My Dwelling Place

I have to leave my home of 18 years.

Our family home.

The place our kids grew up.

This is harder than I ever imagined it would be.

I am not good at sorting, throwing away memories.  I liked the memories all packed away in bins on the basement shelves.  But you pay the movers per pound, per mile.  At that rate, over 775 miles, you can't afford to keep all those precious third grade journals and kindergarten hand-prints in clay.

I loved living in this house.  It's mine.  It's the kitchen and the back deck that I designed, the tile and the carpet and the paint colors that I picked out.  It's my rose bush that survived despite ridiculous odds.

I have to move to a new home, one I have never seen.

Today the Lord finally spoke to me as I read my Bible.  It is so strange how I can read my Bible day after day, sometimes the very same passages, and then one day, God speaks.

     Psalm 90:1-2
Lord, You have been our dwelling place
     throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born
     or You brought forth the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting You are God.

God is helping and comforting me (Psalm 86:17).   This passage gives me two truths to hold tight.

Truth #1:
God is my dwelling place.  God is my home.  He will never leave me or forsake me.  No matter where I go, God will always be with me.  Nothing can separate me from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus my Lord.  God is my dwelling place.

Truth #2:
And I say this with a hint of humor, but it really helps as one is going through things, as one faces the necessity of throwing away perfectly good stuff simply because it is not cost effective to move it...  It's all going to burn.  It's all going to burn.  Everything I own will one day be burned up to nothing, and the only thing left will be the Everlasting God who will then bring forth new heavens and a new earth for the ones who love Him. From everlasting to everlasting, we who belong to Him will spend eternity with Him, and none of this earthly stuff will matter, not one little bit, not the photo albums or the computer drive, the tiffany lamps or even the books.   It's all going to burn.

God is God, and it's going to be OK.