"A PLACE TO BELONG"

The weather globally has been crazy to watch the past several months. Powerful hurricanes, tornadoes in November, thousands left homeless.

Others globally are on the move because of war or famine.  Many are without a place to belong…

Right now there are about 42 million displaced people in the world.   One in every 170 persons in the world has been uprooted by war.  This is the largest category of vulnerable people in the world.  Of the world’s 12 million or so refugees, about 3.2 million are in Africa.  80 percent of the world's refugees are women and children who are more vulnerable to their unstable conditions. (from the International Rescue Committee)

 

Being displaced or out of place is not easy or comfortable. 

I know in recent days, as I’ve prayerfully tried to look for the definite next door God would have me move through, the feeling of being displaced has been there. Where do I belong? Where is my best fit?

Have you ever felt displaced? Do you feel that way now?

Maybe a job change or transition has left you idle…

Maybe you’ve been left alone in or stranded by a relationship…

Maybe you’re just not fitting where you are…

Maybe a storm has displaced you…

Or a sin…

You’re out of place for whatever reason. And it’s not a comfortable feeling.

I was in a busy mall recently and sat down to observe the madness of the holiday season.  There was hustle and bustle.  I felt culture shocked and completely out of place.  I wondered how many others felt the same. 

Observing the holiday madness and thinking about the displacement of so many globally…has made me feel some sadness. But then Jesus, our Savior and King, keeps coming to my mind.  Did He know the feeling of displacement? Of being out of place?

Absolutely!

Even before He was born, Jesus’ parents couldn’t find a proper place for his birth .

Luke 2:3-7

…everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth.  And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

PIC

Jesus spent a large part of his childhood as a refugee in Egypt. 

And throughout His life, He struggled with the feeling of being out of place.  Listen to how He was described…

Isaiah53:2-5

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering….Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows…He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds, we are healed.

THANKFULLY, because of Jesus- our ultimate displacement (the separation from God because of sin) wasn’t the end of our story.  Jesus made a way for us to be together with God by the sacrifice of His life.

My place, my security, is now forever with God.  When I’m feeling displaced, I can be encouraged in remembering that I DO HAVE A PLACE TO BELONG, it’s with God. His hand in in my mine on the journey home.

I’m so grateful for the journey with Him.  In looking back, it has led through continents… islands and mountains and valleys, has held laughter and tears and joy and pain.  He's been with me the whole time. Through ups and downs and falls and triumphs.  He' with me, with us!!!!

As we go into this Christmas countdown, I’m remembering so much of the journey and the great promises we’ve been given. I have a place to belong. You, we, have a place to belong! It’s not a geographical location, it’s a place that’s part of a family, a story- God’s.  How incredible!

1 Peter 2:9-10

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy

Deuteronomy 8: 2-11

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.  He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.  Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.  Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him.  For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.  When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day

Isaiah 43:1-2

But now, this is what the Lord says—He who created you, Jacob, He who formed you, Israel:  “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze

John 14:17-19

…you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.   I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live

Deuteronomy 4:31

For the Lord your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors

Matthew 10:28-30

Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!” “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel  will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life.

Hebrews 11:8-10

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.  By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.  For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

John 14:1-3

“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.  If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

Psalm 84

How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young—a place near your altar, Lord Almighty, my King and my God. Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage. They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion. 

1 Peter 1:3-4

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you

Matthew 28:20

I am with you always…to the very end…

I’m so grateful for our Jesus!  May we remember Him and celebrate Him this Christmas season and always! 

Onward, for Him and by Him and with Him as the journey continues!

Prayer Requests

-Please keep our family in prayer through the holidays, for good health and joy as we spend the remaining weeks together.  My sister returns to the Czech Republic in early January.

-Please pray for doors opening in 2014…that God will show me His best way and give me courage to jump into the next place.  More on that soon…

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I'm so grateful for each of you!