“It’s so hard to be rootless,” I complained to the Lord one afternoon with tears running down my cheeks. I was sitting on the floor of the room that had once been a bedroom for our son. Then our daughter and her family used this house for a few years and this room had become the nursery for my four grandchildren. Now it, and the rest of the house, had to be completely emptied and readied for unknown renters before we headed back to the Philippines.
It seemed that always before, during our many years overseas, there had been a place to call home. First it was my parent’s home. Then, after they were gone, the Lord had provided this house to call home on furlough. Now I was sorting through the boxes from the high shelf in the closet. Long forgotten toys, children’s books, keepsakes all had to be sorted and a decision made; Do I throw it, store it, sell it, or give it away? It seemed to me that there should always be an attic or basement or garage where these memories could reside. But now all must go into storage and we would be rootless.
“I should be used to this,” I told myself. After twenty-five years and five terms in three different countries, surely I have learned not to expect to put down roots in any place. Yet my painful realization was that I had done just that. This house was “home.”
My pity party was cut short by the still-small voice of God in my heart. He said, “I don’t want you to be rootless.” Suddenly He had my full attention. I had tried so hard to keep from putting down roots and now He was saying He wanted me to have roots. He let me think about that for several minutes and then He continued.
“I just want you to be rooted in Me. Then, wherever you are, you will be at home.”
I quickly grabbed my Bible to find the verse. I knew it was there. I had just never thought of it in this context. Rooted in Him! There it was in Colossians 2:6,7. Through teary eyes I read, “As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude.”
How kind of the Lord to remind me of this precious truth. I would need this truth in the coming months and years as He took us all over Asia, from the Philippines to Sarawak, to Thailand to Burma and Cambodia. Days, weeks, months and years in these places flew by. Then, in His great kindness, He brought me back to this very room. But I hope I have learned at last, that my roots must be firmly planted in Him so that wherever I am, my heart will be at home.
©2000 Thrive
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