Megan's prayer: MercyMe's "Homesick"

I've never been more homesick than now.

One lonely night, while attending school at University of Dayton, I found myself extremely homesick. While I was homesick quite often, this particular evening was one of the worst. My friends and roommates weren't around, and there was no one available online to distract me.

As I sat at my computer, reading all of the away messages of my AIM friends, who all seemed to have more exciting lives than I did at that moment, I ran across this song. I don't remember if it was just the name, or if it was some of the lyrics... but I instantly YouTubed it. I fell in love with the song. That night alone, I probably listened to it a dozen times, followed by countless times throughout the next semesters at Dayton.

Lord, won't you give me strength to make it through somehow.

This became my prayer. I prayed for strength to get me through my homesickness. I prayed for strength to see the good that was coming out of being away from home. I prayed that, at some point, I would view Dayton as my home.

Dayton never became my home. What God did provide me was the strength to make the decision to finally come back home to St. Louis. This song, and that prayer in particular, helped me be less homesick.

While I'm not homesick anymore, hearing this song reminds me of just how wonderful God is, and how although he may not answer the prayers the way I *think* he should, he knows what is best for me.

Chris' prayer: MercyMe's "Homesick"

You're in a better place, I've heard a thousand times
And at least a thousand times I've rejoiced for you
But the reason why I'm broken, the reason why I cry
Is how long must I wait to be with you

I miss you, Mom. Especially now.


YouTube | iTunes | Lyrics

Katie's prayer: MercyMe's "Homesick"

I love this song! It's in the top 25 of the most songs played on my itunes. (And after listening to it non-stop for a while for this, I'm sure it will be moving up.) The one line that ALWAYS sticks out to me, every time I hear it, is:

Help me Lord cause I don't understand your ways
But, even if you showed me, the hurt would be the same

I'm always trying to figure God out and trying to figure out God's plan for my life. Sometimes I wish it would be really easy, and we'd just get this book telling us roughly what's going to happen. I want to know! But then I begin to wonder, would knowing what's going to happen make it any less emotional? Would the knowledge that this person's going to break up with me make the pain any less? Would the knowledge that I'm going to get this job make the joy any more? Probably not. So then what's the point of finding out everything now? Satisfying my own curiosity? That will happen with time, and like I was talking about yesterday, sometimes unexpected is good.

Jen's prayer: Mercy Me's "Homesick"

Help me Lord cause I don't understand your ways

This is a sweet song about being homesick for heaven. I know I especially feel like this when things on this earth just don't make since. As believers, we are called to not be of this world. And when we try to follow God and not be like this world, that's when I get confused. Lately I've been praying that God gives me clarity on what HE wants for me, because I certainly am not understanding things on my own.