I get daily devotionals sent to my e-mail. NOT coincidentally, the devotion for today was about this exact same idea of "home". The devotion is titled Where the Heart Is, and I just wanted to share it with you since it relates 110% to what I felt God calling me to write about yesterday.
Where the Heart Is by Susan Meissner:
“He has planted eternity in the human heart …” Ecclesiastes 3:11b (NLT)
A while back, my young adult son took a trip to visit friends in the
state where we used to live. He stopped by the house that had been ours
for all of his childhood. And, he felt compelled to knock on the front
door and introduce himself to the strangers who now own it.
When he said he had grown up in that house, the wife didn’t hesitate
to open the door wide and invite him in. She knew that in our hearts we
often feel toward our houses what we might feel for a trusted ally, a
kind friend or maybe even a silent witness to our pain.
My latest character Marielle Bishop understands this. In my new novel A Sound Among the Trees,
new bride Marielle takes up residence in an old house with a storied
past. She just isn’t sure that this place can be a safe haven for her
heart.
We are wired to feel a tug toward that one special place we feel
safe, wanted and cared for. Our hearts are restless when we’re far from
home, or our home is taken from us, or when discord disrupts the
tranquility of that place.
So what’s a girl to do when she doesn’t feel at home? We need to
remember that Christ is at home in her. So in a sense, we take our
eternal home with us wherever we go. Wherever we are, we can feel safe,
wanted and cared for by Christ who dwells inside every believer.
When the Israelites were waiting for God to lead them to their new
home in the Promised Land, He had them build a tabernacle for His
presence to dwell right there where they were, wherever that was on
their journey.
We don’t use the word “tabernacle” much these days but if you were to
look at its Hebrew roots you would see that it comes from the same word
as “dwell” and “abide” and “settle down.” When God brings His presence
right to where we are, He is “tabernacling” with us.
The Lord God Almighty settles down inside us. His Spirit lives in us.
Our heart becomes His Holy tabernacle and He is at home in us. Isn’t
that a thrilling, mind-bending concept?
The Bible tells us God has “set eternity in our hearts” which means
He has made us hungry for His heavenly embrace. The affection we have
for our earthly houses stems from this smoldering ember of our longing
for Him as our eternal home.
There’s no place like home. It’s why we like everyone to be home for
the holidays and home before dark and why we just want to go home when
we’re having a bad day. Home is where our hearts are at rest. And our
hearts can always be at rest in Him.
Whether your earthly home is as near as your next breath or too far
away to be seen today, know that God has promised to tabernacle with
you! He dwells with you. You are His earthly address. And in Him, you
are home.
Ezekiel 37:26-27, “I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will
be an everlasting covenant. I will establish them and increase their
numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever. My dwelling
place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my
people."
I Corinthians 3:16, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
© 2011 by Susan Meissner. All rights reserved.
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