As everyone in North Alabama and surrounding areas can testify, the last few weeks have been crazy. The tornadoes caused devastation in physical and emotional ways, but I think that in a lot of ways it was a spiritual awakening. With no electricity, everyone had to rely on their own wits and rely on the Lord to reveal a way to survive. With no power, we sought the higher power.
In the midst of the situation, there were several moments where a thought sprang up in my mind: “I want to go home.” Seeing how I was already at home, this recurring thought baffled me a little bit. It was like the little girl inside of me had this longing for comfort and peace. I finally realized that the home that I was referring to was not my family/physical home but my spiritual home. Let us not forget that we are merely visitors on earth; our true home is in heaven with God the Father. We are not bodies with spirits; we are spirits with bodies. Our spirits cry out for their eternal homes!
However what we are doing here on earth is preparing for our permanent homes. The Lord is preparing a place for us, but are we doing what we can here on earth to ensure that He has what he needs to prepare this home for us? Obviously the first step is accepting Jesus as our Lord. Honestly, this is a step that must be taken daily – “I am not in charge, Lord, you are. I cannot save myself, Lord – you save me.” We can become absolutely complacent with the fact that “Yes, I know Jesus as my Lord and Savior,” but do we ever stop to think about what this means? Am I surrendering my day-to-day living and breathing to him… if not, I may NOT actually know Him as my savior.
What flows out of this relationship is compassion which leads to action. The church has stepped up with great authority and compassion these past few weeks. We are moving out of what God has planted in our hearts. We have been rebuilding lives and rebuilding homes, meanwhile Christ is building and preparing our homes in heaven. It’s as if every thing we do in His name here on earth is translated into building materials for him in heaven. Does that sound cheesy? Oh well, I don’t care… that’s how I picture it! Haha
Meanwhile let us all remember that our spirits are crying out that they want to go home, so we must do all we can to make sure there will be a place, by surrendering our lives daily, even moment by moment, to His sovereignty!
