“In my Father’s house are many rooms…I go to prepare a place for you…And I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:2)

It was a funeral for a dear Christian sister who had lived for sixty years with the effects of a major brain injury resulting from an accident when she was just three years old. She wasn’t expected to survive that accident. She did survive, however, she lived with the long-term effects of that brain trauma.

One of the observable effects was something that her family came to call “her spot.” Everyone knew that she was very particular about her spot. She had a spot at the dinner table where she sat every meal. If someone else were to be in “her spot” it would really cause her to have a real increase in anxiety. She also had “her spot” at church. If she arrived to find someone else in “her spot” that Sunday her family said it would really throw her off for the rest of the day.

When her health began failing, she found “her spot” at the assisted living home and in a particular chair. And when the Lord called her home, her family gathered around the grave often referred to as a final resting spot.

This really got me thinking about how all of us need our “spot.” While not all of us suffered a brain injury, we each have suffered a heart injury. That injury has made us feel lost when it comes to our identity and how we fit in with others. In fact, each of us is looking for our spot in this world.

And sometimes we believe we find it. And when we think we have found it, we will do everything we can to keep it. But this thought is where another realization from this dear sister’s story came to me.

OUR “SPOTS” CHANGE.

When she was born, her spot was in her home with her parents. After the accident, her spot became a hospital room where she spent a month in a coma. After a divorce, she moved into her spot living in her parents’ home. And after her health failed, she found her spot in assisted living.

But it was when Jesus called her home that she found her final spot. Jesus promised her that this was going to be her spot at her baptism. Jesus described her spot this way…
“In my Father’s house are many rooms…I go to prepare a place for you…And I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:2)

Jesus has a spot for every sinner. He opened up new rooms in His Father’s house through His death on the cross. His victory over the grave gave Him the right to invite sinners into His Father’s house. There is a spot for you. Hear and accept the invitation from Jesus today:
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in Me.”

Prayer
Lord Jesus, it is with deep gratitude that we thank You for Your love, for Your mercy and for Your compassion. We thank You that You have called us to be Your own. We thank You that even when we have lost our true identity, our created identity because of our sin, You give to us this new life and You adopt us back into Your family where we were meant to be.

Lord, help each of us to find our spots not only in this world, but help us to recognize that our final spot is with You. With that hope and with that joy, fill us with confidence as we walk through this. And it’s in Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

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