Though I was born in the big city of Tucson, Arizona, I now reside in a small town in North Alabama. I remember what it felt like when I had to say goodbye to my childhood surroundings. I still remember the familiarity of comfort and the discomfort of a move to a new place. Although I had been to Alabama before to visit, moving to it was a different feeling for me. When we moved away from Arizona and left behind all the memories and people that I knew, it was then that I felt that longing for “home.”
It took me a while to adjust to the move and to my new location. Since then, moving has become intertwined in my life. When your family is in the ministry, it just becomes part of your story. Making relationships in a new location and trying to find a way to settle into a new “nest” while assisting my family in adapting has always been a challenge. Most people I have known stay in the same location for the duration of their lives, and saying goodbye to their home is not something that they have experienced. But I have found this to be something the Lord has used to remind me that I may have held things like a house and a location too tightly in my grip. Corrie Ten Boom is quoted as saying, “Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise, it hurts when God pries your fingers open.” That quote is a deeply impactful reminder that when I have put things like this to be of more importance in my life that I need to redirect my focus to what really matters and what will never fade away-my relationship with Jesus!
Through the many moves I have experienced, there have been times I have felt like a “traveling gypsy”. It is in this that I have realized that the longer I am on this earth, the more I long for my Heavenly Home. Pain, suffering, conflict, strife, and all the other struggles that come with this fallen world have me looking for a day when there will no longer be these concerns.
In Revelation 21:4-5 it speaks of that day,
4 “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” 5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
What an amazing thing to look forward to! A place where we will be with Jesus Christ, and we will also see the ones who have gone before us, those who have put their faith and trust in Him.
In John 14:6, Jesus is speaking with the Disciples about the place He is preparing for them
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Jesus is so patient in His explanation to His disciples, yet it reminds us. If we want to go to the place He has prepared for us, we must confess that He is the only way! He is not one of many ways, but THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE! No one can come unless they come through Him and His atoning sacrifice. He paid the way for us by dying on the cross, was buried, and rose again three days later. All of this was so we could receive the gift of eternal life with Him and through Him. Praise the name of JESUS for making the way for heaven to be our home!
As I mentioned earlier, that longing for a home where it will all be made right and new is what I look forward to. This world is not my home, and there will be a day when all my earthly suffering will be wiped away.
9 But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
1 Corinthians 2:9
Amanda Patterson
Lean into Jesus Ministries
#amandapattersonblogs
