M2M Challenge Chapter 6

Home.

A house is a dwelling place where you reside.

A home is that but so much more. For me, it was a safe place where I was loved and learned my moral and ethical values. I learned to develop trust as a baby, which led to me feeling safe enough to explore the world around me. My home was filled with laughter, lots of activity, some arguing and fighting between the girls, and apologies when we messed up. We learned about faith in God and got to see firsthand how Christian parents (who were not perfect) did their best to live it so we could have an example of living for Christ.

Over the years we have experienced a variety of emotions and feelings within the walls of our home. We have had plenty of days of sunshine, seasons of thunderstorms, and a few tornados that disrupted our lives.

In Chapter 6 of Trusting God, I ended the chapter by challenging you to dig up some pictures of the places you have lived over the years and think about some of the events that occurred that helped you to trust in God.

I found some old pictures of a few homes we have lived in over the years.

This first house is one that I grew up in, dressed for prom and my wedding day, and later we bought it from my mom and dad when we moved back to Georgia. It has been my home twice in my life. Overall, it was a happy home, of course, there were arguments, sickness, unhappy days, and sad moments too. When you can have laughter and joy spending time with one another, that out rules the not-so-good days.

When Ben and I took a trip out to Texas recently, we drove by two of the homes we lived in while Ben was working and going to school for his Master’s in Divinity. One of the homes had recently been painted, but they had cut down a favorite tree that our boys played in while they were growing up. (Funny little side note: their neighbor on the left looked like they might not do yard work very often either! That was the case when we lived there. Ha!) The other home that used to be nice had a foreclosure notice on the garage and looked run down. Both of these homes served our family well. We have plenty of stories and much laughter from some of the crazy shenanigans our boys did in the growing-up years. In these homes, Austin had an accident by falling into a man-hole and hitting his head on the way down, we brought Leighanne home from China, and we experienced getting rid of rats because we had a drainage ditch behind our home. In all of these things, we grew our trust in God. He was faithful to work in every circumstance, including showing us He would provide for our every need. We made baby steps of faith and trust that would later lead to bigger steps of faith later in life.

So what about you and some of the homes you have lived in over your lifetime?

What events that occurred in your home led you to trust in God?

Every time we experience life, whether in exciting times or through trials and/or despair, we have opportunities to grow our trust in the only One who can lead us through every single situation.

You can Trust In Him! Let me say it again–You can trust in Him!

By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasent riches.

Proverbs 24:3-4

For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.

Hewbrews 3:4

Meditate on these two verses this week and see what insights you discover about the Master Builder of our homes.