Over time, I am learning that love can be messy and not always easy. That there is constant tension and never enough space. That it can look pretty on the outside but dust and dirt resides under the rugs and clutter is in the closets. That there is no such thing as picture perfect because we are broken and something is always in need of repair. Even so, we call it home and love lives here.<\/p>\n

My home growing up was not perfect but without a doubt I know that love lived there. My parents choose to love in the messy and they stayed put in the tension, lack of space and endless repairs. The home they provided grounded me. More importantly I was given a firm foundation in Jesus. I am so grateful for this. Over time and with more perspective I am able to see just what my parents truly sacrificed so that I would have a solid foundation in which to build my own home on.<\/p>\n

I know many who have been given this foundation and what a blessing it has been. I am also aware of many who lived with the mess and tension and where the broken was beyond repair.\u00a0 Where love did not come easy or maybe it did not come at all. Where there was too much space, sparkle and picture perfect but no comfort to be found.\u00a0 I am inspired and encouraged by many who have lived with little or without and are now making brave and better choices for their own families. They are learning that love does not always come easy but we can choose to make the needed repairs,\u00a0 pick up the messy broken pieces, create space and welcome love in.<\/p>\n

While we are broken and far from perfect we serve a God who perfectly loves us. A God who can take our messy broken lives and our hearts in need of repair and create something new, whole and beautiful. He can make space in our homes for love to live if we are willing to open the door and welcome Him in. We need not clean under the rugs or organize our closets before we allow Him in. He already knows all our messy places and guess what, He doesn’t care. God loves us, regardless.<\/p>\n

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord\u2019s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge\u2014that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:16-19 NIV<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Free Printable – Home Is Where Love Lives<\/h3>\n

<\/a>This printable was the first one that my husband and I created. I wanted a reminder in our own home that love is a choice we must make, sometimes daily (sometimes more often) and that we can’t do it without Jesus. He is the glue that binds us together and makes us whole again. May this simple print be a blessing to your hearts and homes.<\/p>\n

Download Free Printable<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over time, I am learning that love can be messy and not always easy. That there is constant tension and never enough space. That it can look pretty on the outside but dust and dirt resides under the rugs and clutter is in the closets. That there is no such thing as picture perfect because […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,11],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/home_is_where_love_lives.jpg?fit=600%2C600&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YMk4-3D","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":263,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions\/263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.magnoliaheart.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}