When my military husband was deployed, I missed him. The children missed him. We all counted days or made paper rings to count them, a countdown until his return. Then, we would make a cake, his personal favorites for dinner and wait expectantly for his arrival home.

I miss a lot of loved ones who have gone to heaven to be with the Lord. My mom died in 1983 and my father in 2017. My grandparents died in 1991 and 1992. My best friend Heidi died in 2017 also, only a few months before my father. I miss them, but I don’t wish them back because this life is hard and I hope that they have gone to heaven and they wouldn’t want to leave there.

I want to see my loved ones when I get to heaven, to be reunited with them at last. But I really want to see Jesus.

Jesus’s prayer to the Father is for us to be with Him. I think that He misses us, not the same way I miss my lost loved ones because Jesus is in contact with us through prayer and the Holy Spirit. Don’t ask me to theologically explain that because I can’t. But I do believe that the Savior who died for me longs for me to be with Him, and yes, He misses me being right there with Him. You know the videos in which the family is reunited with the spouse returning from his deployment. The child is surprised at the football game. The mom at work. Imagine all of the videos we could play of our meeting Jesus. We know Him in our hearts and when we get to heaven, we will know Him and be able to be right there beside him, much like the beloved spouse returned from the battlefield.

We are fighting a battle now. We are deployed on the earth to fulfill the mission that God has given us to do. Jesus is watching over us, along with the heavenly host. Can you imagine His cheer when we make a right choice or repent of a wrong one? Yes, I think He longs for us to be with Him. The time isn’t now, but it is coming when we will be untied with Him. That will be a day of rejoicing, a day when we see His glory and behold all of the love between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I don’t know exactly what it will be like, but I know that Jesus wants me to be with Him, in the Father’s time and when the Father calls me home. We should all long for that day and know that it will be a joyous homecoming and a special day for the Lord and for us. We can be encouraged that Jesus misses us and wants to be with us, just as we want to see Him.