Check

Check

While cleaning and organizing recently, I uncovered a treasure I didn’t know I still possessed. Some years back I purchased a mostly blank book and filled its pages with pure, unfiltered desire. Or more appropriately, desires. Like a third grader gone wild, I drew, wrote, and made outrageous lists of things I’d dreamed of but had never said out loud to anyone. I spilled out in fuchsia and berry-blue ink a whole trove of hopes and wishes, and then I quietly put the book away.

Until just the other day.

I found it, opened its cover, and began thumbing through its pages. When I did, I discovered that my heavenly Father has brought many of those forgotten dreams to pass, most of them without any help from me.

I dreamed of a house with a porch swing. (Check.) A tiny study with floor-to-ceiling books. (Check.) A good horse. (Not just yet.) A godly husband. (Ditto.) A book written in my name, not someone else’s. (Check, check, and check.) Opportunities to teach God’s Word to women. (Check.) The chance to skydive. (Check.) A trip to Paris. (Check.)

As I ran my fingers over line after line, I blinked back tears. God had literally given me the desires of my heart. Not just made my halfhearted wishes come true but placed strong, specific desires deep in my heart that he meant all along to fulfill—to remind me of his love and to show his power. To cause my lips to praise him and my happy tears to bless his name. To remind me that he knows the good plans he has for me.

Are there some longings I’m still waiting for his hand to fill? Oh yes, there are. But they pale (truly!) in comparison with what he has already done. He knows me. He knows my heart. And he’s not offended when I go childlike on him and hope wildly for his eyes only. He welcomes my wanting. Designs it even. For my own good and for his great glory.

Because even when I’ve forgotten my dreams, he remembers. (Check.)

I’m thanking you, GOD, out loud in the streets, singing your praises in town and country. The deeper your love, the higher it goes; every cloud is a flag to your faithfulness.

Psalm 57:9-10, MSG