Thoughts on Home

God had to really work on my heart for a couple months to make me okay with staying in Mexico, because I was longing for home.

During that time, He lead me to verses such as these:

And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. Matt. 19:29 (echoed in Mark 10:28-30 and Luke 18:28-30 as well)

Matt. 10:37-38 “Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

Heb. 11:8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

He also showed me that if i want to work with immigrants or refugees in the future, part of my preparations for making them feel welcome is to rely on the hospitality of others far away from home for another year.

Some of the questions I really wrestled through during this time were: What is home? What makes home, home? Is it the people? Or is it the memories? How much is timeless and how much is subject to change? To what lengths ought one to go to avoid change and maintain the status quo?

And is the ultimate good in life just to stay within my comfort zone? Just to live at home all my life? As I worked through these ideas, I realized that having a wonderful, loving home prepared me for ministry, but that I couldn't just hoard all of the treasures that He has designed to be shared with others (see the song at the end of this post). I'm not a child anymore, so the dynamic that I remember so fondly won't be the same. Nostalgia colors things and it can be pleasant to look back on the "good old days" but I can miss a lot of what God has planned for my present and future by living in the past and trying to recreate it. I need to concentrate on healthy ways that the past can be incorporated into my present situation to which God is calling me.

This song really summarizes a lot of my thoughts throughout this whole process of following God into the unknown of next year out of gratitude for what He has done for me, and a trust in who He is. I hope that it is an encouragement to you as well:

No Sacrifice, by Jason Upton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxw3z-oD7ZE