The Desire of my Heart

Take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Psalm 37:4

This verse is filled with such hope and promise.  In my journey of faith, I have seen God keep this promise over and over.  I'm so grateful that God sees and knows the desires of my heart.  Truthfully, I have seen that God knows my desires better than I do.  As you probably know, I often said (in my younger days) that I wasn't sure I wanted to have any children.  Now I have five!  That makes me giggle.  And I am so grateful that God has given me each precious gift.

I recently read this quote from John Piper:

"There is only on basic reason why we disobey the commands of Jesus:  it's because we don't have confidence that obeying will bring more blessing than disobeying.  We do not hope fully in God's promise."

I disobey more often than I care to admit.  However, I'm overjoyed that we were obedient to God's call for the plan of our family.  God has given me the desires of my heart....desires that I didn't even know that I had!  I'm sure that ten years ago I would have listed the desire of my heart traveling all over the world and teaching at a university.  God had a different (and better!) plan for my life.

I'm reflecting on this as school starts in our area.  I have enjoyed seeing my friends' first day of school pictures.  Here are some of ours...Savanna goes to Community Christian School.  She drove herself this year.  (still trying to get my brain wrapped around that!)  I am homeschooling the other three.  Davina could barely get her eyes open!

Homeschooling is another area where God has given me the desire of my heart.  With my oldest two, I never considered myself capable to homeschool.  I enjoyed working part-time.  The girls were blessed with awesome school experiences.  Things were good.  But then we decided that Yuly would benefit from homeschool.  So we decided to take the plunge.  

When we made the move to homeschool, it was with fear and trembling.  And I love it.  Truly.  As much as I loved my job, I love homeschooling more.  I tell my girls, a bad day of homeschooling is better than a good day at work.  And I mean it.

As I looked at everyone's pictures of the first day, here is what really struck me.  Most of my friends my age have sent one or more of their children off to college now and many of them now have only one child at home.  (I am definitely of the generation in which two children is the norm).  This easily could have been me:  Audrey off to college, Savanna starting her Junior year.  Only two years until Todd and I would be empty-nesters.

I am so glad that we have still several years (that will undoubtedly fly by!) before we become empty-nesters.  I love Todd.  He is my best friend.  I am always grateful when we have time alone together.  But we both agree that we are so happy that we have awhile before we are empty-nesters.  I know the time will come.  And when we reach that season, I hope it is filled with long walks on the beach with Todd and many visits with grandchildren.  But for now, I am enjoying having children from elementary to college aged.

Ten years ago, I could not have imagined writing these words.  The journey with God is one of adventure...of going places I could have never imagined (or thought I wanted to go!)  But God knows me.  He loves me.  He wants the best for me.  Obeying God, following God ALWAYS brings more blessings than disobedience.  Now, if only I could remember that all the time :)

Oh, and about those desires I thought I had to travel and teach at a university...I guess I was on the right track.  I have traveled...to Colombia and China to adopt my girls.  And I do teach, just not to a group of college students.  And I have no doubt that God's plan has brought me more joy than any desires that I imagined on my own.