By: Svetlana Papazov
Story
I distinctly remember the time when I was in 5th grade and my dad was sent by his work to oversee the building of infrastructure in Asia, in Mongolia to be exact. He went away for a year and then he sent for us to join him. It took us 7 days by train to get to that far away land. I was excited that mom and I were going to be reunited with dad. The sights and sceneries were unique and exhilarating. And the feeling of seeing my dad after a yearlong separation was amazing. Few things could measure with the joy I felt. But to my surprise, shortly after our reunion, I began to feel homesick. You wouldn’t think that a child can be longing for home that much, but I did. There was a deep emotional anguish for the home that I had left. Although we were given a beautiful apartment to live in, I felt lost, displaced, and homeless. This new place didn’t feel home. My heart was yearning for my childhood home and nothing satisfied this longing till I came home again.
Similarly, the human heart is conditioned to yearn for God and him alone as our home, and it doesn’t matter where else we go in life, our hearts are not satisfied until we come into God as our true home.
Q1: What is a time that you did not feel at home?
Psalm 91:1-2 “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.”
It’s interesting that this profound statement in Psalm 90 is written by Moses, who in his entire life didn’t have a place he could actually call home.
From childhood, Moses had been setting “home” on his GPS, but his GPS was constantly re-calibrating "home.”
Moses did not feel anywhere on his earthly journey fully at home until he realized that God himself is his dwelling place and his shelter.
Moses went from a basket to the palace to the desert to the palace to the desert to his heart’s true home, God.
I'm not sure where you are in life but it’s very likely that at some time or another you felt like an exile, a total alien, an outcast a displaced person, who seemed to be invisible to the others around you. The one who feels overspent and under reciprocated, overly giving and underappreciated.
Q2: What experiences do you continue to repeat? Have you made God your home?
Moses was shaped in the repetition of his trials..
He was shaped in the repetition of his trials, but every subsequent time he entered the same place his heart was being transformed at a deeper level than before and came closer to finding his heart’s true home
Like Moses, we are shaped in our trials and are exiles, until we can come into God, the heart’s true home.
The Key to “Home” is Prayer.
Prayer is nothing more than an ongoing and growing love relationship with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
If the key to this home, this heart of God, is prayer, then Jesus is the door.
When we enter into our home, God, with the key of prayer through the door, Jesus Christ; true conversion of the heart takes place.
We pass from thinking of God as part of our life to the realization that we are part of his life.
Reflection: What is keeping you from finding your way home to God?
Prayer: God, I pray that every person reading this would find their strength and their home in you. That when they face hard times, they would look to you for comfort and peace. Amen.
Svetlana Papazov is Lead Pastor and Founder of Real Life Church, President/Founder of Real Life Center for Entrepreneurial and Leadership Excellence, a first of its kind model of church and business incubator that educates in entrepreneurship, leadership and faith praxis, and author of the book, “Church for Monday.”