““Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.””

— PSALMS 37:4

It was a rainy afternoon in Soho, New York. I walked briskly through the Manhattan crowd as raindrops intruded the soles of my brand new loafers, but I didn’t mind. Don’t get me wrong, the kind of weather I usually enjoy includes lots of warmth and sunshine but on this particular Saturday in March I welcomed the slight discomfort, certain that each step brought me closer to the place where God’s promise awaited me.

Let me explain…

In 2018 I came across a woman on YouTube with a powerful testimony of losing a spouse at the age of 26. At the time, I myself was enduring so much and was in awe of her ability to say, “despite everything, God is good.” It inspired me to take my focus off of my pain and place it where it belongs, on Jesus.

Throughout the years, I continued to follow her journey of faith and healing and would periodically say in the most nonchalant way, “one day I’'ll meet her, and I’ll tell her in person how her story has impacted me”. I said the words fully believing, but never attempting to make it happen. I simply spoke and God was listening.

Through a series of events that could only be God-ordained I learned of a workshop this woman was hosting for the very first time in my city. I prayed and told God that if it were in His will I would be there. I left it at that and as smoothly as the opening of an automatic door, the way was made.

Every now and again we look up and realize almost out of the blue that we are living in an answered prayer. It is often in hindsight that we have these epiphanic moments where it becomes evident that God had taken our heart’s desires and intertwined it into the fabric of our lives. Those instances are so dynamic and produce feelings of awe and gratitude to God. It’s usually while we are already indulged in the answered prayer that we reminded that our present reality was once mere words poured out to God.

That, however, wasn’t the case for me on that day. I walked towards the brick building on the corner of Canal Street and entered the loft studio fully cognizant of the fact that a desire of my heart was unfolding right before me. I spent the afternoon drenched in tears of gratitude and surrounded by an army of women who had also been impacted by Michelle’s testimony.

As I sat there, it dawned on me that God had taken a desire that I had never prayed over, I had only spoken it, a desire that seemed insignificant in the grand scheme of my life and He placed it right in the palm of my hands. I felt so seen. So cherished. So considered. So loved.

And it wasn’t the first time…

Exactly 5 years ago to the day this post is being written I boarded a plane in Salzburg, Austria that landed in Frankfurt, Germany and after 8 hours that plane would landed at JFK airport ending a whirlwind trip that took me 3,500 miles away from home. For as long as I could remember, one of the greatest desires of my heart was to travel the world and in 2018 I sat in the audience of my life as God answered prayers that had been tucked away in my heart; desires that at one point seemed impossible. I watched in amazement as places and monuments that I had pasted on vision boards for consecutive years came to life before my very eyes.

The Swiss Alps in Salzburg, Austria. Schloss Leopoldskron. 2018

Growing up in church, I had a firm understanding that God provides what we need, but what about the things we want? In a world so fueled by fulfilling the desires of the flesh I know that we, as Christians, have been called to something different, something better. A life that is led by the desires of God’s Holy Spirit in us.

So again, I ask what do we do with the desires of our heart? Those hopes, dreams, and visions that try as we might, we can’t seem to shake? Should we bury them and pretend as if they simply do not exist? Where do we place them? After all, God is not a genie existing solely to grant our every wish. This awareness had created and internal struggle to understand the appropriate role my desires play in this walk with Christ.

Thankfully, the Bible gives clear instructions. “Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” According to Oxford Dictionary to delight means to find “great pleasure” in a person or thing. God promises us that if we find our joy, peace, and ultimate fulfillment in Him and not in a fleeting opportunity or circumstance then He can trust us enough to give us the very things we desire. Additionally, I have learned that some of the desires that exist in our hearts were placed there by God in the first place. As a result, He is eager to fulfill them once we surrender our lives to Him. Fully.

If I’m honest, after years of believing the doctrine that God only provides for our needs, this was very hard for me to digest. So I began to search the Word of God for answers. Here is what I learned:

Left to right. @sopharush, yours truly.
I was pleasantly surprised to also meet another powerful woman of God who’s story I have followed along over the years at this event.

God is concerned about everything that concerns us. Psalms‬ ‭37‬:‭23‬ (‭NLT‬‬) reads, “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.”
He is a Father in the most natural and real way and like any good Father He wants to see His children smile. ”Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of lights [the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens.” James 1:17
He is the Giver of good gifts and wants you to trust Him enough to ask Him. “If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:11.
It reminded me of how I’d purchase a lollipop for my nephew on the way home from work, just for the sake of seeing him smile. How beautiful it is to be loved by God who loves us this way.

Now let me be clear, this does not mean that we will receive every single thing we pray for. I’m sorry to tell you that is simply not true. As a good Father, God will never adhere to our cravings and comfort over our calling. Further, once we are submitted to God, the desires He grants are ultimately for our good and solely at His discretion. What it does mean, however, is as we surrender our hearts and lives to God, as He becomes our focus, He will occasionally peer into our hearts and gift us with the desires He finds there and I assure you, it will be well worth it.

The Desires Of Your Heart..