Hebrews 11:8, "By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed... and he went out, not knowing where he was going."

On November 7, 2013, our home went up for sale. Four years to the day of Timothy's birth.

I remember clearly the day we moved in: a new marriage, a new child and another on the way, and finally, our first home. I had such excitement and anticipation as I imagined all the wonderful possibilities and joys we would experience in this new place as we established our home and family in the years to come.

But when Timothy was born, I felt like my naïve hopes for the perfect home had been strangled to death. I had barely set foot in a hospital other than to deliver my children, and had little familiarity with physical suffering. A "defective" baby did not fit into my schedule, structure, finances, or any other sphere of the life I wanted to build. But my Lord gently began to teach me that He, not I, is the master City Builder. I needed to understand the faith of Abraham the nomad, living in tents, who never built his own city, because he was "looking for the city... whose architect and builder is God."

In some ways, dreams of the future for our time on this earth are joyful and useful, but when one's life has been surrendered to the Lord, His path tends to take twists and turns that bring far greater contentment than our own ever could. As I go room by room through our home and sift through our belongings, the many memories, good and bad, overwhelm me as I reflect on how God has worked. After every hospital stay, this house has been our safe place, our refuge. We have hurt together, healed together, and grown in our knowledge of God. This has been the place we have come when we needed rest, refuge, and comfort. Through family, friends, and the body of Christ, God has shown His faithfulness in different ways in each room of this little house.

As I struggle through feelings of sadness, I must remember to set my heart not on a place, but a Person. I wonder if this is why God's Word shows Him constantly calling people away from their homes. I think of Abraham, Rebekah, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, Daniel... and our ultimate example, Jesus, who left the only perfect home that ever has existed, Heaven itself, to make His sojourn on the earth.

By moving our family, God has prompted me to step back and see my life from the perspective of heaven. Possessions, places, and in certain ways, even people, pale in the light of Heaven. God wants us to travel light and set our hearts on a better place than this broken world. He wants us to follow Him wherever He leads. His promise to be with us wherever we go is all we need to keep our compass on track during the journey.

Soon we will begin the next chapter God has planned for us, making new memories in a new home. Like Abraham, I do not know where He will take us, but I know that He will be there.

Hebrews 11:13-16 "All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them."