longings

Do you have those things that lie deep inside you that you desire? Longings? Are they so strong sometimes that you feel them physically? Do you push them down, afraid to admit them to yourself let alone to someone else?

Several years ago, I heard a Catholic sister tell this story:

She wanted to become a nun but she wasn’t sure that was God’s will or hers. She said that she had a dream. She knew that in this dream, she was seeking wise counsel to help her make this decision. During the course of the dream she saw three people who she considered to be wise but for some reason, she didn’t present her dilemma to them. She then saw a little boy and felt compelled to ask him what to do. She said “Should I be a sister?” He looked at her, thought for a moment and said “ Well...do you wanna?”

She knew at that moment, that her deepest longing was placed in her by God. Why do we, so many times, think that if it's something we desire, it can’t possibly be of God? We tend to think that if he wants us to do it, we will find it difficult or distasteful. The answer contained in the dream speaks of the beautiful simplicity of God and how complicated we often want to make things.

Of course we want to be wise and make sure that our desires are in line with the Word, and with what we know about God’s character. But how comforting is it to think that the deepest desires of our heart are, most likely, placed there by God and he may be waiting for us to move into them?

I invite you to take time today and write down, on paper, some of your deepest desires. Don’t be afraid to name them and then offer them up to God and ask him to show you what the next step may be. Just acknowledging that they are there is a huge first step.

Grace and peace,
Deb