House or Home?

Home. What does the word "Home" mean to you?

I looked up the word home in my E-Sword concordance. I went through each verse, reading each one that included the word "home". There was kind of a common theme in all of them. Some were about someone being released to go home, so were going to go home, some fled from their home.

Then I stopped on this one: "Psa 68:6 God settles the solitary in a home..." Home in this verse means "family". Very interesting.

How about this:

Psa 84:2 My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Psa 84:3 Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.
Psa 84:4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah

Or this:

Psa 113:9 He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the LORD!

This is saying He has given this woman, who was barren, a family! Or as this puts it, a HOME!

So a home is not a roof, and some walls. It is not our paint choices or our expensive living room furniture. It is our family. It is the place we run to in times of trouble. It is our safe haven, where we go to get comforted.

Are we making our homes a place that our family can come home to get comforted? Or is it a hectic mess? Is it a place of stress?

Let's make our homes a place of refuge; a place to weather the storms of life, together with our family, the ones who love us unconditionally.

Lord- May my home always be a place where my family can come to and find rest and peace. May it always be a place where You reside and rule. Please protect our home, cover us with Your blood. Keep us safe. We love you. ~ Amen