Home Sweet Home

There's just something about coming home.

Last weekend, we visited family for the holidays, and the weekend before that we combined attending a Bible conference with visiting more family. Out of eleven consecutive days, we were gone or on the road for eight of them.  With the kids.  We thoroughly enjoyed the visits, but by the time we pulled up in front of our house, we were ready to be home.  In fact, little Moses actually laughed out loud when we walked through the front door.

So what's so nice about being home?

Sleeping in your own bed. Playing with old toys that seem new since you haven't played with them in so long (a benefit that lasts long enough for Mama to unpack!).  Toddling around familiar rooms with familiar interesting obstacles.  Showering in your own shower.  Cooking in your own kitchen.

Familiarity.

But also precious about home, and perhaps even more so, is the acceptance we find there.  In your own home, you are (should be) able to be yourself like no where else.  I can roll out of bed in the morning, pull on whatever T-shirt I grab first, and stumble bleary-eyed into the living room with scary bed-head hair without even glancing into the mirror.  I can let down the hyper-vigilance of monitoring the kids' behavior.  I can ignore the messes they leave behind until I get around to cleaning them up...or dragging them over to help clean up.

That's not to say that I don't want to look presentable and have well-behaved kids and keep things picked up, even at home.  It's just that I can accomplish these things with a more relaxed attitude and without constantly looking over my shoulder and wondering what others are thinking about my choice of clothing or Moses's spreading toys all over the living room or CJ's occasional pouting and lack of friendliness.  I can relax, knowing that my husband loves me even when our living room looks like a small natural disaster (temporarily, right?).  I can relax, knowing the kids don't know the difference between my blow-drying my hair or letting it air dry...or going to bed with it wet and waking up to discover another natural disaster.

And at home, I belong.  It's not awkward or uncomfortable.  I don't feel out of place...because I'm in my place.  I'm where I'm supposed to be.

Familiarity...acceptance...belonging...oh, the comforts of home!

Our first night back, I lay in bed thinking about how nice it was to be home.  I was reminded of a verse that had been brought to life for me at a ladies' meeting six and a half years ago.

I remember exactly when because it was just before I married my wonderful hubby.  I was getting ready to move to a new home in a new city in a new state, begin attending a new church, and start looking for a new job in a new career (I had just gotten my nurse's license).

A friend and I had driven to a nearby camp that was hosting a family camp.  We were there for only one day and listened to only one message.  That week, the women's speaker, Nancy Rolinger, was sharing with the ladies from several psalms.  The message we heard was on Psalm 90.  The only thing I remember was what she had to say about the first two verses:

"Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations.  
Before the mountains were brought forth, 
or ever You had formed the earth and the world, 
even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God."

You are our DWELLING PLACE...You are our HOME.

That means that everything that is so precious to me about home, is true about God.

With God, I am unconditionally accepted.  I can be sure of His love.  He knows like no one else when I'm having a "bad attitude day," like a bad hair day.  He knows when I've made a mess of things.  He knows when I fail as a parent.

And He still loves me.  He may not be pleased, but He still loves me.  He accepts me.

He says,

"Yes, I have loved you with an EVERLASTING love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you." (Jeremiah 31:3)

And in my Dwelling-Place God, I not only find the relief of acceptance, but I find the comfort of familiarity.  He is familiar.  Everything that is so precious to me about Him will never change!  He is always kind, always tender, always good, always just, always sovereign.

"For I am the Lord; I DO NOT CHANGE." (Malachi 3:6)

With God, I belong.  I'm His.  At His side, I'm where I'm supposed to be.  Verse after verse in Scripture invites us to come to His side.  That's where we belong.

All this means that no matter where I am, in a sense, I am home...because God is with me.

This brought such comfort to me as I sat listening to the message so many years ago.  And it brought comfort as I lay in bed thinking the other night.  It brought comfort as I thought about the kind of God I have.  And it brought comfort as I thought about my upcoming trip.

Next week, I will travel across an ocean to another continent.  I will leave my home, my hubby, and my boys for twelve days while I take part in a medical mission trip to Kenya.

That night as I lay in bed, thoughts of how good it was to be home mingled with thoughts of the trip.  I was little nervous about going.  Oh, I'm definitely looking forward to it, but I'll miss the familiarity and comforts of home.  I'll miss my family!  So I prayed about the trip...and that was when I remembered Psalm 90:1-2.  The same God to Whom I was praying would be in Kenya, too.  In Kenya, almost halfway around the world, I would find in Him the same familiarity and the same acceptance and the same belonging I found right there in my bed.  And I wouldn't be with my precious family, but I would meet new family...precious people who love the same Dwelling-Place God I love.

So no matter where I am...a state away, or halfway around the world...

Or when I am in my home, but it's one of those times or seasons when "home sweet home" might be a little less-than-sweet...

Even there...even then...

I'll be perfectly at home.

Because GOD is my home.  GOD is my dwelling place!