Delight.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking with my dear friend on Skype. 

(I know I say this all the time but, seriously, it is the best) 

Anywaay. 

We were having a conversation about the future and my hopes. 

I was telling her about a conversation that I had with another friend last week 

*I hope you can keep up with me, I do have a point* 

We were talking about our future and in particular marriage and families. 

She said something that got me thinking. 

"what if this isn't what the Lord has planned for us though? and we sit here talking about it dreaming about it. I want to be happy with whatever the Lord has in store for me."

I had never looked at it in this way before. 

I have always, since I can remember, looked forward to having a family and children one day. 

What if this isn't what the Lord has planned for me? 

SO back to the other conversation on Skype.

*I don't know if I can keep up with this story so there is no hope for you!*

As I said, I was telling her about this conversation.

And she said something that really got me thinking.

"I think it is too much of a desire of your heart for the Lord not to give it to you" 

This of course lead me to this scripture. 

Delight yourself in the Lord, 

and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4

Pretty simply. We delight ourselves in the Lord and He gives us the desires of our heart.

Except, what does it mean to delight myself in the Lord.

I have been going over and over this for the past couple of weeks.

Delight.

Here are some definitions of this word. 

- a high degree of pleasure or enjoyment, joy, rapture

- something that gives great pleasure

- great pleasure, happiness or satisfaction

This challenged me.

In everything I do, do I take great pleasure in the Lord? 

Do I portray a high degree of joy in the Lord? 

Do I seek happiness in Him?

If I am being honest, no.

This makes me sad. 

Why shouldn't I express great joy in all that I do?

I am richly blessed.

Recently I have been occupying my thoughts on LOTS of other things.

They are not necessarily things that I shouldn't be thinking about but the definitely shouldn't be coming before the Lord. 

Because I am spending time dwelling on these things they are bringing me down and this affects my attitude. 

My heart was full of joy and love for the Lord, but I wasn't always expressing this in my attitude and actions.

So all these things that I was worrying about and that were consuming my thoughts I handed over to the Lord. 

By handing over my burdens I am freeing myself up for the delighting part!

By releasing ourselves from these things we are able to work on showing our joy in the Lord. 

I don't want to delight myself in the Lord in order to get the desires of my heart. 

I want to do it because I love Him and I do find happiness in Him. 

I delight to do Your will, O God, 

and Your law is within my heart.

Psalm 40:8

We need to set our affections on Him, and desire Him more than anyone else. 

I think the key to delighting in the Lord is spending much more time in His word and in prayer.
 By doing this we learn more about Him and become more dependant on him.

So that is exactly what I am going to do. 

I am going to change my attitude and show great joy in all that I do.
I am going to seek happiness in Him, in His friendship and love. 

So this is what has been on my heart for the past few weeks. Something that I have been thinking about, praying about and working on.