I’ve been taught to distrust my heart, to silence the unction and voice from within.  This has often made me dependent on voices external to me. It has also left me immobilized, waiting for approval and affirmation from others.  Now, this is not an anti-people rant.  Community, relationships, and connection to others is vitally important.  It is the confirmation and evidence of our humanity.  However, connection to others is not intended to supplant an awareness of our unique, individual identity. After all, the “we” cannot exist unless “I” bring myself into it. A little alphabet soup: U enhances I.

But in my faith experience, I have observed difficulty in the messaging that encourages people to understand themselves in the context of community and to maintain an appreciation of the self even before God, Almighty.  In our reliance on the Spirit of God to control our lives and activities, we have excessively degraded the very one that God values: me.

You should give yourself a little more credit; God obviously does.  The scripture says, God will give you the desires of your heart.  It is necessary to clarify that the condition of granting that desire is that you have presumably made the Lord, His priorities, and His affections the delight of your heart.  As you delight in Him, your heart will be molded and crafted to pant and long after that which reflects the interests of the One you love and enjoy.

“So how do I ensure that I’m not following bad desires in my heart,” you might ask?

We should frequently examine our heart instead of denying it to investigate our desires using a rubric that allows us to measure what is worthy and what might perhaps be tainted response to life. My rubric I call the Spirit of God and what I am convicted by which are the inspired WORDs He has given. Some have a different philosophy or rubric by which they measure the true weight of their desires. When my heart fails, I attempt to do a post-mortem examination to determine the falsehoods and the blockage that may have led to the heart break.  Ultimately, I develop confidence speaking out of the desires of my heart- because I do check-ups with a certified physician.

One of the scriptures that has become a guiding principle in my life is when Jesus, seeing that the man was not well, asks the infirmed man of 38 years, “Do you want to be well?” I have understood that to be the question that opens the doors of opportunity to obtain what you desire in life: The question translated is: WHAT DO YOU (really) WANT? What is the true desire of your heart? Because if your desire can be located, discovered and UNcovered, then we will probably find the conviction, passion, determination, faith, and endurance to realize it.

So instead of running away from or even discrediting the desires (the wants) of your heart, hold them up for examination. Give yourself permission to touch them and understand them because in truth they may reflect an ETERNAL purpose that God had hidden in you from eternity that’s been there all the time waiting to be revealed. And there are also times when the breaking of the heart, releases TRUE desire much like the fragrance that escapes a broken vessel.

The Benediction

I leave you with this beautiful Irish Blessing: “May the road rise up to meet you.” Whatever path you are on as you walk, I believe that all of the created world (things seen and unseen) will rise up to serve and bless you in honor of and obedience to their CREATOR. This is a time in my life when God’s promise is

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Isaiah 30:21  There are times when you have to begin with THE WALK before you get clarity on the direction or destination. But as you walk, may the ROAD and the PATH rise up to meet your  exercise of faith.–NOW WALK IT OUT!