Every step you take is going home. It may be knee-deep in trouble, but it is all on the road home. You may be ankle-deep in fear, but it is going home. You may stumble, but you always stumble toward home.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I am almost home!
I love saying that. And I love singing it! Matt Boswell and Matt Papa [who often perform at Keith and Krysten Getty’s SING Conferences] they wrote the hymn “Almost Home” back in 2021. And when I was with Keith and Krysten at the conference, I was stirred to tears when I heard the words. Sitting in a wheelchair? Dealing with pain and breathing problems? Turning 75 this year? I mean, no kidding – I am almost home. And if you are struggling, I want to encourage you with these spirit-inspired words.
“Don't drop a single anchor, we're almost home, Through every toil and danger, we're almost home. How many pilgrim saints have before us gone? No stopping now, we're almost home. That promised land is calling, we're almost home, and not a tear shall fall then, we're almost home. Make ready now your souls for that kingdom come. No turning back, we're almost home, almost home, we're almost home, so press on toward that blessed shore. Oh, praise the Lord, we're almost home. This journey ours together, we're almost home, unto that great forever we're almost home. What song anew we'll sing around that happy throne? Come faint of heart we're almost home. This life is just a vapor, we're almost home. That sun is setting yonder we're almost home. Take courage for this darkness shall break to dawn, oh, lift your eyes we're almost home. Almost home, we're almost home, so press on toward, that blessed shore, oh, praise the Lord we're almost home.”
You can see why it’s on my “Favorites playlist.” And if you’d like to watch Matt Papa sing this beautiful going-home hymn, I’ve posted a link to the YouTube video on joniradio.org. So, sing along because we all need a hymn on our heart when the journey is so long and hard. My journey is like that and for the last year, this is the song that God has me singing. I hear the spirit whisper to me, “Joni, press on toward that blessed shore and praise the Lord while you’re doing it becuase you are almost home.” Oh, what a glorious day that will be! To be with my Jesus, our Jesus.
Charles Spurgeon once wrote, “Every step we take is going home. It may be knee-deep in trouble, but it is all on the road home. We may be ankle-deep in fear, but it is going home. I may stumble, but I always stumble toward home. My afflictions and griefs may cast me down, but they always cast me forward on the road toward heaven. It will soon be over. Come, Christian! Thou art going home!”
And then, Spurgeon adds, “So let us press forward to that which is before, leaving earth and earthly matters more and more, and yielding ourselves more fully to the cords which draw us toward the celestial country. Let us cry, ‘Heavenward, ho!’ Pull up the anchor, spread the sails, and let us go away to the fair country wither Jesus has gone before us.”
Every day in this wheelchair, I am yielding myself more fully to the cords that draw me to the celestial country. My heart is so happy and full. And I’m singing “We Are Almost Home.” So, check out Matt Boswell’s and Matt Papa’s song for yourself; watch the video and sing along at joniradio.org. Again, that’s joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends