There's no place like home........

Dorothy's famous words. How often do we use them? Do you feel that way about your own home, or not?

We moved into this house at the end of June 2007. We knew when we moved in that there was a lot we wanted to do here and it would just take time. My dad gives me a hard time asking me why I bought an old house and want to make all these changes. I told him I like the 100 year old parts, it's just the 1970s lineoleum and pastels I am not fond of. I have an ongoing list of projects I want to work on, I am just waiting for the money tree in the back to sprout.

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When we moved in last summer, I went through a phase wondering if we had made a mistake. I just did not feel at home. I felt anxious in my own home. I felt like I was living in someone else's house. It all came down to the paint, simple I know, but I had no idea how much it would help.

My husband went on a mission trip to Mexico and told me I could have some of the rooms painted while he was gone. We have very high ceilings and the main corridor of the house has the original wooden walls, so it was not a job I could tackle on my own. On top of that, all the walls in the house were painted in semi-gloss paint. Why, I do not know. Pink, yellow, turquoise, and seafoam are all pretty colors..........for an Easter egg. I was excited to get the walls painted.

I remember walking in when it was done, and letting out a big sigh of relief. It felt like it was mine.

Our living room has had some issues too. We played "musical rooms" when we moved in. The room they used for the bedroom is our office. The room they used for the living room is our bedroom. The room they used for the dining room is our living room. Confusing, I know. The living room (was their dining room) was painted a BRIGHT yellow. It has white tile on the floor. There was a pass through to the kitchen that was boarded up on the kitchen side, and a big open hole on the living room side. On top of that, we had too much furniture for the room. I could never relax in there.

We are almost there. My brother in law fixed the hole in the wall, you would never know it had been there. I painted the room just before Christmas. It was a technique from Lowe's called "Tuscan Accents", and I still love it. We sold the "too much furniture" on Craigslist last week. This week the new furniture came, and it feels like home. I still have to find curtains, and a rug. But we will have to wait on that money tree.

All this got me thinking. This is how I feel in the world, too. Not at home. Anxious. Like I don't belong. I long for the day when I will feel at home, and it will not be a couple of coats of paint that fix it. It will be my spirit finding it's eternal dwelling place, with my Father in heaven. Paul talks about it in 2 Corinthians 5, that we groan at where we are now, longing to put on our house from heaven. It will be home like we have never known...................There will be no place like Home.