Tag: salvation
We’re moving this week! And that’s set my mind towards an awareness of all the final things – those final experiences we’ll ever have in this home.
We’ve been so blessed with our little home these past 8 years. When we moved in our children were 20 months and 4 months old. This is where our daughter took her first steps. Where we became foster parents. Where we saw the hand of God move time and time again, providing for our needs when finances seemed depleted. Where I learned how to keep a home. Where we began homeschooling. Where I’ve written all my books. Where we’ve picked pears from our tree and preserved them for the upcoming year each summer. Where we’ve tirelessly renovated and worked. Where our children prayed their first prayers and asked Jesus to come live within them.
And this week we will say goodbye to this special place where our family grew.
Mowing the lawn for the final time. The final pear-picking season. The last meal we’ll cook. The last game we’ll play. The last sleep under this roof. The last load of laundry. Everything feels nostalgic now.
It’s easy to get stuck in the mindset that where we are now – in this temporary place – is where we always will be. Despite the tyrannical urgent we feel in this transient space, we must keep our eyes focused on the lasting. This may be the final time we see that person, walk down that road, perform that task.
How will we handle our moments, perhaps our final ones here?
“…Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire…For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” Hebrews 12:28-29, 13:14
It’s time to move on, move ahead towards a new set of memories under a new roof. And we’re so excited to see what God does in this new season for our family!
But this move has made me consider the two homes for the follower of Jesus: earth (the temporary) and heaven (the eternal). Here on this planet, we take our first steps and make our first progressions, explore our giftings and develop relationships. In heaven, we’ll take all of who we are, stripped of our sin nature and sickness of soul and body.
Are you ready for that move? If you aren’t sure, right now is the perfect time to get ready. Romans 10:9 says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” It’s a surrender to Jesus as the new Lord over your life, trusting Him with who you are. It’s a belief that God has done what we never could do on our own – defeat sin and death.
As we pack up the last box and load the last stick of furniture on the truck this week, I’ll look back on this precious place with thanks, pray that it will bless the next family like it’s blessed us, ask God to keep His peace and Presence here to touch the lives of all who enter after us. And we’ll move to the next place He has for us, ready to experience everything He has beautifully prepared for this new season.
Surrender All To Me
Today’s post is by Summer Hoover, a guest contributor and dear friend, full of wisdom. This particular poem has touched me deeply and challenged me to closely examine what I may be holding onto that needs to be released to God. I know it will bless you today!
After a lifetime of living in neutrality,
The King took control.
Suddenly she was asked to take her steps in faith.
He asked her to give Him everything.
“Have faith in me, my child.
I will fulfill your every need,
Just have faith in me.”
“I will, my King.
I will. I’ll give you everything.
I’ll give you my work,
My mind,
My will,
But I’m sorry…I can’t give you this.
You see, this is something
That has protected me.
It has shielded my heart from hurt and despair.
So let me keep just this one thing.”
“I’m sorry, my child,” her King said through tears,
“I’m afraid I can’t let you keep that.
I know it has protected you,
But that was in the past.
I know it has kept you safe
But that safety will never last.”
“Oh, but it will,” she persisted,
“I promise it will.
It won’t interfere with your plans.
You won’t even notice I still have it.
Once you provide me with the one thing I long for,
This thing will simply disappear.
I promise I will let it go.
I just can’t do that right now.”
“My darling, you must.
Please, try to understand.
The one thing you long for
I desire to give you.
But you cannot wrap your arms around love,
If you’re holding on to this too.
Please give it to me and I promise
I will guard you.”
“But, how can I, Father?” she questioned
As her eyes filled with tears,
“I’ve lived with it for so long,
I’m afraid I will feel so incomplete.
How can you ask me to give this up
And lay it at your feet?”
“I ask you because I know
All that the future will bring.
And this one burden
Will only keep you from my blessings.”
“But, I’m so afraid, Father.
I’m so afraid,”
She cried, quietly, barely able to speak.
“Do not be afraid.
I am with you,”
He whispered as He kissed her cheek.
With one long and deep breath,
She slowly looked down at her hands
That for so long had been clinched.
Her body trembled
And her chin quivered,
While tears rolled down her face.
Her Father and King
Wrapped his arms around her quivering body
“It’s okay, my precious child,
It’s okay.
I know you are afraid,
But have faith in me.
Surrender all and enter my safety.”
He lifted her chin
And looked deeply into her eyes.
“I love you,” He said softly,
“I love you more than you will ever know.
Please understand
You must let this go.”
Slowly she stretched out her arms
And looked down at her hands
And one by one lifted the fingers
That had held onto the past.
With a trembling voice and a hopeful heart, she said,
“Father, please take it.
I don’t want to hide anymore.”
“Thank you, my child,
Thank you for your faith.
I will take this far from here
For it is no longer your concern.”
And with the lightest touch,
Her King removed the past
And placed it with the other burdens
Of the life she had left.
A sigh of relief came over her
One like she had never known before.
“What is this that I am feeling, Father?”
She asked Him with wonder in her eyes.
“That, my precious, is new life.
It is the freedom that comes
From depending on me.
It is the hope you encounter
When you see what I see.”
“Why have I never felt this before?”
“Because you gave me your works.
You gave me your mind.
You gave me your will,
But you left one thing behind.
But, now you are a new creation
For you have given everything.
Now you live by faith, not by fear.
And, you see the world as a new place
When you
Surrender all to me.”
Summer Hoover is proud to be a military wife to her wonderful and supportive husband, Jason. They have two beautiful children who have inspired her to pursue her passion for discovering beauty in unexpected places as a natural light portrait photographer. Whether she is home-schooling her children, speaking, writing or simply having coffee with a friend, passion for living fully in that moment best defines her style and rule of life.