The city is home right now, but your heart aches for the country.
You’re a renter, but wish you were an owner.
Kids are stacked three to a room, but you dream of something different.
Your home is vintage, but you yearn for newness.
Your dining room comfortably seats four, but you’re a family of nine.
You’d love a garden, but outdoor space is lacking.
I get it. Just like you, I have my own dreams and wishes for my home.
When we moved into our house eleven years ago, we had two children. The home was spacious and wide compared to the one and two-bedroom apartments we’d lived in up until that point.
As the months and years passed, two children doubled to four. Two adoptions, one birth, and another adoption later — our kid-count had jumped up to eight. As we committed to following God wherever He led, unplanned twists and turns began to change us along with our family size.
I never planned on having eight kids, but I have planned to always lean in close to the Spirit. I trust Him when He gives us another child. I trust Him with my very life.
So if I know I can trust Him with my life, shouldn’t I also know I can also trust Him with the housing needs of my family?
Ten people are now sharing the home we designed, planned, and dreamed about with two adults and maybe three children in mind. The very same home that once felt wide and spacious began to feel tight and squeezy a few years ago.
I know He gives good things. And if He only gives good things, shouldn’t I consider my home to be one of those good things? Shouldn’t we consider our homes to be a good gift?
He knows our needs.
What if we decided to make peace with the space our God and Father chose for us?
Will it be our forever home on this earth? Who knows. Maybe, maybe not.
Even so, without the knowledge of what’s ahead, will we trust Him and even be thankful for His good gifts?
Though garage-less.
Storage-less.
Garden-less.
Master bathroom-less.
Spacious-less.
The space He has you and your family living in right now is an act of His grace.
Maybe it’s more about the relationships being forged under your roof than how pretty your living room is. Maybe you’re learning the value of saving money rather than spending it on a heftier mortgage right now. Maybe this season of living in our homes — whether apartment, house, condo, trailer, or our in-laws’ basement exists so we can learn contentment.
Let me say that again, maybe this season of living in our homes — whether apartment, house, condo, trailer, or our in-laws’ basement exists so we can learn contentment.
We don’t often have a problem with thanking God for His grace to us. Because grace is often seen as only the happy and unbelievable things. Like the gift of salvation and His unending love. So it’s a no-brainer to be thankful for those things.
But what if we began to view our family’s dwelling space as grace too? Because it is. We may not see exactly how right now, but it is.
For Further Listening & Reading:
**You need to listen to this. Like, right now. I’m bossy aren’t I?** Here Now (Madness) – song by Hillsong United (YouTube)
Christine Caine – Jesus is Enough (YouTube)
Why Am I Not Happy? by William Barclay (Family Life)
Lay Aside the Weight of Discontentment by Jon Bloom (Desiring God)
Amanda Bacon
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- Making Peace with Your Family Space - August 31, 2021
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- The Moms We Want to Be - July 20, 2021
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