The Ultimate Cure For Homesickness

Whatever you're chasing, if it isn't Jesus, when you catch it you still won't be satisfied. (Isaiah 26:8)

How many of us have been searching for satisfaction in people and/or things only to find that once we have what we thought would complete us or make us happy we still have this emptiness inside and need for fulfillment?

I have personally been there. I tried just about every distraction I could find to fill this hollowness I felt deep within me. Relationships, alcohol, material wealth, friends...anything and everything I thought would fill the void, but all of these things simply numbed the pain temporarily. At the end of the day, I was still unsatisfied. I started to think that it was just life and there was nothing that was going to change it. I mean, I had everything I needed....or so I thought. I just couldn't seem to overcome this intense longing for something...what that something was, I couldn't quite figure out.

I had grown up in a loving, Christian home but during my teen years and through much of my adult years I had abandoned my faith and was living a very shallow life. After all of those years of persistent disappointments I literally gave up. Up to that point I had achieved nearly everything that was assumed to make a person happy...and I wasn't. I was miserable. So on that September evening in 2006 I got down on my knees in my one-bedroom apartment and said out loud "God...if you're there...I give up. Whatever I'm doing obviously isn't working...and I need your help." That was the first time I had ever admitted that I NEEDED Him.

And I'll tell you what....not only did God answer "I am here" but He answered "I love you and I will never leave you". And He has kept ALL of His written promises to this day. My life is no where near perfect. I DON'T HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER. I am still that girl in desperate need of my Saviour. But since that day I accepted Christ into my life, I have never felt empty again. It was as if I was trying to fit a square inside a circle all those years. I was trying to put boyfriends, money, hobbies and everything I could think of in place of God. But none of those things were the key that could unlock the door to spiritual satisfaction, pure joy and infinite peace. Life before Him was just a series of disappointments and heartache. Choosing Christ opened the door to a life full of peace, hope and never-ending love. He was what I had been searching for all along.

It's as though my soul was homesick. The separation between myself and God caused a great sense of loneliness and longing that nothing in this world could satisfy. Since being reunited with my Maker I am no longer heartsick. I am whole.

*photo found on google images

Having a relationship with God doesn't mean life becomes perfect or that problems go away. He replaces hopelessness with hope, He turns problems into challenges we can overcome, He reveals the true meaning of love and He is the only source of peace to be found in an imperfect world full of chaos.

I get asked a lot, "Why are you so happy all the time?" and my answer is HIM! When you have found the best thing life has to offer, why on earth would you want to keep that a secret? Why wouldn't you want to share it with the world? Nothing makes me happier than God. And my sincere desire is to share my joy with others so that they might find peace, hope and love in Him also.