When God's desires become Yours

A few posts ago, we talked about throwing temper tantrums when God doesn't give us exactly what we want. A sure sign of Christian maturity is watching the thing we want most walk away from us and being able to say, "God, it wasn't your will for me, so I'm OK with that."

Christian growth is about getting to the point in your life where your desires for your life is what God desires for your life. It takes years of trusting God and years of developing your faith, but when you get to that place, it's one of the most amazing experiences.

Of course, most times I write a post, it's out of my own experiences. So here I am now, on the lonely road, watching the one thing I prayed and asked God for specifically (I actually stood and pointed at it and said "God, I want THAT one"), walk away from me. My heart is a little sad, but that's because I'm human, not because I'm mourning. My desires for my life is what God desires for me.

I'm a little amazed at myself because only a few short months ago, I would have thrown a temper tantrum and today I'm totally calm, that's how I know that God has been doing amazing work in me.

So what's the next step? What do you do when the one thing you wanted is no longer in the picture? Well, you wait of course. Over the course of the fifteen years I've been a Christian, I've learned that God never takes something away from you just for the sake of doing so, He does it because it's in the way of the REAL thing that he wants to give you. That excites me for one awesome reason. In the party of life, God is the one guest you always invite because he always brings  an AMAZING gift.

Christian maturity has the added bonus of keeping you focused whilst God gets your gift ready. Whilst He does that, you must be ready yourself because His gifts ALWAYS have conditions.  Christian maturity is about the marriage of faith, hope and trust. When these three come together, it is easy to remain focused on the ultimate goal, not on the one thing you wanted which slipped out of your grasp.

So today, don't mourn for what you have lost, but be joyful, because the gift your God is preparing must be something really awesome!
Be blessed!

Joana James - Author of From Redemption to Maturity,   Nightmare at Emerald High & Alana and Alyssa's Secret & Finding Romeo