Where is my home?

Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from Him-Psalm 62:1 

I woke up this morning with my little grandson on my mind.  How hard it must be for him going back and forth from mommy's house to daddy's house.  He got in trouble last night for saying a bad word and I don't know if he understands why he can say it one place and not the other.  Different rules, different ways of doing things, different atmosphere.  He gets confused at what he calls who.  My heart breaks for him.  Where does he fit?  Where is Henry's house and not just Mommy's house or Daddy's house.  Both parents love him and want to be with him.  Both parents have provided his own space in their homes.  But even as a 2 year old, does he feel split?

I never had to go through this growing up.  My own children didn't have to deal with this either.  My home was where my parents lived.  When I look around at young children today, Henry's situation is more common than both parents living in the same household.  This will be Henry's life until he grows up.

My sister said to me the other day that children with the split home life, never feel totally complete.  Even if they live mostly with one parent, they will forever be the odd kid out (if the parents have more children).  I think she is right but one thing came to mind; God is a God of Restoration.  I told her that God restores what life takes away.  When Henry is older and finds the love of his life, gets married and starts his own family…Family Restored.  He won't have to worry about Mommy's house and Daddy's house because he will have his HOME.

Family shapes us, gives us community, faith and security.  I have great confidence that Henry will be OK and that we can all work together to give him community, faith & security.  His experiences will give him a perspective that I don't have.  Henry is loved by all who know him and I pray that he will always know that.

I do wish it were different for him but that is something I don't have control over.  But I do believe 100% that Henry William VanDyke is in the heart of God.  I know God has His hand over Henry's little life. I believe that God gave us a precious gift when He created Henry.  So we will continue to help him navigate his way through the obstacle course of Mommy's house and Daddy's house.  We won't be perfect and he won't be perfect.  We will however never stop loving him and doing our best to protect and nurture him.  We will show him that whether he is at Mommy's or Daddy's, God is always with him…he is not alone.

The Message Bible puts it this way…God, the one and only-I'll wait as long as he says, Everything I need comes from him, so why not?-Psalm 62:1