There has been a passage from Psalms that has been on my heart ever since my time in Haiti. I have been reading through the Psalms while on the race. Psalm 37 verse 4 says “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” I was struggling with this verse while sitting on the hill of Canaan over looking the beautiful mountains and ocean of Haiti. Is this verse really true? What if my desires are not what God wants for me? I did not feel that I had gotten the desires of my heart yet.
One morning in Mozambique God revealed to me how he has worked this verse in my life. Sitting on the porch of the house we have been living in Mozambique journaling the thought that wow I’m in Africa hit me. I begin to thank God for bringing me to Africa and on a trip where I could go around the world and experience so many cultures. I thanked God for the money and support to get me on this trip. I never thought I would be able to go to Africa let alone 11 or more countries. As I was thanking God for these things I realized that these have been desires of my heart. I have dreamed of traveling the world. I had always wanted to go to Africa. I realized that God really has given me the desires of my heart, but it did not stop there.
I thought back to my time in Thailand. One of the main things I wanted to experience on the race was to minister to the women in the bars. There was a point where I had to lay down that desire because I did not know if it was going to happen. I told God that this is my desire but I will serve where ever you send me. In the end I ended up ministering to women in the bars in Chiang Mai. It was an incredible month of ministry for me.
Then God reminded me of earlier this month. I found out that one of the ministries the race was going to work with in Mozambique was Iris Ministries. I had read two books this year about this ministry and desperately wanted to work with it. But when our leaders announced what teams were going there, Bling was not one of them. I was heart broken, but I again told God I would serve wholeheartedly wherever you send me. In all the craziness of our travel to Mozambique we could never get in touch with our contact so back in South Africa they were able to set us up with a ministry in Chimoio which happened to be part of Iris Ministries.
I began to see how God has given me the desires of my heart. The key has been when I have laid down my will to his. I have chosen to delight in the Lord and he has rewarded my obedience with the delights of my heart. God cares just as much as we do about our desires and dreams. He wants us to be happy and filled with joy. He always wants us to be so in love with him and seeking his desire for us. The more we seek Jesus and seek to walk in the plan he has for us, the more our heart matches his and we receive the desires of our heart.
