Saturday Devotional: Happily Ever After

I love a good story—the kind that starts with “Once upon a time” and ends with “...and they lived happily ever after.”
But the truth is, our lives don’t always feel like those kinds of stories.

One afternoon, a teen camper came up to me—we’ll call her Amanda.

“Pastor Dave, can I talk to you?” she asked.

We arranged to meet that evening during recreation. While the other campers were out playing capture the flag, Amanda and I sat on the bleachers. As soon as we sat down, she reached into her backpack and pulled out her journal.

“I want you to look at this,” she said, handing it to me.

It’s not every day a teenage girl lets you read her journal. I knew it was a big deal. I took it carefully, aware of how personal this was.

Inside were drawings, poems, song lyrics, and journal entries. It didn’t take long to realize—this book was full of pain. Amanda had written about her parents’ divorce, her feelings of guilt and shame, her depression, her struggle with addiction, and self-harm.

After reading for a while, I gently handed it back to her. “Thank you,” I said. “Thank you for letting me see into your life.”

Then Amanda asked me a question I’ll never forget.

“Pastor Dave, all week I’ve heard you talk a lot about God. But I just have one question—what does God have to do with all of this?”
She pointed to her journal.

It’s a question we all ask at some point.

Does God really care about me?
Does He care about my pain, my mess, and my brokenness?
Is there a happy ending to my story—or is this all there is?

People talk a lot about heaven—some far-off place where there’s no more death or tears. And that sounds great, but… what about right now?

Let’s start with what the Bible actually says about the end of our story. Believe it or not, “going to heaven” isn’t the final chapter.
Revelation 21:1–5 describes it this way:

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth... Look! God’s home is now among His people... He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.”

In the end, God’s story and our story come together. Heaven and earth are made new. The world is restored to how it was meant to be—just like in the Garden of Eden when God walked with humans in perfect peace.

But here’s the amazing part:
We don’t have to wait for “someday” to start living that story.

When Jesus came to earth, He was a perfect blend of heaven and earth. He was fully God and fully human. And He announced something powerful:

“The Kingdom of God has already come.” — Matthew 12:28

When Jesus returned to heaven, He promised to send us His Spirit so that we could be made new.
“Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” — 2 Corinthians 5:17

Still wrapping your mind around it?
Look at what 1 John 5:12–13 says:

“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.”

So back to Amanda’s question:
What does God have to do with the painful pages of our life?

He has everything to do with it.

As long as we live in a broken world, there will be struggles, pain, and tears. But through Jesus, we can experience eternal life starting now. His Spirit brings healing, hope, and the promise that one day, every tear will be wiped away—and we’ll finally be home.

That’s the real happily ever after.
And it's already begun.

Discussion Questions

• What kind of ending do you hope your story will have?

• How can you experience a piece of 'heaven' in your life today?

• What do you think it means that eternal life starts now, not just when Jesus comes again?