I suggest giving less weight to the labels society puts on neurodivergent people and spending more time on learning all you can about who Jesus was and is and how you can emulate and follow Him best.

In this clip from the Do Hard Things podcast with The Rebelution in 2022, Randy talks to teenagers about learning to expect suffering. He encourages listeners to ground themselves in the Word of God and live by faith so that this world’s evil and suffering don’t cause them to turn their back on Christ. God is sovereign, and He will carry out His will on Earth as it is in Heaven.

In this clip from the Do Hard Things podcast with The Rebelution in 2022, Randy explains that the hope of Heaven is not simply wishful thinking. He shares that we know more from the Bible about the future, post-resurrection Heaven, which will be on the New Earth, than we do about the present Heaven.

In this clip from the Do Hard Things podcast with The Rebelution in 2022, Randy shares how God worked in his wife Nanci’s life to draw her deeper into the Word. He talks about how her study of God impacted her cancer journey.

I believe, based on what I know about God and His character and the nature of the New Earth (the forever Heaven which will come after our resurrection), that if both you and your mom were Jesus followers here, your focus will not be on whatever happened between you but will be on the One who died to have an uninterrupted relationship with you.

Believers periodically tell me versions of the following: “We shouldn’t be thinking about reunion with loved ones, or the joys of Heaven. We should only be thinking about being united with Christ, who is our only treasure.” This sounds spiritual, but is it?

The presence of God is the essence of Heaven. John Milton put it, “Thy presence makes our Paradise, and where Thou art is Heaven.” Heaven will be a physical extension of God’s goodness.

I have no doubt whatsoever that innocent silliness will be part of our experience in Heaven and forever on the New Earth. 

Years ago in the Midwest, a woman was looking for a way to reach out. She made contact with a death-row prison ministry, and began writing to a man named Durlyn who’d been convicted of horrible crimes.