Welcome Home!

By Julie Hartley

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household. Ephesians 2:19

Just let that thought rest on your soul for a few moments. Consequently... or as a result of... you belong. You as a gentile believer are IN! You no longer are the stranger, the foreigner who looks on from the outside because you are not born a Jew. Jesus Christ provided a way for YOU through the cross, and because you humbled your heart to receive the gift of salvation, you have citizenship in your Heavenly Father’s home. Citizenship with all of its rights and protection. Citizenship that cannot be taken away. You are now a member of God’s household.

Several years ago, we as a family had what we lovingly refer to as our ‘Season of the Borrowed Children’. Through no fault of their own, we had a series of children who needed a safe place to stay while their parents got their lives straightened out. WE were blessed to give them a home where they felt a sense of belonging, knew that they were wanted and cared for, where no one would say hurtful things about their loved ones. The impact of those years has had a profoundly positive effect on all of our lives. My boys learned to share a whole lot more than their toys while Dave and I learned to trust a Savior who knew just what we truly needed and when. There is not a single day of those few years I will not treasure in my heart always, however it was just that, a season where we borrowed. Never was the intention to be that we would keep the children. We did feed them, pray with them and for them, do their laundry, rock them and held them close for a little while, but those children were never ours. They belonged to another household.

All except for one very special little boy named Bowman. Because of circumstances that have been covered in Jesus Christ, the courts decided to grant us full custody of a child who had been in our home, but not of our home. The rules and laws of man which once separated him from citizenship in our household and all of the rights and protections that come with being a member of our family were removed. Bowman by that earthly judge’s decision became our little boy, our son. Dave and I became Dad and Mom. The atmosphere in our home, while busier and louder than ever, became oneness and peace.





Read Galatians 3:26-4:7.