I would recommend two books for you to read -- both really address your questions but in different ways. One is fiction, one apologetics. Both are by C.S. Lewis: The Great Divorce and Mere Christianity. I think the former may be my very favorite Lewis book (and I've read them all).
Thanks for the suggestion, my mother is a big C.S. Lewis fan (one of the things I bought her for Christmas was a daily calendar with a quote a day from Lewis on each day, and she loves it). I’ll check those out, I’ve been hearing about them from The Mom long enough, I should read them so I can finally say something back to her other than “Yeah, I KNOW you think I should read them.” Have a good night and thanks again.