Holy WELLNESS

God’s Presence in my Home

BY MELISSA KESSLER, INHC, MA

HE WAS WORKING IN AND AROUND ME.

Home is a place I love, but that wasn’t always so.

As we enter a new year, I have been reflecting on my home and how it has contributed to my family’s wellness. Have you ever considered how your home can affect your health? I hope this article will open your mind and cause you to revisit this question often.

My family and I moved into our new home a year ago—a place I had prayed to God for, maybe even begged for, for quite a few years. Previously, we had moved across the country, leaving behind a house that I thought would be our forever home and moving into a rental townhouse that was nice, but not ideal for our family. Then, God blessed us with a beautiful new place we could call our own.

During our time of transition, my prayers often began, “God, I want a big, beautiful house in a specific location.” For better or worse, I’m a woman who knows what I want. That prayer was not answered to my specifications, and I am pretty sure I know why. God wanted more from me through the home He would provide. He wanted my gratitude. Don’t we all expect gratitude when we give someone a gift? After a long time of praying for the perfect home, my prayers began to change to something more like this: “Lord, I am asking for a home to continue raising my family in that contributes to our wellness and allows us to minister to others.” As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord (Joshua 24:15 KJV).

God didn’t answer my prayer overnight, but I felt Him working after I changed my prayers a bit. He was working in and around me. My heart started opening to new locations and homes that fit our needs, rather than huge homes with more rooms than we ever needed in the perfect location. And one day, I searched, and the perfect home for our family popped up. It was not in the location I had wanted, it wasn’t as big as I wanted, and it didn’t have that beautiful oversized swimming pool in the yard either. But I immediately knew it was the perfect home for our family.

When we initially moved into the house, when I arrived home, I felt like I wasn’t in the right place. It wasn’t where I wanted to be. But I kept reminding myself that God gave us this home to get our kids through their middle and high school years and enable us to open the doors up to our friends and family, small groups from church, and whoever else we could minister to.

Now, I can say that our home has been built on the foundation of God, is full of His presence, and is a place where we worship Him daily. When I step foot across the threshold, I immediately feel peace, serenity, tranquility, and joy. His presence is always here, and that is what has made this home truly feel like mine.

As a person who believes that our wellness should be one of our top priorities, I can assure you that having God in the home is where it all starts. Our wellness involves many things, including the food we eat, the exercise we partake in, the products we use, the relationships we hold, our stewardship, whether we are living out our calling, our fulfillment levels, the amount of stress we allow into our lives and how we manage it, the condition of our home, and most importantly our relationship with our Creator.

Last year, I didn’t exactly meet all of those wellness goals, but yielding to God and trusting His will for our home has allowed my relationship with Him to become much deeper. Even though I know my wellness routines will continue to improve, I know their basis rests on God’s presence in my home at all times, allowing me to achieve the wellness goals I have set.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. (MATTHEW 7:24-27 ESV)

What can you do in your home to feel God’s presence and improve your wellness this year?

Here are some suggestions:

• Play worship music throughout your home

• Place Bibles around as part of your aesthetic

• Stack Christian books on open shelves

• Simplify your home—minimalism has changed my life

• Decorate your walls with scripture art—we have a big framed scripture in the center of our home reminding everyone who visits our home that we serve the Lord; I believe this changes everything for every person who enters

• Invite people you love into your home, and don’t feel uncomfortable playing worship music while they are present

• Prepare a space where you sit with God every day—it’s hard to avoid spending some time with Him when you see the space

Wellness begins in the home. How you live, what you eat, and the foundation of your home determines the rest of your life. May the presence of the Lord in your home be reflected in your overall wellness.

AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD. (JOSHUA 24:15 KJV).

Melissa is a wife and mom of tween and teen boys who are a huge inspiration in her life. She is a best-selling author who leads workshops and retreats to help women encounter a wellness journey and find rest and stillness amidst the busy lives they live so they can experience a peace that surpasses all understanding (Phil 4:7). She has been practicing holistic wellness as an entrepreneur for over ten years. Learn more from Melissa on all social media platforms @melissakesslerwellness or focus on wellness in the home @kesslerhomeanddesigns