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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: HOME (02/07/19)
In my lifetime, I’ve lived many places.

As a child, I shared two rooms with my mother in Kansas. Marriage brought about many different abodes in various states, beginning with a one-bedroom apartment in Oklahoma. After living in Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, N. Carolina, Maryland, Oklahoma and then Nebraska, I thought maybe my moving days were over.

I was wrong.

No longer married, it took me two years to gather enough courage to move one more time … far away … to a place to start over. Idaho … first Nampa and then Boise.

Perhaps now I was through with the moving. But not so.

Six years after my re-marriage, he wanted to move to Washington to start a business with a friend. I fought it. No more moving. But God said, “Move”.

I moved.

Since we only planned to stay five years, we rented. After seven years of paying someone else for our shelter, we bought a house. But for me, I knew it wasn’t my last move. We could afford it, but I didn’t really like it.

I explained to my husband, “I will live here fifteen years and get this paid off. Then I want a house I like.”

The fifteen years passed. The house was paid off. We sat with a friend who also built houses and planned our dream home. It would be our home for old age. Wide halls. All on one level. And I would have the room of my own I had dreamed of for years.

It happened.

And then cancer took my beloved.

One morning I stood on the patio watching the sunrise, commiserating about my loved one missing out on the delights of this home designed just for us. But God had a thing or two to say about that way of thinking. Very clearly and gently I was corrected.

“Your beloved is enjoying the wonders of Heaven. This house is nothing compared to the splendor where he lives. So, you enjoy your time here, but you aren’t home yet.”

My perspective changed.

One day I will make my final move.

“There is plenty of room for you in my Father’s home. If that weren’t so, would I have told you that I’m on my way to get a room ready for you? And if I’m on my way to get your room ready, I’ll come back and get you, so you can live where I live.” John 14:2-3 (MSG)
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This article has been read 641 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Michael Edwards 
02/14/19
Nice job and very touching. We are Ambassadors here for Christ, this is not our home. That is a great perspective to have.
C D Swanson 
02/14/19
Thank you for sharing this vitally important message with us. This sounded authentic, if so...my condolences on your loss.

But, the message from the LORD to the MC, was so right on. This is our temporary home, and our permanent home is waiting for us, where we will share with loved ones, and most important, with the LORD!

Poignant, well written, and a touching reminder of how our lives can change in a wink of an eye.

God bless you~
Jennifer Woodley 
02/15/19
Great piece of writing. I liked the way you included short sentences, for variation. Thank you for sharing. God bless.
Jude Harris 
02/15/19
I liked the sentences that headed the new phase of life. The "but you aren't home yet." struck me powerfully. Great message.
Barbara Culler 
02/16/19
What a poignant story! Your first paragraph was a bit confusing to me. About marriage and moving- at first, I thought it was your mother's marriage, but then realized it was your own. Your story proves the point that home is where the heart is.
Bonnie Kronberger 
02/22/19
Joy, love to hear your stories. Such a bitter sweet memory; a home for you to share with your loved one. Yes, this is not our home and the Lord teaches us how to find joy and rest in Him.

I too am in my house without my husband, since he has to be in skilled nursing care. I don’t think he will every return to our earthly home but we still have sweet times together, singing to the Lord. Our hope of heaven is very real.

Praying God’s blessing over you and that you will be comforted by His Spirit.