There is no place like home...home should be a place of safety and comfort...a place where you can totally be yourself and know you are still loved despite your flaws. Home is more than just a place we live, but it is the place we feel loved. Home may mean different things to different people. Take a minute to stop and think about when you feel most at home, most comfortable and most free to be yourself.
I feel most at home among close friends!
Like a good, good Father...God is calling YOU home. He is drawing you back to himself with tender-love and kindness. It is his kindness that leads us to repentance. I think of the prodigal son who took his portion of inheritance and ran off far away from home. He rebelled and chose to waste his money in wild living. Eventually, he came to the end of himself when all was said and done. He ran out of resources and he ran out of love. Those temporary pleasures ended up leaving him high and dry. He was starving and tired. More than anything, he was hungry for love....eternal love.
Luke 15:20
"So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a
long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with
love and compassion, he ran to his son,
embraced him and kissed him"
I love this part of the story. Eventhough his son was far away from home, he never stopped hoping for his return. He was there waiting with open arms, ready to embrace his son and bring him home again. It is easy to feel like we have done too much wrong that it could never be made right...that maybe in some way shap or form we are simply a lost cause. Some reading this may feel like they are too far from home...too far from God...maybe you once had a relationship with Him but have walked away from your faith. It is not too late and you are not too far from home. Like the father of the prodigal son, our God is a good Father waiting for our return every time we stray.
and family...sister-sister!
Hosea 11:8
"Oh, how can I give you up Israel?
How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like
Admah or demolish you like Zebolim?
My heart is torn within me,
my compassion overflows"
The heart of God for every one of us is a heart of compassion that overflows. Before I developed a true, intimate relationship with the Lord, I saw him to be some distant, far off judge who was ready to come down on me anytime I messed up. I learned over time that God doesn't always approve of my decisons, but he always approves of me and who I am in Him. As I read through Hosea 11, it was like reading a story of my own life - like Israel, I was doing my own thing and living my own ways. I was far from home. But God did not give up on me, and He will not give up on you either. We all have some messy parts in ourselves that need some TLC. You are loved and God is calling you home!
Hosea 11:11
"Like a flock of birds, they will come from Egypt.
Trembling like doves they will return from Assyria.
And I will bring them home again"
Xoxo,
Beth
and more friends!
