Skip to main content

The Desires of My Redeemed Heart

"Please be with the marriages in this church. Be with the men. Make them fathers who selflessly lead their families with wisdom and love. And be with the mothers as they teach their children. Bless their patience and help them as they serve in their homes. Bless the children, keep them in your care that they will grow to love you. And be with the singles and give them the desires of their hearts. Amen."

The desires of their hearts. 

Hmmm.

What does that even mean? I hear people pray like this often and I always wonder what that prayer translates into. Has anyone ever stopped and asked a single person what the desires of his/her heart are? Or do we simply assume that the only desire a single person has is to be married and have a family? I can't speak for all singles but I wouldn't be surprised if for many that doesn't make it into the list of "top five desires". I'm sure, just as we are all made different but equal, that our desires vary from one person to another. However, here are a few of mine. 

1. To be beautiful in God's sight as I live before His face
2. Forgiveness for failing Him all the time
3. To be content with the fact that the King of the universe is the Lover of my soul and Keeper of my heart.
4. To always have a gracious answer flowing from a gracious heart 
5. To live life to the fullest as I run to heaven 



Yes, it can be hard to keep perspective. Yes, there is a hole in my heart labeled  "husband" and another with "family" but those holes are always and ever being filled with the love of Jesus. There is never a day when His grace and love are not sufficient for my needs. What more could I desire than to be wholly His?


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Body Image (1)

Contentedly situated in lawn chairs with our toes in the sand and the baby playing on a blanket at our feet, my friend and I watch her girls digging holes or running between the beach and the lake. Periodically, the girls run up to us to display the shells and rocks they've found. At one point, as the girls surround us, one of us adults comments on the baby being chubby (which she is, as a baby should be) after which one of the girls looks at me and says, "you're kind of chubby." She wasn't trying to be rude or smart, she was just being bluntly observant as children are. As I looked at I her and considered an answer, I thought of the baggage of body image that women have carried for generations, and I thought, I don't want her to carry this baggage too. I want better for her.   I replied, "you know, being a little chubby is actually a good thing. Our bodies function better and it helps keep us warm." This deep lesson was probably lost on her as she s...

Personal Pragmatism

 Pragmatism is the philosophy that believes things have value based on their effectiveness; the idea that if something works it is right. Usefulness is most important. And this philosophy is thriving in our culture today, partly because it is so sneaky. Of course we want to use systems that are effective and produce good results, but the danger lies in only valuing something or someone for what they can do. For example, certain people are not very useful, therefore it is okay to remove them from society; or taking care of one's home does not bring in money, therefore it is not as valuable as work that does produce money.  John Snyder says that "in religion, pragmatism values God; but it values Him because He is the most useful of all beings. He can empower us to accomplish our goals--world evangelism, healthy families, personal fulfillment, moral excellence--whatever they are. A useful God is the pragmatist's great desire. Though hard to spot at times, the shift from worsh...

Wasted Gifts? Wasted Time?

You know how you can read the Bible twice, ten times, a hundred times and yet there's still something you haven't noticed or thought about before? That's basically my relationship with 1 Samuel 16:12-23. This is where Samuel anoints David to be king (first he had to meet all David's other brothers because David was the youngest so he was out taking care of the sheep). After the family dinner with Samuel, the text shifts back to King Saul. Because King Saul had disobeyed God, God had removed His Spirit from Saul and sent an evil spirit to terrorize him. In order to sooth the king's suffering soul, Saul's servants go out looking for someone who can play music to make him feel better.  There's a lot to think about in these short verses but the verse that struck me is verse 18.  Then one of the young men said, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is a skillful musician, a might man of valor, a warrior, one prudent in speech, and a handso...