Hey sis, it was my birthday yesterday. I had an absolutely fabulous
time, my children made sure of that….gifts, a spa session, dinner, icecream
cake (chocolate flavored with brownie toppings and chocolate crunch inside…
slurp!). Added icing on the cake was having another equally fabulous chocolate
cake delivered to me, with love from my husband who is back home in Nigeria. We
had kinda made peace with the fact that we would celebrate when I got back so I
was not expecting that. I simply
burst into tears! Love that guy, I truly do!
Err… did I hear you say something about chocolate, cake,
chocolate cake, and hip-size? When I am regaling you about my husby’s romantic
gesture? Wwhhaaattt? You didn’t go there did you sis? I know you didn’t, lol. Focus
on the gestures of love and not on the calories, sis. Understood? Good girl! Now,
where was I?
Ah! Yes. As I sat down to my morning coffee, I looked over
my apartment and thought, ‘Wow, I’ve
truly become one of those people with two-homes’. Literally! What am I on
about? Well, time was in my life when I couldn’t at all relate with anyone
living in one country and then maintaining a home in another. It didn’t make
sense. That’s what hotels were for, I thought. Over time I came to understand it
from an investment point of view, but I neither knew how to go about making
such investments nor had the money to. Ultimately, this just kind of lost
relevance in the scheme of things, in the day-to-day of doing life and certainly
in the place of my maturing over time to where I had no mental real estate
allocated to the more-than-one-home conversation. It was not part of my reality
and that was that! Where am I going with this? Patience, sis. You’ll see.
The journey to how I have ended up with two homes is a topic
for another day but suffice to say it made and still makes economic sense. Can I
confess that I had to repent for some of the silly things I’d said anywhere
between fifteen to twenty years ago regarding having a second home? Oh, I did,
sis. I sure did! I finally got it, you see. Yeah, I don’t doubt that there are
those who have homes overseas simply because of the impression it makes on the joneses, but I know now that there are more
who simply put on a practical cap and got on with their new reality. With my
children schooling overseas, the attendant
costs for residency and meal plans, coupled with the foreign exchange
rates, it simply makes economic sense. This morning though, I wasn’t sitting
and marveling at the economics of my second home, but more so at the journey. I
was reflecting on how my husband and I started out practically squatting with a
friend of ours in her one bedroom, and how the Lord has brought us to where
among other, we own the home we live in back in Nigeria, as well as this one. God
has been beyond faithful sis, He certainly has! He is so good like that.
It was in the place of an intense surge of gratitude that
the Lord dropped it in my spirit, ‘You’ve
always had another home’. It was quiet, it was deep, and as I reflected on
this, I saw that it was and is also quite true. Sis, I have always had another
home, as have you. Even when we had a borrowed roof over our head, we had a
home! We are in this world but not of it. This is God’s word to us, right? Praise
God for Jesus, sis. Praise God for loving us so much as to send Jesus to die
for us. This is our access card! This is the unbreakable heavenly tenancy agreement
sealed in His Blood! This is our stamp of ownership, our title deed….Heaven’s
consent to our piece of eternity! Halleluyah!
What a good time to be reminded about this, sis. I was speaking
with my sister who turns 50 in another couple of days and she’d shared that someone
close to her kept telling her to stop letting people know her true age. She’d
refused and told him to go check how many of their age mates had already died. She
has life, breath and so much to be thankful to God for, so she certainly wasn’t
going to color His goodness over her life by hiding her age. I so got it, sis. I
am as grateful for every single one of my 48years as I am for every single gray
hair on my head. It’s simply a testimonial of God’s abundance in my life and I am
honored to make boast in Him for the life He has given me. Thank You Lord!
My life, sis. My LIFE! My birthday was a celebration of life
here on earth, but the whisper in my spirit about my other home was God saying
to me that He celebrates me also by reminding me who I truly am. It was God
telling me He is pleased with my journey in this realm but asking me not to
forget my true home. Sis, this reflection this morning was the Holy Spirit calling
me back to the place of spiritual focus. It was Him reminding me that whether I
have one home, two or even more in this world, the only home that matters is my
true eternal home….a home I have had since the day I gave my life fully to
Christ. Halleluyah!
I’ve always had two homes, sis. The physical ones I have
lived in here on earth…and my heavenly home, so have you. This is such a
comfort to my soul. I am reminded as I reflect on the love and joy from
yesterday, that there is an immeasurable love and unfathomable joy that awaits
me when I finally transition from this realm back to the arms of the Father. I am
again grateful this morning for my hope and future, for my sure expectation of
an eternity with God. I am reminded of mercy that triumphs over judgement. I am
reminded of love that does not deal with me according to my sin and failings. I
bask afresh in a love, grace and mercy that transcends all my errors. I am
expectant again that one day I will be called back into my eternal home where
the fullness of who my spirit man is will truly find full expression, will find
rest, will find joy.
Sis, the Lord would have me ask you today to look past that
which is your physical earthly home…no matter how beautiful or drab, big or
small it might be. He is asking that you take a few minutes today to be grateful
that you have another home… an eternal home, a more excellent home, a more beautiful
home…the only home that truly counts in the scheme of things. He is asking that
you reflect on the completeness that awaits you there. He is asking that
whatever your earthly achievements and struggles, you never lose sight of the
fact that He has a prepared place for you…that you are one of the privileged
few that will make it home in the end… that He has loved you and will always
love you on and through your journey
back home.
Keep your eyes steadfastly on the eternal, sis. That is His message
for us today. Keep your eyes on Jesus. Stay in alignment with God’s word, His
will and His way. Let Him come first in your thoughts, your words, your decisions
and your actions. Let His glory be your highest desire. Let your focus be on
your true home, sis. We are literally just walking through this world, it is not
our home. I pray the Holy Spirit will help you constantly keep this reality in
the forefront of your daily life and walk, even as surely as He is helping me. We
will make it home, sis. By the grace, power, mercy and love of God we will!
Be blessed sis….for you surely are!
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