Psalm 52:8

"I've given you your heart for a reason."-God

A couple of days ago, I was talking with a friend over homework. I had thought there was a little more than brotherly love on his part, and I asked him so. He assured me that we were just good friends. Ever been both immensely relieved and saddened at the same time? Well, that's how I felt right then. The next day, I was listening to music by myself, and decided to have one of humanity's most common parties: a pity party.

Now, I've told people this before, and it's true. God loves crashing pity parties. The minute I started feeling sorry for myself, God goes "Nope. We're not having this." My playlist (which was not on shuffle) randomly skipped three or four songs to go straight to 'Oh, How He Loves Us'. I still have not gotten over how much God loves me, and right when I start thinking I'm over it, He shows me yet another facet of His love that amazes me. This time, it was romantic love.

Now, I've come to see God as my Father, as my Brother, as my Comforter (Hallelujah!), as my Provider, as my source of Joy, etc...but I had never thought of Him as my Lover. I don't have the negative physical conotations of that word that stop some people from labeling God as such; I had just never had an instance where I viewed Him as my Lover.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Proverbs 4:23 {Guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.} That day, God gave me more insight into this verse.

1. Guarding my heart does not mean protecting myself from being hurt. There’s no way I can insulate myself from any possibility of pain. Pain is a regular part of relationships in this broken world.
2. Guarding my heart does mean allowing no one access to that most central place of my affections but God. It means keeping the first commandment first—and loving Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength (Deut. 6:5).

God has given me a big heart, and I love BIG.  I love on people the way God loves on people, and I know that is a definite gift of mine. Instead of guarding my heart from rejection, I should guard my heart from the love that sucks the life out of my relationship with God. Romantic love is a wonderful thing that I can't wait to experience with the person God is currently molding me for, but it can also be a potential dangerous idol that comes between me and God.

Maybe that's what giving God the desires of my heart feels like.
I give Him my desires in exchange for His desires.

{Miyah Faith}