Tell me what you want, what you really, really want

I was talking to a friend tonight, trying to encourage her as she always serves as a huge encourager to me, and was overwhelmed with how much God actually used me to encourage MYSELF.

Let's take a look at the verse in Psalm 37:4 (NLT)...

"Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires."

We've all heard it. We all know it. We can all rehearse it by heart. But I always interpreted this scripture as, "As long as I'm doing my best to follow Jesus, He'll bless me with what I want as long as it isn't sinful." Now, this is obviously the simplified version, but I realized tonight that this isn't what the verse is talking about at all!

What this verse is actually saying, is that once we find our delight and joy to be in God, then our heart's desire will be for HIM as well. Therefore, my prayer is that that God will ultimatelygve me the desires of HIS heart, and help me to dream the dreams He has for my life.

Amen.

Hey now, you're an all-star

Okay, so we all know that Smashmouth song, "All Star," from Shrek, right? (I'm pretty sure I can count on one hand the number of middle and high school dances that song WASN'T blasting at while I was growing up).

Anyway, I was driving home from college yesterday evening, scanning through the radio in search of something fun to listen to, and that song was playing on one of the stations. I quickly hit the "scan" button again to sustain the station, and immediately began singing along, realizing I still somehow know every word after all these years. Then, all of a sudden, the lyrics during the bridge stuck out to me.

"So much to do, so much to see

So what's wrong with taking the back streets?

You'll never know if you don't go

You'll never shine if you don't glow"

WOW! Talk about profound! You go, Smashmouth!

Those lyrics hit me like a ton of bricks - straight in the heart. Being someone in a season of transition and with a wanderer's heart, I was impressioned by those lyrics... Especially considering I had just finished having a conversation with a friend/posting a blog about our longings to explore and discover the little things only the day before.

There really is SO much to do and SO much to see. So what's wrong with a detour? Never take a moment for granted, and never let a beautiful thing pass by you without taking a piece of it with you (whether it be physically and tangibly, through a photo, or in a memory). You'll never know what the outcome will be unless you pursue your dreams. Don't let fear hold you back. Give it a shot. And most importantly, you'll never see success until you put in the effort and try, try again.

It's so funny how a song you've listened to for the past 15 or so years can randomly have such a powerful impact on you. So, thank you Smashmouth, for this lovely little reminder. :)