Longing for Home

On a wall in my dining room, there is a grouping of six frames. Five of the frames display maps of the different locations our family has lived, and the sixth frame contains this verse in a pretty, scripty font:

 For this world is not our permanent home;
we are looking forward to a home yet to come.
~Hebrews 13:14

Five years ago, we said goodbye to the home we owned and loved in Chicago and moved to the GTA—it was a return “home” for Rob and me after about 20 years. If I were to be the author of my own story, I would not have chosen to move our family three times in the past five years, but that is not the plan God had for us.  With clear hindsight vision now, I can say that His ways have indeed been good. The seeming insecurity of leasing homes rather than owning has reminded me anew that any earthly property (be it as small as the shirt on my back or as large as the roof over my head) is not something that truly belongs to me. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord (Job 1:21).

While I’ve had many days of struggling to trust Him and relinquish control, on the days when I do achieve that, there is great freedom and peace in recognizing that God provides, and I do not need to know every step of the future.

Another move is on the horizon for us in the near future, but this time it brings a new excitement as the Lord has blessed us with the opportunity to own a home again. I’m in full-on nesting mode preparing to make this house a home for many years to come. Yet at the same time, I don’t want to forget Hebrews 13:14—I don’t want to become so comfortable in my earthly home that I lose sight of the fact that this is not my permanent home. 

In John 14, Jesus tells the disciples “Do not let your hearts be troubled,” but notice what He goes on to say, giving assurance that “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? And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” Jesus has promised the hope of heaven—our eternal home, which He is preparing for us!

A place where all things are made new, where nothing will separate us from His presence, and where there will be no more tears, death, mourning, crying or pain (Revelation 21).

While I may be having some pleasure in picking out kitchen cabinets, choosing flooring and fixtures and preparing our new home, these provisions pale in comparison to the anticipation I have for my eternal home, and the divine delight that it will be to dwell there. 

My prayer is that I hold loosely to any earthly provision the Lord has granted me and find my deepest joy in the eternal gifts that He has promised.

About the Author

Becky Armstrong served as Women’s Ministry Leader at Compass Point Bible Church. She and her husband and two teenagers have attended there the past five years.

She enjoys walking with friends, making recipes from the Magnolia cookbooks, and has a newfound pandemic hobby—puzzles!