My dream is different now.

I am so thankful for the people God places in my life. A couple of the great men I know from Relevant Community Church put together a video to help me tell my story. To help me portray what God has begun doing in me and what He will be faithful to complete. If you haven't seen it, I'm working on posting it on here. My technology skills are sad, and this is just one minor example. In the video, they pulled out some things I said that I didn't necessarily realize I said.

It sounded weird to hear me say it, but it's true. My dream is different now.

Anyone who knew me intimately a few years ago could attest to this. My dream for myself was the American dream. The midwest, small-town dream. I wanted the hard-working husband, respectable house, and dream job teaching position. I'm not saying those don't all sound nice, but I know that at this point in time that is not the dream that God has for me.

God made me a promise a long time ago when it was written, "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4

What a beautiful promise! And yet, so many of us are frustrated because we feel like this is an unkept promise. We think we know the desires of our heart, and that God is failing to come through. It's a little ridiculous how much we twist this scripture! Too many people only read the second half of that verse and forget the first. No. Stop it. I have a question for you. Are you, first of all, delighting yourself in the Lord?

I can't honestly say that I know what it means to fully delight in the Lord. But, I do know that the word has a pleasant connotation. It sounds happy. Content. Joyful. Peaceful. Loving. Am I finding that these adjectives describe my relationship with the Lord? If not, then how do we get to that point? I challenge you to investigate what a real relationship looks like, and test it out on Jesus.

It's not until we are wholly and completely in love with Jesus that many of our desires are fulfilled. Isn't that funny how it all works together? My dream is different now, and it's because my desires are different now. My desires are different because I worship a God that is in ultimate control. My life is to be lived as a life of praise. Truly, that is all I desire. And, God is fulfilling it. I don't know what my desires will be a year from now. But, I can tell you that because I will live a life focused on Christ, my desires will be Christ-given. Because they are from God alone, they, too, will be fulfilled.

Yes, my dream is different now. Praise God.