Living the Dream

One day this week, I changed my Facebook status to reflect how amazing it is to live the life that I have prayed for for several years. Sometimes I say that I am living the life I have dreamed of. But that is not exactly true. I have, like most people my age, dreamed up many lives that are not a reality for me right now. I still have dreams and desires that I hope to fulfill if the Lord does not return in the next 20, 40 or 60 years and I am still alive. I have one dream to teach English in China. That has been my dream since I was 14. I dream of living for at least a year on each continent (except Antarctica). I dream of starting a Christian community theatre. I dream of being fluent in 5 languages. I dream of getting married, having children, adopting. These are my dreams. I desire to be near my family when I am raising my children. I desire a husband who has a heart for the same ministry as me. I desire to get my teaching degree, and a master's in theology. I desire to have a cup of coffee each morning as long as I live. These are my desires. But there is a difference between the life I dream of, the life I desire, and the life that I am praying for, in the past, and even now.
I have all these dreams of great things, and plans and desires that are good. But when I pray, not always, sometimes I even pray in the flesh. But usually, when I pray, I pray for God's will. I pray that God would take and form my desires and my dreams into His. And mostly I pray that He would lead me into a life where I can serve Him according to the call I already know He has placed in my life.
There is a verse that has helped me in learning to love the life I live. It is Psalm 37:4. It says: "Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart."(NIV) This seems to contradict verses that tell us of the wickedness of our heart, or verses about being content in all things. This seems to say that God will just give us what we want if we follow Him. But we must interpret this verse correctly in light of what we know from Scripture, and what we know about God.
First let's look at the conditional part of this verse... the first phrase tells us what our part is in receiving this blessing. It says, "Delight yourself in the LORD". When we delight ourselves in the LORD, our delight, and our desires are the things that please Him. Our ultimate desire becomes serving Him, doing His will. So, if we delight ourselves in Him, He will conform our desires to His. In this way, our desires will be fulfilled.
God never leaves His servants with unfulfilled desires. He will either fulfill your dreams or change them. 2 Thessalonians 1:11 says, "To this end we also pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power." (NASB) He is the author and perfecter of our faith. He works in us to will and to complete the work He has began.
My dream was to live in China and be a missionary there, but I prayed for God's will, and my dream has changed. Now I have new dreams and new desires that are being continuously changed or fulfilled before my very eyes. I am blessed to live the life of my dreams, but not the life I dreamed of, the life I prayed for.
This is the life that is available to anyone who prays for God's will, and delights in the Lord. You may not have all your current dreams fulfilled, but when He changes your desires, He will not fail in fulfilling them, in His way and in His timing. Praise the Lord; He is the good and true God.