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home matters...


i have something really important to share with you, my friends...

home matters.
having a home where you can protect and nurture and grow with family and friends is important, and i know that many of you are so much like me that you express your love through creating a home that others can enjoy. it is your love-language! i have always - always - enjoyed the homes that i have lived in, and loved creating beauty around me, every day.

i've inhabited a myriad of rooms and houses over my now 60 years of life - from my bedrooms as a kid to the little apartment we lived in as newlyweds with a crying first baby, from the huge log house with horses outside to the tiny craftsman cottage with our last growing teen daughter, and from the rambler with a giant barn & acreage on an island to the glorious 'Walton'-style farmhouse with acreage for a vintage show on an island. and i have loved making each of them 'home'. especially that last one... and when i lost it, along with everything else that mattered to me, i never thought i'd find 'home' again.

i never take for granted that there is a roof over my head and a pillow under it each night - because not everyone has that. i am blessed to be sheltered and provided for, and i know it - but i do not have my own home. due to many circumstances, i never will again.

i share encouragement and inspiration here at homewardFOUND to help you decorate your homes, no matter how big they are or what they look like. [because i've also lived in some horribly run-down apartments and little houses, even in a cabover camper for a summer - but i always wanted them to be cozy and pretty and make my family feel taken care of. it was my way of providing security and stability for my kids, in the midst of a chaotic life.]

it's just that this life and all of its details and distractions - and decorating -  isn't ALL there is. 


please don't click that back button... please. give me a few minutes of your time, 
and hear the depth of what i feel very called to say to you...


i want to encourage you, friends, that before you worry about what color to paint that wall, or what angle to take that IG photo at, take a moment to consider what comes next after all of this life is done.... where will your eternal home be? where will your soul reside after this life is over? the true contentment we seek will never be found in perfectly organized closets, or in perfectly decorated rooms, or perfectly 'curated' social media feeds. those things might bring you momentary happiness, but peace and joy that last will only be found in the open arms of Jesus. and eternal salvation only comes from Him.

i know this post is different. i know i haven't been outspoken about this before. i am ashamed of that.
for the past few months, i have been on a path of rapid, expanding, foundation-shaking paradigm shifts in my soul and in my life, and i cannot ignore what i am learning and seeing and waking up to. i cannot be the person i was before i began to experience so much more depth to my faith, and to focus on what really matters. sharing the truth with you matters.
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if you've visited my 'about' page, you've read that my journey to this blog was a winding road...
a road that led me all over the place, until i had absolutely no where left to go but back home. that's where the 'homeward' part of my blog's name comes from.

but for a long time, it didn't FEEL like home, back here in So Cal with my parents.
how could it, when i had abruptly lost and left a dream home of my own, a family, a marriage, a business, a community and a life that were exactly what i loved and wanted and had worked years for? when everything that had mattered to me was suddenly gone? when i felt like i didn't belong anywhere in the world anymore? i didn't know who i was anymore without my family, and i couldn't believe that i would ever find home again.

it has taken years... and tears... and even more heartbreaking experiences since then (the death of my estranged husband and best friend within months of one another, the death of my Dad three years later, and my Mom's struggle to build a life after losing him), but i eventually figured out who Deb is - that's the 'found' part of my blog's name. (although that also relates to using found materials to decorate with.)

and now, i can finally say that i honestly know what i mean when i say 'home': it's not remembering what i had back then. it's not even looking at what i have NOW. it's my future, looking ahead to what will last... and for me, that is my faith. my salvation. my eternal home with Jesus, my Savior. that's home for me. 

my faith in Him and certainty that what the Bible says is true is the ONLY thing that has saved my life through these difficult years. and if not for Him, for His promise of an eternity in His presence, i would have no hope of finally finding 'home' again. because what has become perfectly clear to me, through all of this, is that my home is with Him.
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because of some of the things i have experienced, my heart wants to help people see light in darkness, hope in affliction, calm in chaos.... sometimes, that's through sharing ways to create a house that welcomes and comforts and sustains people's bodies and souls. sometimes, it's reaching out my hands to help with my skills and abilities when i see a need. and now, when i look at where the world is, at what's happening, i know that another thing i need to do is reach out with words to say to anyone who will listen 'home is waiting for you, and it's with Jesus. look to Him.'

i don't want to miss an opportunity to use my voice and my words and my images to reflect the glorious hope that i have found in Jesus, in the mercy and grace and forgiveness and salvation He offers ALL of us... i can't waste time anymore. the time is coming when He will intervene in creation, and everything about our world will change. and that time is close, i truly believe that. He is coming soon, to take those who believe in Him home to Heaven. i will be one of those people headed homeward.

when that happens, my blogs and IG and fb accounts will be dormant, and nothing i've ever created and shared online will be of ANY value at all.... which is why i wrote this post. i want SOMETHING on this blog to be of lasting, eternal meaning and value. 

this message is the most important one i have written and given in my life. i hope you read it and either nod your head in agreement, because you know Jesus already, or that you sit back in your chair, look up to the sky, and say 'God? are You there?' - i assure you, He IS there. right there, with you. talk to Him. [prayer is just a conversation between you and God, it's not complicated]. grab a Bible and read the book of John [it's the fourth book in the New Testament, which is the second half of the Bible] to learn about who Jesus is and why He came to Earth and died and rose again, what that means, and how you can be assured of salvation and eternal life through Him. invest an hour into reading about Him, and let the truth in. let the distractions and details of this temporary life fade as you focus on what really, truly matters: Your soul, and where it will spend eternity. 

there's a home for me in Heaven, for eternity
and i don't even care one bit how it is decorated, 
because the perfect love and light of the glory of God is all i'm gonna' need! 
i'll be home, at last.

i want you to be there, too... and oh, how i hope you hear my heart in this. i hope you read through the words to understand the concern and love i want to convey to you. i hope you give this some thought. it matters to me.... YOU matter to me. and most of all, YOU matter to Him. and if we truly are 'just walking each other home', as Ram Dass said, then let's walk together with Jesus. He knows the way.... 

UPDATE: it's 2022 now, and because i truly see the prophecy in Scripture coming to life every day now, i've added something more to the blog to share what is most important to me... click here to read my thoughts on 'how i see Easter'.

~ deb

the song that is playing in this post is 'Gracie's Theme' by pianist Paul Cardall. each time i hear it my spirit soars, and i cannot think of another piece of music that could more perfectly depict the way my soul feels when i think about my eternal home in Heaven with Jesus. i would choose this song to be played at my memorial service, and hope that it would bring peace and joy to the hearts of those who hear it - just as it does to me.