This is where you belong! (Week 2, Day 2)

When my 3-year-old starts feeling tired, she says, "I want to go home." Then she curls up on my lap and goes right to sleep. It is so beautiful to be able to provide that sense of home for my daughter. Recently my best friend, Megs, related similarly how her daughter had said to her, "I am home wherever you are, Mommy." This is such a sweet sentiment from a 13-year-old. Both of these girls enjoy a sense of belonging that many yearn for.

When I met Jade, she was living in her friend's basement apartment. "If only I had a place where I did not have to do dishes in the bathtub, I would feel home," she lamented. Just a few weeks later her "dream" came true – an apartment with a kitchen sink. "If only I had a house with a garden," became her new desire. Astonishingly, she soon found an affordable house. Care to guess what she said shortly after she had settled? "If only... ." Growing up with an abusive father, Jade has never felt at home. She will always be longing for this sense of home until she discovers how God the Father satisfies this desire. God has already blessed Jade with that sense of belonging; all she needs is to let the Holy Spirit lead her into this truth. What a wonderful homecoming this will be.

Perhaps the best example of returning home and belonging is found in the parable of the prodigal son. There are actually two sons in this story and not just the “prodigal” who need a better understanding of what it means to return home and “belong.” The Father addresses the older son when He says, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours" (Luke 15:31). The older son needed a new understanding, and like him, we must first grasp what it means to be “home” before we can be set free by it.

· Read Luke 15:11-32 and ask God to give you that sense of belonging. As Neal Lozano says in his book, Abba’s Heart (page 127) "God can drop 'I belong' into your heart and overcome the lie that you will never find your place." Write your thoughts in the space below.

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· Read more about God giving us a sense of belonging in John 17:24 & 1 Peter 2:10