Have you ever caught yourself smiling a genuine smile, and had it really stop you in your tracks?
Have you ever surprised yourself with a laugh?
I have.
It’s miraculous,
getting to know your REAL self again…
or maybe for the first time ever,
when God removes
depression,
anxiety,
grime,
and even glitter, pride, proving,
and things that shouldn’t have been on your priority list
off of you.
Over the past year, I’ve repeatedly found myself in random places, experiencing the same hard-to-put-into-words, doesn’t-make-sense feeling:
an unexpected sense of joy, “on the job”-
Feeling like I’m being filled,
even when I’m there to serve.
A feeling of being at home,
in places that aren’t my home.
A feeling of instant belonging,
in places where I would have felt
that I didn’t belong before:
at church,
at family and friends’ houses,
at our homeschool co-op
but also
at the chiropractor’s office,
at the gym,
at the veterinary clinic my friend owns
that I do social media work for
even at the grocery store
or in the school pick-up line, to get my niece, when my own kids don’t even go there anymore,
or at the small business that my mom and I clean at once a week
Home, home,
it all feels like extensions of my own home.
Today it happened again,
and I wanted to understand
what this wonderful feeling was
that has been so frequently washing over me-
So I asked Him.
“Please explain it to me, Jesus…
How is it that I am feeling so “at home” everywhere that I go?”
And He told me.
“It’s because your Home {Me, My Holy Spirit} has been going with you, everywhere you go!”
❤️❤️❤️
WOW.
That’s incredible.
Such an incredible thing to wrap your brain around.
Too big to grasp, really.
Grace that OVERFLOWS its own space.
Floods the heart and simply spills out, wherever it goes.
Not me, but the Spirit in me!
Making me feel the most wonderful hospitality, wherever we go.
〰️〰️〰️
Have you looked and looked for somewhere you can belong?
Do you long for a group of people,
or even just ONE person,
who “just gets you”,
just accepts you right where you’re at
but also believes in you enough to see the “more” that’s there too-
and can show it to you-
because maybe you don’t (see it)?
I have.
I thought that I had found it,
in the sisterhood of direct sales,
and I thought that I would lose it…
when He called me beyond that.
And I didn’t understand,
why He’d lead me to that place
and then out of it…
But now I do.
He took me from feeling rejected to accepted
He took me from seeking approval
to seeking to create a place of hospitality, where people could come to experience “approved”
And now He is taking it a step further,
telling me that I don’t need the crutch
of a thing- a certain opportunity, besides Him,
as a common-ground anymore
He’s telling me that I get to invite people in-
to an even better opportunity,
a sisterhood (and brotherhood)
that secludes no one-
it’s for the young, the old,
the gifted in not just sales-
but WHATEVER it is
that God has gifted them to be able to do,
the ones in a season
where they feel like they’re “rocking it”, 🎸
and the ones in a season
where they feel like a “rock” 🪨
has fallen on them!
HE is in me,
HE is my Home,
and He’s showing me
that hospitality goes way beyond
inviting people into our home-
for a pause from busy life-
to catch up-
which I also love.
We experience a larger-than-{this}-life
sense of receiving hospitality,
when we invite Him into our hearts,
not just as a guest,
but make Him the home-Owner of us,
make our life HIS,
Give HIM the run-of-the-house…
And I didn’t understand it,
until He just showed it to me this way-
but now that I’ve done that-
I FEEL at home wherever I am at,
because HE is wherever I am at,
providing those warm feelings
of at-home-ness.
It’s not anything magical, necessarily,
about the places I’ve been going.
(Though there are wonderful people there too, and the Spirit helps me see them the way He does, which is a joy!)
It’s not anything special about me, even,
any “glow” that can ever be seen in me
is not me.
I am simply a house,
who has emptied herself of some other things, so that He could make Himself at home in her.
And HE is the one,
who turns on the lights.
He IS The Light!
He decorates my mind with new thoughts,
He festoons my life with the most wonderful of rewards (Himself.)
〰️〰️〰️
When I used to be a bag girl, they often shared this verse.
“Give her everything she deserves! Festoon her life with praises!”- Proverbs 31:31
And they gave us the best they could, I think.
I gave my girls who were on my team the very best I could give.
But God?
He took me out of that place-
BEYOND my wildest dreams-
to show me that even those were
“Selling ourselves short.”
The best the world could give me
was everything I deserved-
whatever I worked for
and maybe a little bit more.
A taste of grace.
The best the world could give me
was praises directed at me.
But God wanted to give me something INFINITELY BETTER!
He wanted me to see that
what He gives me is
everything I D.O.N.’T deserve!
Whether I work at it too, or not,
I could never deserve the gifts I’ve received from above!
He wanted to show me that it’s ALL grace,
this life He’s given us.
It’s ALL a gift!
It’s all a job, perhaps, but it’s also all a JOY!
He wanted to give me the gift of that
beyond-the-world perspective!
He wanted to teach me-
that wayyyy better than receiving any praises-
is the gift of the opportunity
to come into His Presence
and praise HIM!
Because when we do-
we aren’t just sporadically filled-
when we have performed well and earned praises,
and we aren’t reliant upon extra “tastes of grace”- which are celebrations beyond what we deserve, {usually given to get us to perform}.
We are OVERFILLED!
He, who is at Home in us,
SPILLS His Joy out,
into our hearts!
And even though our praises of Him
weren’t for us,
we get to FEEL it!
Since He abides in us!
It’s so so so far beyond what I could have ever imagined experiencing!
Not just at home in a group,
Home {Him} ❤️, in us,
spilling out into whatever
groups we get to be a part of!
Go beyond the magical.
If you’ve already got it good (in the world)
know there is BETTER.
His plans for you aren’t just great-
they’re BEYOND all you could ask or imagine!
MIRACULOUS is what you want!
Trust me- HE is what you want!
From Full 