Day 16: You Belong

I never felt like I truly

BELONGED.

My feet were planted on the ground,

yet it often felt

like I was standing on foreign soil.

Maybe it was because

our family lived

in so many different places.

Or maybe...

GOD was teaching me

something much deeper.

Perhaps HE never intended

this world to satisfy

my longing to BELONG,

because HE was always

drawing me

to BELONG to HIM.

I love the words

of Dr. Seuss:

"Why are you trying to fit in when you were born to stand out?"

The moment

I BELIEVED in JESUS,

everything changed.

GOD

set me apart.

And HE does the very same

for everyone

who BELIEVES in HIS SON.

Something happens

when JESUS

takes up residence in your heart.

You no longer fit where you once fit.

You beginto think differently.

Love differently.

Live differently.

Sometimes,

you hardly recognize yourself.

Not because you've become someone else.

But because

you are finally becoming the person

GOD created you to be.

ALL HIS.

As I look back over my life,

I realize

GOD wasn't withholding a place for me

to BELONG.

HE was protecting me

from BELIEVING this world was my home.

HE knows me

far better than I know myself.

And HIS plans

have always been better than mine.

CHRISTMAS reminds us why.

JESUS left HIS HOME

so we could find ours.

The KING OF HEAVEN

was born in a borrowed stable,

laid in a borrowed manger,

because this world was never

HIS HOME either.

HE came so that one day

we could be at HOME with HIM.

That is the

MIRACLE OF CHRISTMAS!

IMMANUEL,

GOD WITH US.

So that one day,

 we will be

with GOD forever.

"For this world is not our permanent home;

we are looking forward to our home yet to come"(Hebrews 13:14).

Our REAL HOME is already being prepared.

JESUS

has a place at HIS TABLE

with your name on it.

A place where you will

fit perfectly.

Far beyond anything

you could ever imagine.

So yes...

the desire to BELONG

is completely normal.

GOD

placed that longing inside each of us.

But no person,

no place,

and no accomplishment

can fully satisfy it.

Only JESUS can.

Today,

I know

I BELONG to GOD.

And living IN CHRIST

is exactly where I fit.

PEACE

fills my heart.

JOY

fills my soul.

How about you?

Why spend your life

trying so hard to fit in

when GOD created you to stand out?

Standing out

may not earn the applause of this world.

But the applause of this world

has never opened the gates of heaven.

ONLY JESUS.

So during this

CHRISTMAS IN JULY,

remember this:

THE BABY

born in Bethlehem

came so you would never

have to wonder

where you BELONG.

Because before

you ever chose HIM,

HE CHOSE

to come for you.

And today,

HE still whispers

the words your heart

has always longed

to hear...

"YOU BELONG TO ME"

(listen to the song below)