God Cares About the Desires of Your Heart

The enemy of our soul begins to whisper his vile lies and plot his wicked schemes against us when we are still young and vulnerable children. He'll take anything that makes us different from others and rub our face in it. He wants us to feel that our uniqueness is a liability, that we are a misfit, that no one gets us. As we grow and mature in Christ, we are more equipped to embrace the truth that we are fully seen, known and understood by God. We can, hopefully, look at our uniqueness as a gift. The enemy doesn't play fair, however, and will take the fact that a child learns differently, or is taller or shorter or fatter or skinnier than others and use it to beat them up with their "differentness." As a child enters the preteen and teen years, the awkwardness of all of the changes their body is going through can exacerbate these feelings of being a mis-fit.

"Nana, can we PLEASE go to the beach with the sand dunes," our ten year old granddaughter pleaded. We were on our annual grandkid trip to our youngest daughter's in-law's cabin on the Umpqua River. The beach she was referring to was a forty-five minute drive from the cabin. I told her that we were going to the beach that was much closer to the cabin and that I didn't think this beach had sand dunes. However, once we arrived at the nearby beach we noticed that right where the jetty juts out into the sea was a row of sand dunes, perfect for climbing and then running down, sliding down and rolling down. Later, I talked to her about the fact that God wanted her to know that He understands her, that He sees her and knows the desires of her heart. I wanted her to know that playing on the sand dunes with her cousins was God's gift especially for her.  (Join me for the rest of this post on Sunday, August 25th at Woman to Woman Ministries, where each Sunday I share a bit of Sunday Soul Food!)

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Sunday Scripture Blessings

Susan B. Mead

Sue Moore Donaldson