Last Updated on May 3, 2019 by Stacy Averette
What are you passionate about? What do you love to do even if no one paid you to do it? What is it that you can’t help doing no matter how tired or busy you might be?
Why even answer the question, “What is the desire of my heart?” Does it even matter?
Psalm 37 says, “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
I believe the desires of our heart are often simple things right in front of us but we overlook them in our pursuit of bigger and better things. We think we want certain things, especially things others around us might have—wealth, material possessions, or achievements. But are they the desire of YOUR heart or do you desire them because you think you should or someone told you it’s what you should desire?
I’m asking you a lot of questions because I want to help you think about what you really want, to consider that it might already be right in front of you and because I believe contentment brings joy.
The Desire of My Heart
I find myself trying to outrun the clouds again. Perfect blue skies turn gray and the sun-shielding umbrella catches drops of water. I close my eyes and ask another “Why?” Why do I blog? What’s the point of sharing anything with anyone?
Blogging is dead. I hear it all the time. I wonder, “Should I quit?”
It’s good to remind myself (and you dear friend) of what desire looks (and what it doesn’t!). So I ask myself the questions I asked you at the beginning:
- What are you passionate about?
- What do you love to do even if no one paid you to do it?
- What is it that you can’t help doing no matter how tired or busy you might be?
Here’s what I came up with:
• I love to communicate—to share with family, friends, strangers, anyone who will listen—about my ordinary days, where the mundane becomes sacred.
• Whether it’s a delicious new recipe, a thrift store find, a trip I took, a celebration we enjoyed, a book I read, something God taught me through His Word or life experience, I love to talk about it. Words always take center stage in my dreams.
• I’m passionate about life. Always have been. I love to tell stories about my days as a small-town country girl, challenges in the “big city” at university and seminary, life in ministry, parenting, marriage, and just about every other ordinary event in daily life.
• For me, it’s not that I want or need to be the center of attention or that I think I’m better or that my life is more interesting than yours. I am a communicator. Always have been. I can talk your ears off about Jesus or fried okra. I can’t help it. I’ve tried to keep quiet, just listen. And I do that when I need to but I just can’t help but share what a wonderful life this is.
• My purpose is not to paint some pictures of “the perfect life” or to try and hide the struggles and the ugly. I share some of those. But I’ve always been a glass-half-full kind of girl and that hasn’t changed even with the losses and disappointments that life brings. There is drama but that’s not what I want to focus on every day.
• I believe God knew me before I was born. I believe he sanctified me, set me apart, for a purpose that I, with my personality and experiences and passion, would live out. (I believe that about you, too!) My life won’t look exactly like yours and that’s OK. Not everyone will understand me and why I do and say certain things or why I don’t do certain things. That’s OK, too. I’m not everyone’s cup of tea but God delights in me and He rejoices over me with singing because He made me. He knew I would love sweets and collect old stuff with a story, and that I would be a serious person who dances like crazy (in my head) when that song with a beat comes on. He knew that I would be a homebody who loves to travel. He knew that I would be a life-long learner, a list maker, and a rabbit chaser. He knew I’d struggle with insecurity and that I really wish everyone would like me; but, my work ethic and determination and passion to do hard things and live this one life fully alive would keep me going when I feel afraid of what might happen or what you might think. He knows me better than I know myself and He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me.
• So when I post a recipe, a photo, a story, or even a selfie it’s my way of squealing with delight. It’s my super-bowl-winning-touchdown cheer. It’s my performance-of-a-life-time standing ovation. It’s my best-day-ever-celebration. And posting here or on social media is my way of inviting you, including you, sharing with you this wonderful life.
• I hope you can be happy with me and for me because joy is contagious if we expose ourselves to it often enough. Like you, sometimes my life hurts and I feel sad and broken and weary and long for the day Christ returns. But until that day I will celebrate. I will look on the bright side. I will cheer and laugh. And I will do my best to inspire and encourage you to do the same.
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (Romans 12:1-2) The Message
The Desire of Your Heart
So what is the desire of your heart? What are you passionate about? What do you love to talk about? What’s your “Why?”
- gardening
- baking
- woodworking
- gunsmithing
- reading
- hiking
- makeup
- running
- volunteering
The list is endless! God made you YOU with a personality and desires and gifts and talents that are unique to you! Ignore those who might say that thing you love to do is boring! Do your thing! Enjoy your life and place it all before God as thank offering.
I encourage you to write it down. Use the paragraph below if you need help getting started:
“I believe God knew me before I was born. I believe he sanctified me, set me apart, for a purpose that I, with my personality and experiences and passion, would live out. (I believe that about you, too!) My life won’t look exactly like yours and that’s OK. Not everyone will understand me and why I do and say certain things or why I don’t do certain things. That’s OK, too. I’m not everyone’s cup of tea but God delights in me and He rejoices over me with singing because He made me. He knew I would love ______ and ____________________, and that I would be ____________________________________________________. He knew that I would be a ___________________________. He knew that I would be ______________, a _____________, and a ____________. He knew I’d struggle with _____________ and that I really wish ________________; but, my ______________ and ______________ and ____________ and keep me going when I feel afraid of what might happen or what others might think. He knows me better than I know myself and He loves me. He loves me. He loves me. He loves me.”
Write it down so that on hard days you can say it out loud and remember. I’d love to hear if you’re willing to share.
Wow. Beautifully written. It’s so freeing to really grasp that we are SO loved by Him and that’s really all that matters. When we can grasp that fact, THEN we are free to spread that love around. Thank you for facing your fears and writing. You bless me so much through your words!
Free! Such a key word for believers. Thankful for friends like you who so freely fill my love tank when it’s running low!!
That’s good stuff. God is at work and He chooses to work in and through us to meet needs in this broken world. Great blog from paradise. Ok, come home already❤️.
I see Him in you every day. Thank you for encouraging me to go. But there’s no place like home.
I’m a find-out-what’s-wrong-and-fix-it guy. Whether it’s making a broken car run or listening to a broken friend talk through issues, I was built to fix. I probably shoud have been a doctor of some sort. I struggle with relaxing. There are just too many things that need to be done. I’m not a talker…at least not out loud. I think too much about too many things. Lately, I struggle with felling like I measure up. Oh well, I’m talking too much.
I like it when you “talk too much”. You are, indeed, a fixer. And in my opinion, the best heart doctor I know, besides Jesus, of course. You are the Father’s masterpiece! Ephesians 2 sums it up.