Home

Home.

Home is where your family always cares and always loves.

Home is where your dog will run to the door to greet you even though you have only been gone for a few minutes.

Home is where you can find rest and comfort in your family and your friends.

Home is where your church will take care of you in a time of need.

Home is where people care enough to say, “How are you today?”

Home is where your friends write you spontaneously just to tell you they care.

Home is where you make new friends and keep the old.

Home is encouraging and comforting.

Home is where you belong.

Home is where your mother will hold you after a hard day.

Home is where your brother will tell you that you are beautiful, even if you only have on jeans and a sweatshirt.

Home is where friends ask you to go ice skating, even though you don’t really belong with their group.

Home is where your sister holds you while you cry over the trials of life.

Home is where your father congratulates you on a scholarship to the college of your choice.

Home is where you can dance at any time in any place.

Home is where you can curl up with a cup of tea and your Bible and seek God’s wisdom.

Home is forever.

Home is unconditional.

This is not my home.

My home is in heaven.

At home, I will not have tears.

At home, I won’t have to take medication for my uncontrollable pain.

At home, I won’t need my Bible…I can get it straight from the mouth of my Savior.

At home, I will have countless friends who love and care for me, but most of all worship the same Savior as I do.

At home, I will have my church around me; my church will worship at the feet of Jesus.

At home, I can dance for my Lord with sweet abandon, and not worry about what others think.

At home, I will be made a new creation, and won’t need to be told I’m beautiful.

At home, I will have a host of angels cheering me through the Gates of Heaven and showing me my name in the Book of Life.

At home, there is eternal peace and love.

At home, I am safe and secure.

At home, I can bow at the feet of my Jesus and praise his name forever.

This is home.

“But they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews 11:16

The Presence of Him

It made me shiver. I was awestruck, scared, and yet very happy. I lifted my hands in worship and just stood there for the entire song wondering what I should do. I felt like I had a choice. I could jump from my ledge of security and take that one step into the completely foreign world of wonder, or I could take a step back and hold onto the familiar.

That was the first time that I had felt God’s presence with absolute certainty. There was no doubt in my mind that God was lifting me in His arms and holding me close to His heart. He was trying to tell me something, but He was asking me to first trust Him completely.

I seriously was about to fall over with the amazement that wracked my body. I was in absolute awe at what I was experiencing, and wanted to just stand still and stay there forever. The decision God was asking me to make left thoughts churning in my head. I wondered what I should do, and I once again felt a gentle nudge from God telling me in no uncertain words that He wanted me to leap into His arms with no doubt left in my body.

This decision was one I have been holding back from for a very long time. I was comfortable where I was in my little bubble, and didn’t want anything to change. Lately, though, I have felt God nudging me toward a deeper relationship with Him.
For a long time, I prayed my normal, rote prayer (“Thank you for this day and for everything you’ve given me. Please help this person and that person…”), and even skimmed my Bible instead of studied it. About six months ago, however, I made the decision to try to work as hard as possible to further my relationship with Jesus.
It was not easy for me to make some of the changes that I did, but it has overall been a wonderful thing.

When I went to church and felt God’s all-consuming presence, I knew that He was pleased with my efforts. I knew that God wanted me to keep drawing closer to Him. I knew that God was there, and that He wanted me to leap off my ledge of comfort and fall into His arms. There was no doubt in my mind that God was there, and I felt like God was confirming my faith over and over again.

That experience has changed something inside me. I no longer want to stay comfortable; I want to spread the love of God so that others may have an experience like that, too. If only I could make people feel God in the way that I did, I am sure even the strongest atheist could believe in my Lord.

So jump off that ledge! Don’t take time to analyze what will happen, just do it! God will catch you in the arms that created the universe. All you have to do is take that first step. He loves you, and will not let you fall. I hope one day you can have an experience like I did. It is amazing and scary at the same time, but I would not trade that one moment for all the chocolate in the world. But my story is not over.

There were so many emotions running through my body, making my fingers tingle and my arms shake a little while raised in worship. I decided to take that step toward the unknown, and I was no longer afraid to do it. As I leapt off my ledge, I could feel God catching me. In that amazing moment, I heard the God of the universe say four words that have resonated throughout my entire being since that experience. All He had to say to me was summed up in those four words, and I have the need to find proof that He exists. I am absolutely certain now, that He is there in heaven and on earth. And that amazing revelation was summed up in four words. Those words were, “Molly, I love you.”

One Foot Out

Almost two years ago, I attended a mother and daughter retreat with some wonderful people from my church. My mom and I were excited to go, and anxious to learn something new. We had read the description of the retreat online, and decided that it sounded like a great idea. We drove to Denver with some friends, excitedly speaking of what we were expecting out of the retreat. I often have expectations that never work out the way I had planned, and this is one of those times. We arrived for the first evening of lessons, and were sadly disappointed with what we saw. There were hundreds of teenage girls not even bothering to sit with their moms, even though it was supposed to be a mother/daughter event. This saddened both my mother and me, but we did realize that our relationship is not usual, so we didn’t think much more about it. When the speakers began to talk and tell about some very serious subjects, our hearts broke even more. The speakers may have said that they were passionate about spreading the love of God, but they seemed to make every subject easier to do nothing about. The speakers gave talks that centered a lot around worldly problems and they even gave some worldly answers. One of the speakers even used the Lord’s name in vain several times! They did several giveaways, and the screaming of hundreds of teen girls scrabbling to get the best prize was excruciatingly annoying. It was honestly hard to tell if it was a Christian conference or a mad house.

Although this experience was a long time ago, it still burdens my heart. I went to this conference hoping to learn more about Jesus and how to encourage a great relationship with my mom, but instead I got only eye-candy for the world. It was very hard to learn something from people who you definitely don’t want to be like! The girls there were not eager to learn about God, but only to get a cool prize or the latest CD. They seemed to have forgotten completely the reason for going to a conference about God, and the speakers seemed to have been disillusioned by the world’s charms.

I kept wondering throughout the whole conference if these people had never heard John 15:19? Had they never heard that we are supposed to be in the world but not of it? I was horrified that a Christian conference could be taken in by the world and Satan’s disguising tactics.

Jesus tells us that he has chosen us to be out of the world, not of it! This means that we must set ourselves apart from Satan’s worldly ploys that take in so many Christians every day. We must make a conscious choice to stay separate from the things that are so easy to make a part of our daily lives. It is not easy, but we will be rewarded for it.

It is interesting that we obviously have one foot here on earth for a short time, and yet we still have one foot in the heavens. God lets us reside on earth for any number of years no matter whether we live for Him or for ourselves. God could easily force us to serve Him, but He gives us that choice. God puts us here on earth so that we can bring glory to Him. Therefore, we must have one foot in the world (but not of it), and one foot in Heaven (but not of it until the day of our death). If we choose not to glorify God, then our eternal punishment with far outweigh the pleasure we may have experienced here on earth.

Although it is sad that so many people have two feet planted firmly into the world, we cannot sit idly by and do the same thing. We must get off our worldly cushions and glorify God through all that we have.