Don’t be afraid to let God know your desires… they may just have come from Him!

It was December 14, 1962 and the next evening I was driving from Bible School home to Chicago. I had a ring to offer the girl I deeply loved.

But was she God’s choice for my life?

I’m not sure how you attempt to discover God’s will for you, but to me, God’s will was like a tiny dot on the wall that I was supposed to hit dead center from 50 feet away. Maybe your theology makes it easier on you than that, but that was my theology.

God’s will was very important to me… and I wanted to be absolutely sure she was His choice, too.

So with my tension-filled heart beating loudly within me I said: “Father, I’m about to give a ring to someone tomorrow night, so if she isn’t the one you’d choose for me, it will get really complicated if I don’t know that before giving the ring.”

Take this as you wish, but God asked me (in an almost audible voice) “Paul, do you know why you have fallen in love with her?”

I started my prepared list: “She’s beautiful, loves you immensely, is desired by all the guys in our youth group and she can hit a softball further than any of us!” That’s as far as I got when He interrupted me. “No, you fell in love with her because I put that love for her in your heart!”

Many are acquainted with Psalm 37:4 which says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” KJV  Unfortunately this doesn’t mean God will give us anything we want if we’re religious and go to church regularly.

What God is looking for are people who love Him and trust Him with the decisions in their lives… from the small to the huge.

• Do you trust God’s heart rather than your own yearnings?
• Do you actually believe He wants what is best for you?
• Are you willing to trust Him enough to give Him ‘veto’ power over your personal dreams? 

When we delight in Him, recognize that He loves us lavishly, knows precisely what additions to our lives will make us happy, satisfied and useful for His purposes… He will literally put in our hearts the desires that we should have (and then assumed have come from our own hearts.) It’s an incredible partnership!

Remember, God trusts those who first trust Him.

P.S. The girl got the ring on December 15^th, 1962, were married August 10, 1963 and will soon celebrate 60 years of an extraordinary marriage!