May 29–Home

Happy Wednesday. Well...the time is getting close! I leave out of here on Friday, and fly out of NYC on Monday for Tel Aviv. I’m so excited I’m having trouble packing. I’m going to try to post pictures on Facebook and on Instagram and I’ll do my best to write while I’m gone. When I do, I doubt I’ll have enough internet to be able to send it out directly but I should have enough to post on “My Story” on FB and on pamsmithhudson.blogspot.com. 


We get excited about trips (well, most of us do)—seeing new places, new faces and new sights we’ve only read about. We live in a world full of wonderful things to see and very few of us will have the opportunity to even scratch the surface of what is out there. But even so, there is one trip that we all should be excited to take—our last one, the one that takes us home. I have heard “Everyone wants to go to Heaven, but no one wants to die.” Death is scary, but with the promise of Heaven so close, it certainly loses its power. 


“We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭5:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬


“Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews‬ ‭11:16‬ ‭


I love that Paul says “at home with the Lord.” Home. That’s where we will live eternally, in what some call Beulah land or Zion or home of the soul or the holy city or the New Jerusalem...regardless, we will be home—the place where we will abide with God forever. This place where we are now is not home. 


“I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp...On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there...Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Revelation‬ ‭21:22-23, 25, 27‬ ‭NIV‬‬


Sometimes it seems like Heaven is such a grand and glorious place that it is very far away from my little, ordinary life here in the corner of Missouri. But the truth is, we are but a breath away from there. Isn’t that amazing? That the King of Glory is actually preparing our places right now is more than I can wrap my brain around. It makes me giddy—and not a little excited! 


God of the Angel Armies and King of Heaven, thank you for the place you are preparing for all of us. We are beyond excited to think of being in your presence Lord and at the same time amazed that simple, everyday folks have a seat at your table! What a good God you are! We pray that you would find us worthy of your gift and that we would be reminded that we have a divine purpose. We want to be in tune with you and let godliness flow from us—help us reflect you the best ways we can while we abide here. We praise you Lord Jesus and we honor you. We sing hallelujah to the Lamb who paid our debt. We love you Lord and thank you for your great grace so that even a sinner like me can overcome. Amen and amen. 


Love you dear friend,

Pam




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