Posted By Guest Contributor

Are you sick of this place? The world, I mean. Tired of the nastiness that lurks around the bend? Gossip on the church steps, arguments with your spouse, and frustration with your siblings got you down? Good. You’re right where God wants you then.

I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. ~Ecclesiastes 3:10-11(NLT)

God wants us to long for more than this earth can offer. He wants us to rejoice in the fact that we will one day be free of this world. He planted eternity in us, giving us a deep-rooted need for the eternal. Christ is our only passage into eternity, so we thirst for Him. Just as all things planted, our desire for eternity must be nourished and nurtured. Each harsh reality we face on this doomed planet is meant to be food for our souls; a steering rod of sorts, guiding us to the Living Bread and Water.

Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness. ~1 Peter 2:2-3(NLT)

What better way to make us crave salvation than to surround us with hardship? What better advertisement for the Lord’s kindness than to thrust us into a world of hate? What better means of bringing us home than to leave us in a place so removed from our hearts’ desires? If you want to demonstrate what light is to a child, you must first show them darkness.

Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. ~1 Peter 2:11(NLT)

All too often, we try to fill the need for eternal happiness with worldly things: lots of money, fast cars, designer clothes, bigger homes, manicured lawns, glorified jobs, and all sorts of distractions. None of which address the true need, but instead create a false sense of completion.

They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when there is no peace. ~Jeremiah 6:14(NLT)

Take comfort in your discomfort. It is a gift from God, a gift that keeps on giving us the desire to continue moving onward and upward.

Lord,
We thank you for digging deep into our souls and planting seeds of eternity within us all. We thank you for our inability to feel at home in this place. Our hardships are tools in your hands. Lord, as you work in and around us, we ask that you give us peace and strength, and we trust you will. Father, may we continually be moving onward and upward, in you. Amen.

A little bit about Victoria …..
“I am a Child of God, entrusted with the hearts and minds of three wonderful children and blessed with the heart and hand of the man I love. We are a homeschooling family that God is growing each day.
When I’m not teaching, learning, fiddling with photography, or writing, I’m probably somewhere being weird.
It’s a gift.” You can also find Victoria at her blog, Let the Son Shine.