My Heart’s Desire

What is My Heart’s Desire?

As I was sitting outside this delicious Sunday morning, enjoying the sunshine, leaving my phone behind and disconnecting from everything, I simply wanted to spend time with Him—to talk to Him, listen to Him, and enjoy His presence. As I sat there, I was flooded with all sorts of ideas and thoughts.

Each time I finished a new thought or idea—whether it was for me, one of my children, one of my grandchildren, or the ministry—I ended by saying, “The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.”

I’ve spent far too many years doing so many things, always busy, working on projects and tasks. Yet, the majority of them ended up being nothing at all, gone, all because they weren’t His perfect plan.

They simply disappeared, much like all of the many possessions I've bought and given away.

Over the years, I furnished many different houses and spent so much time, energy, money, and excitement on them. Yet they’re all gone now. Many times over I've given them all away. Unlike another grandmother I vacationed with and love dearly, she still lives in her family home where she grew up, her children were raised, and of course, she's got many possessions, treasures from years gone by. I have none of those "things."

"I consider Your Word to be my greatest treasure, and I treasure it in my heart..." 

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” 

God instead called me to let go, so I live very minimally.

Not just in my surroundings and my home, but in my life as well. I want things to be simple so that I can have more of Him. Minimalism makes more room for Him.

It also reminds me that this is not where we are going to live forever. We are sojourners.

After coming back inside—and after receiving a very exciting phone call that my niece, who calls me Mom, was in early labor with her daughter—I found myself reflecting on how quickly time passes.

The Lord promises that if we delight ourselves in Him, He will give us the desires of our hearts. One of the desires of my heart is to do much more writing and to do much more for our children.

At this point, unfortunately, I have the responsibility of keeping our menu prepared—the spiritual meals the Lord gives us to share on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and throughout the week. 

• MONDAYS ❣️Ministering MONDAYS IOU
• TUESDAYS 🌐 Travel TUESDAYS Languages Lessons
• WEDNESDAYS 💔 WEDNESDAYS Restored Marriage Testimonies
• THURSDAYS 🙌🏻 Thankful THURSDAYS TPR
• FRIDAYS 🌱 Fresh FRIDAYS
• SATURDAYS 💞 SATURDAYS HTBB How to Be Blessed
• SUNDAYS 💗 SUNDAY Fellowships

Before leaving for a two-week vacation, I knew I needed to get three weeks ahead. Seven days times three weeks meant preparing twenty-one different spiritual meals based on what He showed me for each day.

Now I’m hoping that volunteers will step forward—people who share the same passion I do for one of those days of the week and the theme associated with it. Our MOMs.

As I sat outside, I thought about our restored marriage testimonies. MOM, if you have a passion for restored marriage testimonies and love reading how God restores marriages, then perhaps you would like to volunteer and prepare them to be ready each week. What the Lord has led me to do is go back into our archives and simply ask Him which testimony He wants me to work on. Then I clean it up, add the newer books at the bottom, place the new picture at the top, and present it to our growing family of languages so it can be translated, read, and enjoyed by many more people.

And that is only one area.

Just imagine if everyone stepped up? What if our various language ministries volunteered to sponsor two or three days each for the next few months and then rotated afterward? Each day of the week could offer something special for everyone who visits.

By doing this—by stepping up, while being and working together, while each person individually works closely with her Husband, the Lord—each of our blog posts on Encouraging Women could become even more enthusiastic, inspiring, and encouraging. After all, this is Encourage Women, and He is our ultimate Encourager. This is NOT a task or a project. It can't be. It has to be our passion, which is His passion: Spiritually feed our ladies daily.

When that happens, I could focus more on my own passion. Writing. 

With a new granddaughter just born in Japan, along with my other granddaughters and grandsons, my heart has naturally and always been toward children. That passion was passed down to me by my own mother.

As I was thinking about this, I remembered that we are currently on Living Lesson 99 in Book Four. The next lesson will be 100. I wonder what it will be. Even now, a day later, I still don’t know, nor do I know exactly when I’ll return to the Living Lessons Book 4.

Because what I would love to do is take the very best Living Lessons—the ones I especially want to share with my three teenage granddaughters—and adapt them for our teens.

One lesson I recently worked on was “Why Not Rather Be Wronged or Defrauded?” While working on it, I remembered a testimony involving one of my daughters, who chose to be wronged and defrauded. I was affected as well because I had paid for something involved in the situation. I’ll save the details for when you read the testimony.

That's when I thought, "Oh, how wonderful it would be to share lessons like this with my teenage granddaughters, knowing they are facing many of the same kinds of situations. There are so many lessons the Lord has led me through that are already completed, but I would love to revisit them and begin posting them on HomeGrown Children.

At the same time, I would like to let go and leave behind what has already been established. The foundation has been laid, and I believe I can turn it over to other MOMs who I believe could do an even better job than I have.

This brings to mind another testimony. "By the word of their Testimony"...

Throughout my life, my Best Friend and I have often started new things together. I love the creative process—the beginning stages, dreaming, listening to Him, and building something with Him. Then, when the time is right, I let go and pass it on to others.

That is what I am hoping to do now.

Not by handing everything to one person, but by dividing the responsibility among different parts of the Body, across various languages and ministries.

Over the years, I have done this many times. On two occasions, my son researched organizations I had started and said, “Mom, do you realize that homeschool swim team you started is still thriving?” I originally started that swim team because my oldest son was supposed to undergo surgery on his legs. I felt strongly that the surgery wasn’t God's plan for him, and through a series of events, he began swimming.

Swimming helped strengthen his legs and allowed them to develop properly. The amazing part is that although he once had trouble walking and had even been part of a program for crippled children that my mother took him to, he later went on to run the Chicago Marathon—something none of his 3 brothers ever did.

What began as an effort to help my son grew into something much larger. The homeschool swim team started with just one other family. Through word of mouth, it continued to grow and grow. Eventually, I turned it over to an older woman, a mother of eleven children, who was far more gifted in leading it than I was. She continued building it, and today that team has become one of the top programs in the city where it began. They compete against public schools and have been champions for decades.

The same thing happened with the synchronized swim team I was hired to start for a city where such a program had never existed. I discovered the synchronized team I'd started as a college student not only is thriving, but it has also replaced the team that was number one in Southern California! My coach recommended me, and I accepted the challenge. Again, it grew and grew.

When I no longer desired to continue leading it, I selected someone else to take over. Under her leadership, the team eventually surpassed the team I had originally come from and has remained one of the dominant synchronized swim teams in Southern California ever since.

Everyone plays a different role in His Body, and it is important that we embrace the role He has given us.

Mine is creating.

As I said, I love listening to Him, building something with Him, and then passing it on to those He calls to improve, strengthen, and establish what has been started.

With that in mind, I hope and trust many MOMs will speak to their Husbands and comment that they'd like to volunteer.

Perhaps before this post is even published, ministers, mothers, and ministry leaders will already be preparing what the Lord has placed on their hearts to share.

That would bring me, and I am sure everyone, great joy. Here's HOPING!!