Home Sweet Home

I just read my sister’s blog.....she amazes me. Her blog was about “home”. I was sitting there reading it shouting “yes!” I think this time of year really hits “home” for a lot of people. What is home? I have to quote my sister on this one because I feel exactly the same way she does:

Home is an important place--especially when it's cold outside. It's somewhere that I know I'll be warm and safe, but it's more than that. It's where my family is. It's a place where I can hang around in my pajamas, forget about putting on makeup and no one will vote me off the island. I have a lifetime membership with this clan--warts and all.”

I remember as a little girl going to camp. I was so homesick I thought I would die! I remember the embarrassment of having the camp counselor call my parents to come and pick me up. It was humiliating but I will never forget laying in the back seat after they picked me up, and feeling complete peace.... knowing I was going home. It was worth the embarrassment. To this day I have the expression “I am having one of those I want to go home from camp moments”.

As precious as my home is to me, I am realizing more and more that home is truly where my heart is. Our family has faced a multitude of transitions and hurdles this year. Seeing my son move to Nashville and my sister move to Canada were big hurdles for me. Mom’s cancer, Skipper’s retirement, and my health issues this year caused our family to go through even more transition. At one point I felt like this was the worst season of my life. I felt like I had been punched in the gut and couldn’t breathe! I was having a “camp” moment. I felt lost!

Then the Lord so sweetly showed me that it wasn’t these times that defined my home....it was His presence in my heart that was my defining “safe place”.

This time of year can bring “home” to a whole new light. Family and home can represent complete joy and safety for some, while for others it represents pain, abandonment, hopelessness and loneliness. I have a burden on my heart to pray for those who are hurting during this time of year. I know God wants to be that safe place and redefine “home” for them.

One of my favorite songs is by Bryan Duncan, “When I think of home”. Here is one of the verses:

“There’s a saying: your home is where your heart is....My heart believes its true,

and my home’s so far away. But the seasons and the scenery keep changing, So I’ll make my home with you, ‘Til I’m finally home to stay.

When I think of home, When I’m tired and feeling homeless, I come to you....

You’re where my heart is.

I will end on this quote from my sister......it says it all.

Family is powerful. It's the vessel that God chose to usher Jesus into the world when it was very cold and dark outside. Even though Jesus is now preparing a forever-home for me in heaven, His Spirit lives inside of me here on earth and I'm never separated from His presence. No matter what changes, no matter where I go, the presence of God is always with me. That's my real home--that's my happy place.

I want to post my sister’s blog address: Her blogs are amazing...

I often steal quotes from her. Thank you Julie! I want to be like you when I grow up!

http://prayervitamins.blogspot.com/