Home is Where HIS Heart is...

I remember the day Curtis shared his dreams of ministry with me. We were close to marriage and talking about our future together. 

“I want to live where I’m serving.” He said. “I don’t want to be on the outskirts. I want to do life with the people in my community.”

He spoke of sleeping on the streets with the homeless. He talked about moving to a low-income neighborhood where crime rates are high, where the need for love is great, and where the grace of God would be displayed brightly in everyday life…

Then he asked me if I was willing to join him.

“Yes.” I replied.

At the time, I wasn’t as enthusiastic as he was about all of it. I guess I was afraid of the unknown. Still, I told him I was willing to go wherever God called us. 

Fast-forward about four years. Now we’ve been married 3 ½ years and we’ve moved five times in obedience. On any given day, our past few dwelling places had the same underlying feeling to me: temporary. It’s hard to get comfy when you know you aren’t going to stay long. 

At one point, when I was feeling really unsettled, I longed for a place to call home. I shared my emotions with God. I told Him I wanted a place to nest, a place to stay… a forever home. I grew to dislike the uncertain feeling that came with unpacking over and over again.

In God’s faithfulness and incomparable comfort, He spoke to me clear as day.

“My heart is your home.”

Wow. I began to repeat that out loud, as if to minister to my own soul with His promise…

“Thank you God. Your heart is my home.”

Then I realized that if the above is true, I am always at home when I am in God’s will. Anything outside of His will is a miserable place to live. {Believe me. I’ve tried it. Not fun.} If God’s heart is to move us to California, that is home. If His heart is to move us to China, then that is home. If His heart is to move us to Africa, that is home. I have moved eighteen times in my twenty-eight years of life. And if He calls us to move again, I’m holding onto this special truth:

Home is where His heart is.

I find His heart, when I see the hungry people of Richmond standing in line on Saturday mornings, waiting for a free breakfast. I find His heart in the smiles and grateful tears of the African Sweetwater Girls; when I hear their stories of redemption. I find His heart when we gather to pray for salvation, freedom, and healing for the families in our new city. I find His heart when I reminisce on the dreams of ministry He planted in Curtis’ mind before we were married. And I find His heart as I now live the reality of those dreams... when I drive the streets of a city that needs His love as desperately as I do. 

Though we’ve had fun painting, decorating and settling into our cozy, little, California home, I’m reminded daily that the walls surrounding us and everything in them are not everlasting. They’re only temporary. Yet Christ has provided an eternal home for us to settle in each day. It’s a place of refuge,  rest, and safety; a place of peace, acceptance, provision, satisfaction, joy and love. It's His presence. And it’s not just for us. It’s for every believer! I have finally found my forever home, and I invite you to join me in it… in the heart of our Creator. Home is where His heart is.  Now I can nest!

Have you ever searched for a place to belong? Have you ever imagined settling in a dream home? There’s room for YOU in Him! :)  Come find your place with God, and settle there. {John 15:4-11}

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - Matthew 6:19-21

Finally Settling,

Monique Zackery

P.S. I figured some of you would like to check out our new place, so... photos in this post from top to bottom: 1. Our kitchen window seal - looking out to our new, favorite 'hood. 2. The new spice rack above our stove [thanks to our local Ikea]. 3. A glimpse of our living room. [I sewed pillows for the first time!! And there they are. Yippee!] 4. Another glimpse of the living room [...and the "HOME" candle holders I found in my moms garage. She passed them along and I painted them yesterday. Fun times. :)]

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