Am I a Pilgrim?

Am I a pilgrim?  A pilgrim is one who is journeying – not at home. 

The dictionary defines a pilgrim as “possibly a person who is traveling to a sacred place-a better place.”


Have you heard the saying, “Home is where the heart is?"  Do you believe that? 

If I am a pilgrim - someone searching for a better place, my heart must be telling me that I am not at home.  If my home is within the arms of Jesus, then that’s where my heart will be, that’s where I will feel at home.  

 Deuteronomy 33:27 

The eternal God is your dwelling place,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.

We are living in a world of fear and anxiety.  Could it be that we're not sure where we really belong?  Could it be that we feel lost – or that we don’t recognize our own true home?

Perhaps it’s because it’s been too long since we’ve spent any time there.  Or perhaps what we thought was home - what we pictured in our mind, was not real, but "photoshopped."  That idea of “home” conformed not to God's design, but to the picture we see in the world. 

But if we look at the verse in Deuteronomy 33, we see that God is our home.  He is our dwelling place and His everlasting arms  will never fail us.

My home is in the arms,
the mighty arms of Jesus,

those arms that held my sins upon the tree.

My home is in the arms,
the gentle arms of Jesus,

arms that reach to comfort and to free.

My home is in the arms, the steady arms of Jesus,

who changes not and will forever be.

My home is where God's heart is,

the heart that broke with His great love for me.

See you at home, my friends.

He Caught Me.

Dear Friends, this is something I wrote quite a few years ago, but sometimes, even in our old age, we continue to feel that we're on a carousel.

Sometimes feelings of inadequacy, and of regrets for the times we've hurt others continue to dwell in our thoughts.  But, I want each of us all to remember the very last line of this poem.  He said, "I caught you my child, when I died."  

Jesus is still all powerful.  He is the one who cares. He cares so much that He died on a cross and took all of those sins, regrets, and hurts on His body.  He caught us when He died and rose again, and He continues each day to hold us tight!

“Catch me God,” I cry

from this carousel I’m on." 

The nights and the seasons, stampeding, go by.

Dark pains and dark pleasures about me all fly, 

and I cry, 

“Catch me please, God – before I die.”

“Catch me God,” I cry,

as the black in my heart edges in.

My life and my actions increasingly grey - 

the good and the perfect are further away,

and I cry,

“Catch me please God – before I die.”

“Catch me God,” I cry,

The carousel mirror cries back at me

It tells of a life full of sin beyond measure -

a self-centered life hurting those I should treasure

and I cry,

“Catch me please God – before I die.”

At once, the carousel is still.

My world has crashed.

I’ve lost the will 

to run,

I've lost the strength to hide. 

And no excuses will abide 

since the mirror has shown me what’s inside.

Then I found that

playing the game of catch-me-if-you-can

is not something our Father will do.

I had to stop running, reach out,  

take His hand. 

and listen to Him - then I knew

that He was there all along seeing my plight.
He answered each time I prayed in the night.
He hurt when I hurt and He said when I cried

“I caught you my child, -- 

when I died.”

Diane Gruchow

A letter to God

 

Psalm 51:6-13 (NKLV)

You desire truth in the inward parts, 
and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me hear joy and gladness, . . .

Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities.Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation
and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

Friends, have you ever read Psalm 51 as if it was a personal letter to God from you?  Have you ever felt the strong desire to bathe in the love and forgiveness of our Father?  

As I read Psalm 51 this morning, I thought, not of the bold, overt sins that I’ve committed, but of the hidden part.  This Psalm speaks to me of that part within my heart that harbors unforgiveness, that harbors the pain of past hurts.  It speaks of resentment that I continue to hold on to.  It tells me that God wants me to recognize that truth and to know wisdom.  

So I ask Him to purge those thoughts and feelings from my soul - from my mind. and help me to feel, and to hear the joy of His salvation, of His forgiveness.

And I trust Him, as I have for all these years, to restore that joy into my heart and uphold me, because He is generous and loving.

Love, Diane