God Given Desires?

**A Blog Just For Girls**

I am really excited to write this blog for many reasons, but probably the most because I believe that it will be a source of great encouragement and hope for many young ladies. What I am about to share with you is something that greatly encouraged me yesterday and provided me with what I believe is a more God-ward focus about a topic that is very near and dear to my heart. This is for my sisters in the Lord who are running hard after Him!

Yesterday I had the privilege of meeting with a sister in the Lord who I both respect and admire in so many ways; there are very few Godly woman whom I aspire to be like and whom I see as role-models and examples within my sphere of influence and she is one of them. Anyways, during our conversation she posed a very real question that went something like this..."What do you want to see God do in your life in the next year?" Now of course, me being the girl who has been broken by the Lord for her control, I was a bit caught off guard and didn't know exactly how to respond because in my heart there are many desires I have but I have come to a place of knowing in any moment God can take those desires away or change them if they are not part of His plan. But at the same time there are desires, longings, and things that I yearn for deep within that don't fade away despite my pursuit of the Lord and of holiness, in fact, the closer I get to Him the more these desires seem to grow. So as I shared my heart with her and the desires I had for the upcoming year I had to begin with what was on the forefront of my mind, that being the desire to be married and to have a family, to be able to serve my husband, to serve alongside him and raise kids in the way they should go. Now as I was sharing this I couldn't help but ask her her wisdom/counsel/Godly adivce about the struggle I wrestle with so often. There are countless opinions and countless books all over the spectrum on exactly how a single girl is supposed to approach the desire they have for marriage. I myself have jumped all over the place wrestling in my own heart with what I am supposed to do with these desires and what the biblical and right way is to respond. So my question was, as a Godly young woman who longs for a spouse, where does my heart need to be, and how do I handle that desire. What she shared with me was so encouraging and so TRUE! I spent the rest of the day thinking through what she had said and studying more on my own and I pray that you will be encouraged by what God opened my eyes to.

Contentment...we are told constantly that we need to be content, whether it be content in your job, school, relationships, singleness, it doesn't matter, just be content. But what does it even mean to be content? I looked up the word content and it is described as, "satisfied, at ease, to be selfsufficient ". Jerry Bridges described contentment as, "This is the secret of being content: To learn and accept that we live daily by God’s unmerited favor given through Christ, and that we can respond to any and every situation by His divine enablement through the Holy Spirit." And what does the Bible have to say about being content since we should drive our Truth from here? I believe that the best passage for this comes from Philippians and Paul's experience where we read, "I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength." (Philippians 4:11-13). So when God calls us to be content in our lives, in our circumstances, in our situations, and for me (and many of you reading this) in my current singleness situation what does He really desire? Does He want me to give up my desire to be a wife and a mom? Does He want me to get to a place of being "happy single" so that then He will know I am ready for that person? Does He want me to be happy and overjoyed single? I believe the answer, and biblically so, to all of those questions is No, not necessarily (and I say this because there are case-by case situations which we need to realize motivations and where we are with the Lord). No God does not want me to give up that desire. No God does not want me to be happy and not wanting a husband so then I am ready. No He doesn't want me to be overjoyed being single. No this is not what God wants. So then what on earth does He want when we are told to be content, or satisfied? He wants us to be content and satisfied IN HIM! That means that our joy, our delight, our satisfaction is driving from the source of it, God alone. That means that everyday I have the strength and ability to live because I find my strength in Him. I am content in who I am in Him. I am content and satisfied in what He did for me. I am content knowing He provides for me. Paul says that His secret to contentment is found in the fact that He finds His strength in the Lord through any situation. When I thought about that, read that and meditated on that I couldn't help but think WOW! My contentment merely means that I am sufficient IN HIM apart from this world...I don't need the things of this world, I don't desire sin, I can withstand the trials that come my way, I can be at peace no matter what. Being content has nothing to do with me trying to force myself to be okay by giving up what is a God-given desire. Let me give a quick example...if God had given you the desire to be a pastor, would you try and get rid of that desire? I think not.

**Now sidebar before I continue, please know that when we are seeking fulfillment or satisfaction or contentment in worldly things, then we can be sure that our desires are not coming from God. If our motivations are wrong, and if our pursuit is not of Him, then we are not content in Him. If your desires are not God-honoring or go against His commands then you can also be sure they aren't His!**

So being content must mean that I am satisfied in who He is for me, and once God has enabled you to find that satisfaction and contentment you begin developing within your heart HIS desires for you. Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." To delight means Do you know that as you spend time with the Lord daily, meditating on His Truths and seekign Him through prayer He is going to cultivate within you HIS desires. And when you are delighting, or finding your contentment in Him He is going to give you those desires BECAUSE they are HIS! This is a radical thought my sisters, think about that for a moment...the God of the universe gives you specific desires, that are to fulfill His plan for you. Ephesians 2:10 says that, "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Oh how I am so encouraged by this Truth!

Alright so IF we are content in the Lord then what does that mean I do with my desire for a husband, my desire to be married and to have a family if God doesn't have me in that place, if I am not dating someone, if I am not engaged, if I am not married? I think Jesus is our best model to go to for this. Well, what did Jesus do when He wanted the Father's will? When He wanted the desires of His heart to be completed? HE PRAYED. If the Jesus Christ, the divine one is praying to the Father how much more do we need to do this. Let's look at some examples:

1. Praying before His first preaching tour in Galilee- Mark 1:35-39
2. Praying after the healing of a leper (Luke 5:12-16)
3. Praying before choosing the twelve disciples (Luke 6:12,13)
4. Praying after being rejected by certain cities in Galilee (Matthew 11:25)
5. Praying prior to the feeding of 5000 people (John 6:11)
6. Praying before teaching the Lord's Prayer (Luke 11:1; Matthew 6:9-13)
7. Praying at the grave site of Lazarus (John 11:41, 42)
8. Praying over Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37-39; Luke 19:41-44)
9. Praying in the upper room prior to His death (Matthew 26:26-28)
10. Praying in Gethsemane prior to His death (Mark 14:32-42; Matthew 26:39-46)
11. Praying at the Ascension (Luke 24:50-53)
12. Praying today for the believer (Romans 8:34; I John 2:1; Hebrews 7:25; 9:24)

Here are just 12 examples of Jesus praying, interceeding on behalf of us, and crying out to His Father for strength and the fulfillment of desires/promises. And my sister, we need to do the same, it is crucial! If we have desires we need to be constantly, persisently, and patiently bringing them before the throne room of God EVERY DAY, all the time, telling the Lord our desires, telling the Lord our longings and deepest yearnings and asking Him to fulfill them! We also should be praying that God would prepare us, God would make us ready, He would make us "wife material" so to speak.

But there is one last crucial ingredient to all this praying and asking from the Lord, we MUST believe He can do it. In Matthew 17:20 Jesus Himself said, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Jesus is telling us today as well that we must have "Active Trust" so to speak; which means that we fulfill our faithfulness in prayer and pursuing holiness and finding our joy and contentment in Him through the working of the Spirit BUT we also have to have the faith or the trust that He will and can do what He has promised!

So all this to say, my dear dear sisters, please be encouraged by this foundational truth of contentedness. Remember that your joy, your hope, your satisfaction MUST be found in Him and Him alone no matter where life may have you. But please also remember that if you are there, if you are seeking Him with your whole heart, if you are fighting sin, being faithful with where He has you, and seeking Him first, then know that those desires and longings you are developing are from the Father above and He desires, despite the fact that He knows and has placed them there, for you to come to His feet and tell Him, to ask Him, and to believe with your whole heart that all things are possible through Him who strengthens you.

And remember, "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