Mi Casa en el Cielo

Hey friends! I’m currently writing from Granada, Nicaragua. I haven’t been great about posting lately since we’ve been super busy since moving from Ethiopia, but hopefully I’ll have the opportunity to get WiFi more ofen and will be able to post more! 

I’m processing a lot right now about what it’s going to look like to come back to a place that I’ve lived for pretty much my whole life. I’m realizing more and more that the only possible thing that I have to cling to in this season of transition is my Father in Heaven. 

On the Race – living in new environments, sleeping in new beds (I think I’m up to about 16 now), adapting to different cultures, new timezones, various schedules and routines, living with 46 other people at all times – you have to learn how to bring pieces of home along with you. A lot of it is trial and error as to learning what makes you feel at home. Sometimes it means hanging up pictures in your living space or wearing things that you normally would at home. These things can help in making you feel more at home. But, they aren’t home. And my house in Boulder, CO isn’t actually my home either. Recently,  God reminded me that I am home (whether in Boulder or half way across the world) when I run into His embrace and find comfort and peace in His presence. When I rest in Him, I am home. 

This is something that the Lord taught me early on in the Race when I was feeling really homesick in the first few day upon arriving in Cambodia. I also experienced a day of intense homesickness in the beginning of our time in Ethiopia. All I wanted to do was go home. But homesickness went away because God reminded me that He is actually my home. And He is the only home and comfort and peace that I need. Because He is lasting and constant. 

God being my home means that Heaven is my home. Heaven is actually our home! How crazy is that? 

So if God is our home and Heaven is our home, we should always bring pieces of it wherever we go. Otherwise we get homesick! This means that we should always be bringing pieces of Heaven (OUR HOME) onto earth! 

One of my squadmates brought up the idea that when we get to Heaven, it should feel like our home because it is a place so familiar to us. It shouldn’t feel like we’ve arrived in a place we’ve read about in the Bible our whole life, only to be met with unfamiliar surroundings. That wouldn’t really be a great homecoming (don’t get me wrong though, even if Heaven was never a place we never visited before, God would still make us feel so unbelievably welcomed and at home and it would still be a wonderful experience of homecoming). If we are residing in the arms of our Papa as our home and run to Him always and with everything, then Heaven will truly feel like our home. It will be a place of familiarity and comfort. We should seek and hold onto bringing pieces of our true home, our Heavenly home, to life here on this Earth. Doing things like sitting down with Him each morning and finding our rhythm together as you would in any relationship or retreating for moments of isolation throughout the day into the Father’s arms, just a Jesus did, are practical ways that we can bring parts of Heaven to our lives. Sounds crazy, right? Heaven on Earth? Wow. 

I have learned that I am at home when I feel the Lord’s peace and I feel His peace when I know that I am in His arms and in His will and that there’s no place I’d rather be. I feel His peace when I allow Him to take me to places new or familiar, miles away or just in my mind. He’s always with me. He takes me to these special places of home. 

I want to live every day out of my Heavenly room, Heavenly life and Heavenly promises, bringing more and more pieces of it to this life on Earth. I want people to see glimpses of Heaven. Not glimpses of a better earthy life. Of course I want people to live more joyful and fulfilling lives here on this Earth BUT I pray that it will first come from a place of knowing and holding onto the promises of eternal life and a beautiful place in Heaven, specifically with their name on the door and place-card. I want them to know that they have a room there. A place at the table. A special place of retreat with the Lord. 

Jesus told us that He was going home to prepare a place for us. In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am (John 14:2-3). These places are awaiting our arrival. The absolutely incredible and mind blowing fact is that we can actually starting living out of our room, seat and special place in Heaven, starting this moment! 

Ask the Lord what those places look like for you and let Him take you there. Dream with the Lord! Allow Him to actually show you a picture. And then sit and visit those places more and more with the Lord each day until it becomes natural to live life in the extravagant and beautiful way we do in Heaven – with Papa, living in His peace and joy and comfort and affirmation and freedom (fill in the blanks here) – and bring it to each day here on earth. Pray, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done. On Earth as it already is in Heaven,” and know that you already are a part of Heaven when you accept Jesus as your savior. 

Live with Heavenly perspective because you are a citizen of Heaven. That doesn’t start when you leave this Earth. It has already begun. Ephesians 1:13b, “When you believed, you were marked by him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.” The Holy Spirit living inside of us guarantees us our inheritance until the day of redemption when we go home. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t step into living out of our inheritance now. There is a special place there with your name already on it. Jesus has already prepared it. Go with your Father and step into your inheritance and those place of home beginning right. now.

-Elena 🙂