I felt very fortunate to be at home with my family, including two cute baby cousins to keep us all entertained. I never want to take family gatherings for granted, because each time there is a different group. Over the years we have had new people come, and others who can’t come anymore because they moved away, passed away or drifted away. Soon I will be the one who isn’t there for some of those gatherings as I prepare to move back to Zimbabwe. One thing never seems to change. Love and laugher are always present at our table. It is home to me.
I h
ad the chance to travel to a few groups and churches throughout March and meet some wonderful people who have joined in supporting the HOPE project. At one stop, I was able to stay with a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time. As we were making fajitas in her kitchen, I noticed a sign above her stove that read, “Home is Where They Love You.”It made me start thinking about where my real home is…certainly my family back in West Virginia loves me, so that must be my home. Then I remembered the faces of my children in Zimbabwe. Their love is so easily seen in the smiles and hugs and laughter. But, just like my family group is always changing and reshaping itself, my community in Zimbabwe changes too. New children come to the orphanage, some pass away, and others have to move away. Through these changes, it is still home to me because there is so much love present.
Home is n
ot so much about bricks and mortar, but about the relationships we have. How can we feel safe in these relationships if they are always changing and reshaping? There is one place we can call home that is forever constant. God never changes. He was with us when no one had yet thought of us on earth, He is with us today and every day no matter what city, state, or continent we wake up in, and He is the one Who will walk with us from this life into the next. Some of you reading this may be very fortunate to have many places you could call home, many places where you are loved. There may be times for each of us when we don’t feel there is any place we can really go and feel at home. But we can be assured that God will always be our constant and consistent home. "Home is where they love you" (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and every morning we are willing to wake up and look to Him, there is a resounding "Welcome home!"“Lord, You have been our dwelling place throughout all generations.” Psalm 90:1
