I am really excited about being able to see my Savior face to face, to hold His hand, to walk with him, etc...! Do LDS share this excitement?

Heavenly Father and the Savior are family. However, the pain of separation from someone like a spouse, a child, or parents that we've known here on Earth is probably felt more sharply than the pain of separation that it blanketed by the veil. We remember sitting across the table from our departed spouse, we don't have any such memories of the Savior or Heavenly Father. At least not until the veil is no more. That I suspect is why many speak of that aspect with such joy, it's much more relatable.

That said, the thought of hearing the words, "Well done thou good and faithful servant." is a wonderful one.

Edited October 12, 2012 by Dravin

[Vort]

One of our Church hymns is I Feel My Savior's Love. Many people I know, including family members, feel that love, sometimes acutely. Many have had experiences too sacred to share openly in which they felt that love.

I am not among them, however. I can remember only a very small number of occasions in my entire life, one or two, when I "felt" God's love for me. But I see his love for me every day, in almost every facet of my life. I am convinced that God's "love language", at least for us in mortality, is Acts of Service (which is also my wife's love language). But it is not mine; I'm very much a Physical Touch and Words of Affirmation guy. So I will feel my Savior's love for me on that day when I bow before him and embrace his feet. Until then, I expect I will have to content myself with simply knowing that he loves me.

As Dravin said, I can see and hear and touch and smell and taste my wife, so my attachment to her is not just intellectual or even spiritual. It is physical. That kind of immediacy is not easily replaced. Here is an example:

My dad died a little less than two years ago. Not really completely unexpected given his health for the last decade, but a shock all the same. On that occasion, for a few weeks, I cried tears unlike any I remember during my life. I guess I was experiencing true grief, and it shook me to my very core. I loved my grandparents and shed tears when they died, but not like that. I eagerly anticipate a renewed and deepened relationship with my dad when I meet him again.

I can only assume I will feel that way, perhaps magnified many times, when kneeling before my God. But for the moment, God reveals himself to me by the blessings he gives me, not by the physicality of his presence. For some of us, that's a very important part of our relationships.

[NeuroTypical]

when LDS talk about heaven their focus is on family. Do LDS get excited about being in the very presence of God, of being with the One who loves and knows them completely and perfectly? I love my family with all my heart, but I am really excited about being able to see my Savior face to face, to hold His hand, to walk with him, etc...!

Let's take your last sentence, and change one word to summarize how LDS folks think:

I love my family with all my heart, AND I am really excited about being able to see my Savior face to face, to hold His hand, to walk with him, etc...!

Maybe this will press home how much we really think of God as our father, and Christ as our elder brother. We don't need to stop thinking about family in order to start thinking about God. When we are thinking about God, we ARE thinking about family.

[Gargantuan]

Vort, that was a tender experience about your father that you will want to share with your loved ones and use to help others in their times of need.

Edited October 16, 2012 by Gargantuan

[bythelake]

I am not among them, however. I can remember only a very small number of occasions in my entire life, one or two, when I "felt" God's love for me.

Did you feel it when you received your patriarchal blessing?

I'd also like to recommend the book "Return From Tomorrow", by George Ritchie. I read it years ago, after I had been a member of the Church for a few years;and experiencing vicariously Christ's love through George Ritchie's experience is one thing that helped it to become more real for me.

[Vort]

Did you feel it when you received your patriarchal blessing?

No, I was 15 and fasting, both of which worked against me paying much attention to anything besides how hungry I was.