Homesick at Home

Homesick at Home

Ever since I was a little girl, a slightly desperate and always nauseating feeling would at times engulf me. It took me a while to name it. It felt like that awful week of Girl Scout camp. But how could I feel homesick even when I was at home?!?

How could I feel homesick when I was at home?!? Click To Tweet

There are many blessings that have come with the awfulness of my mood disorder. Not the least of which is my understanding that life here is small. We are finite. This world is temporary. There is so much more beyond what we know or understand.

Some of it is ugly. Dark. So dark. Overwhelming. How can we possibly overcome all that darkness?

We all know evil exists. That it destroys and kills. But do we face it? Defeat it?

Bigger than the evil that thrives in darkness and disguises itself as light, is the Light, the Good.

God is bigger. God is stronger.

We have a choice. To spend eternity in darkness and pain. Or in light, joy, and peace.

Sometimes it’s such a relief to remember this world is not my home, that it’s not all there is. It’s not the best there is.

This world is not my home. It's not all there is. It's not the best there is. Click To Tweet

Along with the blessing of eternity with God, comes the blessing of freedom to live more, here and now.

You know that a price was paid to redeem you from following the empty ways handed to you by your ancestors; it was not paid with things that perish (like silver and gold), but with the precious blood of the Anointed, who was like a perfect and unblemished sacrificial lamb. God determined to send Him before the world began, but He came into the world in these last days for your sake. Through Him, you’ve been brought to trust in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him for the very reason that your faith and hope are in Him.

1 Peter 1:18-21

A high price was paid. For YOU. You can trust the God who always knew and will always have a plan. Despite the darkness. In Him, your future is secure.

And in Him, you do not have to live an empty life.

Christ’s blood sets us free from the emptiness we inherit as the descendants of Adam and Eve.

It’s up to us to live in that freedom.

Since the One who called you is holy, be holy in all you do. For the Scripture says, “You are to be holy, for I am holy.” If you call on the Father who judges everyone without partiality according to their actions, then you should live in reverence and awe while you live out the days of your exile.

1 Peter 1:15-17

It's up to us to live in the freedom Christ purchased with His blood. Click To Tweet

This. world. is. NOT. my. HOME.

And I’m good with that. Most of the time. But when I’m confused and just want things to be easier or more comfortable, it at least makes my awkwardness and discomfort, and my seemingly random homesickness, make sense.

While this world is not my home, and I know that in Christ I have so much to look forward to, more and better than my limited mind can imagine, I have to remember I don’t live in emptiness any more. Empty acts, words, thoughts, are my choice. 

To live a full life, I need to choose to live the life for which I’ve been redeemed, the life to which I am called.

Now that you have taken care to purify your souls through your submission to the truth, you can experience real love for each other. So love each other deeply from a pure heart. You have been reborn–not from seed that eventually dies but from seed that is eternal–through the word of God that lives and endures forever. For as Isaiah said:

All life is like the grass, and its glory like a flower;
The grass will wither and die, and the flower falls,
But the word of the Lord will endure forever.

This is the word that has been preached to you.

1 Peter 1:22-25

What to Do when You Feel Homesick at HomeSo, how about you?

Have you heard the enduring word and accepted its Truth? Do you know this life is finite, and the world to come, with Him in light or apart from Him in darkness, is eternal? Are you living in faith and hope for the life to come? Are you living in reverence and awe, submitting to the truth and being purified to love others and live a full life in freedom?

All Scripture taken from The Voice New Testament

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Grace & Truth Weekly Christian Link-UpThis post is part of the Grace & Truth Link-Up.

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8 thoughts on “Homesick at Home”

  1. Melinda, this is a powerful post, and one that has so much hope for people in all walks of life during these times. I heard a song just today with this powerful line: “I am home anywhere if You are where I am.” Yes, it’s true that we’ll never be fully at home in this world because we are citizens of a far better Home. But isn’t it wonderful that we take the very best Part of that Home with us everywhere we go, in the form of the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ? How good He is to give us that “deposit” – that assurance that one day our faith will indeed be sight. Thank you for sharing this with us at Grace & Truth. I’m honored to feature this post at A Divine Encounter on Friday.
    Jennifer Clarke recently posted…Inward Beauty Through the Word ~ Grace & Truth (Week 72)My Profile

  2. I do relate to n occasional gnawing feeling of homesickness… even when I am in the walls of my earthly dwelling. Usually this feeling is a signal to me that my focus is in the wrong place, on the wrong things… temporal and earthly things. Or worse, my focus is solely on me me me… more often than I’d like to confess on POOR me me me 🙂
    I have learned that this “malady” is because I have released my grasp on the truth that only what God has allowed comes in to my life. I have neglected to thank God in ALL things knowing that He has a purpose for whatever He has allowed in. Some things come from outside of myself and God allows them to teach me, grow me, make me aware of my need to cling to Him and other times things are in my life as a direct result of my own human choices. He allows them to draw me to an awareness of my own powerlessness apart from Him. My spiritual condition dictates if I will embrace the lesson or fall in to the slump of homesickness… for me better known as soul sickness.
    I cannot survive on yesterday’s time with God, I need my daily bread to sustain spiritual wholeness. I dare not rest on the laurels of past victories because my enemy is a roaring lion always at the ready to devour my peace, joy and security found in a vital and alive connection to my Creator God and Savior Jesus Christ.
    Tools such as your blog are great ways to help me refocus and do a quick inventory of my spiritual condition. Thanks once again for the food for thought that nourishes the inner man if and when I take part 🙂
    God bless you ABUNDANTLY and fill you with blessing awareness!!!

  3. It’s so nice to read I’m not the only one. I’ve had this feeling almost my entire life and often wondered why. I too now realise this is not our home. Our place is with Jesus and His Kingdom. Thank you for sharing!

  4. I find it very hard some days to get my mind on the fact that this isn’t all there is. It’s so strange because sometimes I KNOW that there’s way more in store and this is nothing and then other days it’s so hard to get out of the moment. I think that’s where time in God’s Word really plays into my life. I need to give Him time so I can feel His presence because when He’s present, I couldn’t care less about anything else!

    • YES! The importance of God’s Word! Even when I’m feeling “homesick” and longing for something more, I can just get stuck in the misery of being out of place. I forget to invite Him into each moment…

  5. Great post! One of my favorite songs is Beulah Land and the haunting line, “I’m kind of homesick for a country to which I’ve never been before.” I’m homesick! Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

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