hello Karie..
number 1.. christians do not believe we lived in heaven prior to birth... however do believe that, of corse, we were devinally made in heaven by God prior to our mortal bith..
number 2.. the rapture is when we are taken (body as well as soul) into heaven very close to the end of time on earth.. there is a debate as to when this will happen but thats what it is.. and if you accept Jesus as your Lord and as the sacrifice that makes you clean again in the eyes of God.. you will be raptured. that is how it is decided who will and wont be raptured.
For the rapture.... if we have not accepted Jesus as our Lord and savior by the time of the rapture.. we will not get a second chance.. however "missing the mark" is what it means to Sin.. thats what the word Sin means.. "to miss the mark" so as christians... we wil sin over and over, but Jesus's sacrifice covers us as long as we strive to live like him more and more each day.
after Death, if you are saved and your loved ones arent saved (i.e. havent accepted Jesus as Lord) then they simply cannot be in heaven with God so you will not see them.. which is all the more reason to teach them of the Love and Grace that Jesus offers.. and since heaven is perfect (even though it can be hard to imagine) i dont think we will mind not seeing our earthy relatives and friends as our main focus will be communion and worship with God
this is IMPORTANT...
any sin AT ALL...... ANY ONE SIN is "hell worthy" but as christians we aren't subjected to that because.... (and a lil backstory)
"the wages of sin is death" meaning you sin, you get death, something must die.. since the very begining of the bible thats how it was.. And close to the begining, God had his people make sacrifices of animals in order to pay for their sin.. to make the payment their sin demanded in order to be free of sin, in order to be made "not hell worthy" anyone who didnt sacrifice (because we all sin) wasnt made clean again.. so they remained "hell worthy."
and then a while later, finally, according to God's plan, God sent his son Jesus to be the LAST sacrifise for sin. meaning this ONE sacrife.. jesus.. would have the power to clean ALL sin, past, present and future.. but in order to be made clean and go from a hell worthy sinful state, to a not hell worthy sinless state, you must ACCEPT Jesus's sacrice for you.. you must sincerely say in your heart, Lord Jesus, i know you died for me and i want be holy and live according to your will for me. and BAM! you are clean from sin, past, present and future sin is all clean...
that is the difference between hell worthy and non hell worthy. its not the behavior, but the faith and dedication to your cleaning sacrifice and Lord Jesus.. christians sin too so we technically commit "hell worthy behavior" but we are free of the consequences because we have Accepted Jesus's sacrifce. and thats it... black and white.. sincerely accept jesus and strive to be holy and you can be free of the consequences of your sin, if you dont, then you are not made clean and you are held accountable for your hell worthy behavior..
FINALLY... NUMBER 4
God is not cut off from man and answers all prayer.. God does not always answer Yes, and God does not always answer on your time schedule, or even asnwer in the way we thought he would... but he does answer prayer..
so how do we know when we have recieved an answer... the simpliest answer i can give (because each individual prayer is given a differenc answer in accordance with Gods plan) is we might not know.. it is very subjective. sometimes we are given an answer and we dont even realize it, but if we truly seek and answer, and are open to God, we can know. AND it is also IMPORTANT that prayer not just be a wishlist to God, prayer is our way of communicating with God, developing our relationship so sometimes prayer doesnt even require a responce because you just may want to talk to God, spend alone time when you think about nothing but the Greatness ans Glory of God.
i hope that helped, and i think you ARE AWESOME karie!