When You Feel Like You Don’t Belong Anywhere

By the time Breanne Eckman was 17, she had moved six

times and changed schools almost as often. She was what people

call a third culture kid, someone who grows up moving

between countries and picking up pieces of each one. It sounds

like an adventure, and in a lot of ways it was, but it came with

a question she couldn't shake. When someone asked, where are

you from? She never had a quick answer. She wasn't fully from

her passport country, and she wasn't fully from any of the

places she'd lived. She belonged a little bit everywhere and not

really anywhere. Under all the moving and the goodbyes, Breanne

had a question she couldn't answer. If she belonged nowhere,

she had no idea who that made her. We'll come back to the

answer Breanne found, but

first, welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. I'm

Bart Leger. For I worked full-time as a first responder

and served as a chaplain at the same time. I swapped those two

roles in the same day, sometimes more than once. On a call, I was

one of the guys, and an hour later, I was the one they wanted

praying over a family. While I was useful in both roles, I was

never all the way at home in either one. To the guys, I was

the chaplain, and to a lot of church folks, I was the one who

worked a I got good at moving between them, and I never

stopped noticing that I was moving. Some Christians go years

feeling like they don't quite fit anywhere. The people at work

don't share your faith, so there's a layer of your life

really they can't go into. The old friends have drifted, and

you keep looking for the community where you'd finally

belong, and it keeps not arriving. What makes it

confusing is that you have done what you think is all the right

things. You joined the church, you brought the dish to the

potluck, and you stayed after to help clean up, and you still

feel apart from everyone else. The writer of Hebrews has a

description of God's people that refers to their sense of not

belonging. It's in Hebrews 11, 13 through 16. All these people

still died believing what God had promised them. They did not

receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance

and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and

nomads here on earth. Obviously, people who say such things are

looking forward to a country they can call their if they had

longed for the country they came they could have gone back. But

they were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That

is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has

prepared a city for them." Look at how that passage opens. They

died, still believing, and they didn't receive what was promised.

The writer leads with the not arriving. Then look at the words

he uses. "Foreigners" and "nomads". A nomad is someone

living temporarily in a place with no citizenship rights. He's

describing a legal status. These people were resident aliens.

Here's the part almost nobody notices. Verse 15: "If they had

longed for the country they came from, they could have gone back.

The road home was open the entire time. Nobody was holding

them. They stayed displaced on purpose year after year because

of where they were headed." Now look at Verse 16: "It opens by

pointing back at everything we just read. That is why God is

not ashamed to be called their God. He ties His own name to

people who wouldn't settle for the old country." and then the

last "He has prepared a city for them. The belonging already

exists. God built it and it's waiting for them." which means

the thing you've been

auditioning churches and groups for hasn't addressed you haven't

The belonging already exists. God built it and it's waiting

for them. And then the last line. "He has prepared a city for The

belonging already exists. God built it and it's waiting. Which

means the thing you've been auditioning churches and groups

for has an address you haven't. So the not fitting may be

telling you which direction you're facing. There's no

perfect place this side of heaven. Every church and group

is filled with broken people like you and me. Breanne's

question about where she was had no good answer. Now, two things

to do with that. The first is to hold it loosely. Quit asking any

group of people to be the end all be all. No church and no

friendship was built for that job. Then take what God gives

you and receive it as a gift. The Sunday school class where

two people know your situation. The fellow believer at work who

prays with you in the parking lot. Those pieces were handed to

you on the way. People who decided nothing here will ever

fit have a habit of walking right past them. Breanne came to

an answer that gave her life meaning and belonging. She

realized her identity was never going to come from a country or

a culture. It came from Christ.

And that belonging didn't change when the address did. She wrote

that the gospel set her free because it gave her a home that

no move could ever take away. from, but she finally knew who

she was. And that turned out to be the question that mattered.

Notice what changed for her. The question went from where to

whose. She couldn't answer the first one in a hundred moves.

The second one was settled the day she came to Christ. Here's

today's challenge. Write down the group you've been hoping

would finally feel like home. A church or an old circle of

friends. Then tell God you're releasing that group from a job

it was never given. Then make a list of the pieces of belonging

you already have. Even if it's just one or two. Reach out to

someone else this week and thank God for what you do have. And

read Hebrews 11: 16 before bed. God isn't ashamed to be called

your God and he has a city built for you. Father, you called your

people foreigners and nomads and you are not ashamed to be called

their God. Thank you that you've prepared a city and that the

belonging we've been hunting for is already built for us. For

everybody listening who's tired of not fitting. Give them rest

about it and help them receive the pieces of home you've handed

them along the way. In Jesus' name. Amen. This podcast runs on

the generosity of listeners just like you. If Daily Devotions for

Busy Lives has encouraged you would you consider supporting it

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Every contribution helps keep these devotions coming every

week. You can give at

DailyDevotionsforBusyLives.com/support . Thank you so much, and thanks

for joining me on Daily Devotions for Busy Lives.

Remember, God's not ashamed to be called the God of people who

never quite fit here on planet Earth. He has a city ready for

you. Come back next time for more encouragement to help you

live grounded in God's truth. Until then, God bless and have a

great day.