Title Page

At the end of his series, The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis wrote about the wonders of heaven as he imagined them. This chapter filled me with so much joy and happiness that I cried through most of it. One of the profound things he said about heaven was how it related to our life here on earth:

"And as He [Aslan] spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”

This is such a wonderful picture of how our life here on this earth compares to the glory of heaven. Though it seems, to a twenty-year-old college student, that a lifetime on earth will stretch for a very long time, it is but the title page of my story. The story God is writing through me. It is of immeasurable comfort to know that He is the author, yet I must remember to not take the pen from His wise hand. I want Him to write me a beautiful story, but if I try to take control, I might write myself a horror story by mistake.

Yet, no matter what happens in this life, I know that I am destined for eternity with Him. So I death is not something I fear, but rather an event that marks the turning of the page from the Title Page to the first chapter of the greatest adventure story ever told. And, since I'm a book-loving nerd, I know what makes up the great stories, and I know that they carry but a tiny taste of what God has waiting for those who believe in Him. So my prayer is that God will help me to grow to be more like Him here on earth till that day when I shall join Him in heaven and join the greatest adventure. After all, my name, Gabrielle, means "God is my strength" or "God's heroine" and I hope that I am able to be used to accomplish whatever He wants me to accomplish. I give my life up to the great author of life, and know that my life is safest in His hands.