Holy Places

In my Father’s house….

John 14:2 ESV

Awareness that God uses specific places to mark His interaction with believers encourages me in the dailiness of my faith walk. Since Adam and Eve left their home in the Garden, the longing for a specific place to call home has resided within our hearts. Many of the times when God makes His presence known occurs within these homes. That’s part of what makes a home so significant.

I still drive past my childhood home with the corner bedroom where, as an eight-year-old, I dropped off to sleep full of God’s presence—the night I accepted Christ. A parking lot now marks the spot where my son and later my daughter emerged from their bedroom to announce, “I just invited Jesus into my heart.” My aging father smiled when he recalled his mother yelling, “Sing boys!” as he and his brother would begin harmonizing hymns from their bed while their mom cleaned in the boarding house kitchen. My grandmother learned to trust God’s provision in a deeper way when she stood with her husband and small children in the night and watched their home burn.

Today, I understand that only God can transform these structures of nails and lumber into a place of rest, spiritual growth and nurture. I’m watching the upward mobility of young couples and the downsizing of senior adults. Both groups leave homes filled with memories, but by God’s grace, each new location will transform from a house into a home where new memories will be cultivated. Believers will, once again, experience another work of God’s gift of grace—something worthy of our praise.

John recorded Jesus’s reference to His own Father’s house (John 14:2). The Latin translation of the Bible used the word mansio meaning “a traveler’s resting place.” If our hearts seek homes on earth for rest and renewal, just imagine what awaits us in our own heavenly Father’s house!

Linda Les