"Forever is Not Here"

"And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints." (Psalms 89:5)
As hard as it might be to see the reasoning behind some of what God does or allows here on this earth, we have got to understand that this is not where His promises are realized. Not here, not now! We might get to experience some pretty awesome miracles now and again, but even the greatest of all miracles that are performed in someone's life right now, with the exception of our salvation, they are only temporary in nature. In other words, even if God were to totally heal my wife, she would still grow old and die in this life; there would still be a time when her body would stop working and we would deal with death and dying. No matter what your physical miracle might be, it's only really good enough to get you through a very short time period; compared to eternity in heaven, even the oldest person on this earth is only just a little speck in time. The way I see it, the congregation of the saints is already a place in heaven; it's a place where all the saints are gathered right now, each one waiting for someone to be gathered there with them, each one waiting for the completion of God's wonderful plan to be totally complete; that great day when the new heaven and new earth is to be revealed. Until then, there is just praising and worshiping going on around the Throne, as all the saints and angels watch God's plan come to completion. Really, at this point in time, according to the Scriptures, none of the saints have actually received a new glorified body. the way I have come to understand it, the rapture of the church will be that time. After that, those who die through the tribulation and are saved, will be given new bodies and clean white robes, almost immediately. But it's all taking place in heaven, a place which is not set to the constraints of time, nor does it keep time any longer. Imagine what that might be like...
"Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered -to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing." And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang, "Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever." And the four living beings said, "Amen!" And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshipped the Lamb." (Revelation 5:11-14) NLT