Recently, while reading a devotional, I came across a familiar verse:
“Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4
As I read the words, the Holy Spirit nudged me and whispered to my soul. I’ve given you the desires of your heart. I was breathless as I considered the desires I’d surrendered to God over the years and then, in that moment, ticked them off my mental list.
Yes, Lord. Oh, thank you. I responded in reverent awe.
I thought back to the vision I believed God gave me sometime during the early 1990’s. I’ve never been good with dates, but I know my children were still toddlers. He planted a seed of desire in my heart and gave me a glimpse of what was to come. Through the years, He nurtured and tended that seed. But there were many, many times, I wondered if the desire would ever bear fruit.
“Lord, I want to write…” I prayed over and over again.
I finally surrendered the desire to God—the One who’d placed it in my heart in the first place. Lord, I will write for You and You alone. I will write as an act of worship. Not long after, a story began forming in my mind and heart. A story I had to write—first for Him, and then for others if that’s how He led.
Almost two decades after God gave me the original vision, my first book, that story, was published. This week, I leave for an author trip where I’ll speak, sign books, attend author events, and mingle with other writers. My second novel releases in February of next year, and I’m working on my third. I’m awed by God’s goodness.
But more importantly, I’m awed by Him. When I surrendered my desire, when I took my eyes off myself and instead focused on Him, I got to know Him in new ways. I delighted in Him—His majesty, His holiness, His goodness. He became my delight…and my greatest desire.
Now, I love serving Him with the gift He’s given me. But more than that—I love Him. And day-by-day He’s planting new desires in my heart. Desires for my children—that they too will delight themselves in Him. I know their journey to the heart of God may be long and fraught with trials, but my desire for my young men is that they will hunger and thirst after God.
What are the desires of you heart?
What or who is your greatest delight?
Ginny L. Yttrup
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