Will we have earthly memories in heaven?

[Anne_G]

When we get to heaven and see family members, will we remember our life with them on earth? I was abused by a family member, and this devastated me. What will happen when/if I meet that person in heaven?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

I don’t know what our memories from this life will be like in heaven. On the one hand, heaven is a place of perfect joy. On the other, Christ himself bore the wounds of his Passion in his resurrected, glorified body (John 20:19–20). Perhaps our own scars from this life will remain, but like Christ’s, will be a source of hope and reconciliation (John 20:26–29).

Perhaps the only thing about heaven we will know for certain is that God will be with us and will take away all our sorrow and pain:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:1–4).