Keela was unable to find purpose in this life. Keela had to take care of her mom from a very young age. Her dad was out of the picture until about age 7 and he turned out to be very abusive. Before age nine, Keela had already attempted suicide. Feeling ashamed, fearful and no purpose for living, the end for Keela seemed to be inevitable. But, then she was invited to a birthday party and her life was thrown into a tail-spin of change. So it was a surprise when a friend told me that I didn't have to be. Sitting criss-cross-apple-sauce on the ground, at a birthday party of all places, a beloved group of friends told me a story that changed my life, that so catastrophically wrecked my way of thinking that I rose up from the ashes as a new person. I asked them about heaven, more specifically if I would ever see my mom there. That got us talking, and all of a sudden, these nine-and-ten-year-old girls huddled around me and told me exactly what my heart had been longing to hear. They told me that God loves me. Like, really loves me. They told me that my sins had separated me from God (Isaiah 59:2) and that's why I felt trapped in a hopeless world, doing things that I knew were wrong. They told me that this sin kept me from God, who wanted me to be with Him. But then they told me that Jesus loved me so much that He died on a cross to take away the punishment for all the stupid crap that I had done (John 3:16). They told me that because of His death, I can have a relationship with the God of the universe and live with Him for all eternity in Heaven (John 14:6). They told me that God created me with a purpose, for a reason, to be His (1 Peter 2:9). They told me that He will never leave me (Hebrews 13:5). They told me that with Him, there is nothing to fear (Isaiah 41:10). Sitting there in that moment, I felt something in me that I had never felt before. A rightness. Hope. Hope. See her story on Instagram @keelahope

If you died today, where would you go? If you're an atheist, your answer would be fairly simple, "In the ground". If you are an agnostic, then it is a little more complicated, you're aren't really sure. If you are a Christian, that is a believer in Christ Jesus, you are certain of your destiny, it is eternity with Christ in Heaven. “For we know that if our earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made by hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed, in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, since in fact after putting it on, we will not be found naked. For indeed, we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:1-4‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/2692/2co.5.4.NASB2020 “Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— for we walk by faith, not by sight— but we are of good courage and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:6-8‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/2692/2co.5.6-8.NASB2020 “For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose on their behalf.” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:14-15‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/2692/2co.5.14-15.NASB2020 “Therefore from now on we recognize no one by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their wrongdoings against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:16-19‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/2692/2co.5.16-19.NASB2020 “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:20-21‬ ‭NASB2020‬‬ https://bible.com/bible/2692/2co.5.20-21.NASB2020