Home

My husband and I recently returned home from a week in Guatemala serving on a mission trip.  We lived in community with fellow Christians for a full week.  Eating, serving and sharing life together.  It was great.  I miss them all.  It felt like home being with them.  
 
While I was gone, I missed my three sons that were here in Cascade, Iowa.  I love my family and we are close, life wouldn’t be the same without them near.  Where they are feels like home.
 
We just moved into a new house and it is taking some adjusting.  At times, we miss the house we left.  There are still boxes everywhere and we feel unsettled.  We are working at making this house feel like home, but we aren’t quite there yet.
 
Where is home?  With the many changes taking place in my live recently, I have found myself asking this very question.  The fact that our hearts yearn for a place to call home speaks to something deep within us.  We desire a place to belong and to call our own, where we can be ourselves and with the ones we love.  God put that longing there.
 
God’s people are not unfamiliar with longing for a home.  The Israelites went from being tent dwelling sojourners to aliens in Egypt to wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.  Even after entering into the Promised Land they couldn’t obey God and were eventually carried away as exiles into other nations.  They continually longed for home.  
 
Where is home?  For the Christian, it will always be with Christ.  Jesus is our eternal destination, therefore, he is our home.  In his presence is the only place we will feel secure, at peace and have lasting joy.  Jesus himself gave us these words of comfort, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” John 14:1-3.  What sweet words for those who believe!  A place is ready for us and he is coming for us - that we may be where he is - home.   
 
I have tried to instill this into my sons and myself over the past few weeks.  In this life there will be times when we will feel unsettled, like the ground under us is shifting.  It is then that we need to remember the truth of Philippians 3:20, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,”  We belong to a different world - one that is lasting and where God’s will is always done.  That is what our souls long for because our souls belong to him.  
 
We Christians are a part of God’s kingdom now and can experience some of the benefits while here on earth (like when I was with the mission team), but this is only a small taste of what is to come.  Our souls will continue to yearn for our true home until the fullness of his presence is realized.  That is why we say, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).  We long for that day.  We long to be home with our Savior forever.  
 
So, ladies, take comfort when this world leaves you longing for more, when you grow weary of feeling out of sorts and out of place.  Your Savior has gone to prepare a place for you and he has given his word that he will return for you.  Listen for the streams of living water that flow from the throne of God and for the trumpet sound.  Join me in calling for his return - come, Lord Jesus, come!

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