Granting Your Heart’s Desire

May He grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfil all your plans!

-Psalm 20:4

What does your heart desire?

Are you focused on studies and hope for good grades before the end of the school year? Are you already thinking about goals you’d like to reach once you’re an adult? A college degree or a certain car or type of house? Do you long for travel, maybe to sunny beaches or peaceful woods or to see the natural wonders of the world? Is your heart set on a certain someone? Maybe you long for marriage and family. Or maybe you simply long for peace and security in this troubled world.

Do you trust God to grant the desires of your heart?

Several Bible verses declare that God wants to grant the desires of your heart. God wills for your good. And He knows the desires of your heart even when He doesn’t grant those desires right away. So in addition to working with persistence toward your goals—or risk letting them turn into dreams that slip away—commit your desires to God in prayer. Alone, you might not be able to reach them, but “With God all things are possible” Matt 19:26.

“Take delight in the Lord,

and He will give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him, and He will act.”

–Psalm 37:4-5

Maybe your desires need to be purified.

Maybe the things you want won’t bring true happiness. Maybe your life experiences have left you with a cloudy view of what is good and true and beautiful. And sometimes we all want things that wouldn’t really make us happy. But through prayer, God can purify your desires. Through prayer you can grow to trust in His timing and His ways. Through prayer you develop an understanding of how much God loves you and how much more He wants for you than you want for yourself.

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8).

Ultimately, our hearts long for God.

And only in God will they be truly and completely satisfied. And the closer we draw to Him, the more we see all things as gifts. We recognize His love in the gentle rain and the sunset, in the love of family and friends, in all that is good and true and beautiful. And since God allows all things only for our good, even trials and failures can be seen in a new light; they are opportunities to grow in virtue and gain merit and to become more like our beloved: Jesus.

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“May He grant you your heart’s desire and fulfil all your plans!”

-Psalm 20:4

This verse opens my Catholic romance novel Summer at West Castle.

College-age Caitlyn Summer isn’t exactly sure what she wants out of life, but she’s thankful for an ideal summer job which provides her with an opportunity to step away from the world to find out. She’ll spend the summer at the Wests’ castle-like house. Sure, she’ll have some responsibilities while there, light housework and cooking, but she knows she’s going to enjoy this unique experience.

Things don’t go exactly as planned. And while she expected to have the house mostly to herself, one of the West boys returns home. The two have never gotten along, and unforgettable baggage from the past makes it hard even to be cordial. While Jarret’s faults convince Caitlyn he hasn’t changed, she forces herself to offer kindness. Her act of mercy puts them on an unexpected path where Caitlyn is challenged to look beneath the surface and Jarret struggles to trust that God wills good for him.

Go along on the journey with Caitlyn as she entrusts the desires of her heart to the Lord.

Be sure to check out other CTB books on this theme:

• In Leslea Wahl’s contemporary fiction Into the Spotlight, Josie has been praying for years for what she thinks would be best for her. When she finally turns to her faith and prays for God's will, she's able to see that His revised plan is what will truly bring her peace and happiness.

• In Corinna Turner's dystopian novella Brothers, a prequel to the I Am Margaret series, when Jo's life is upended--and threatened--by a terrible betrayal, the unfolding of God's mysterious plan will change his destiny forever.

• At the beginning of Marie Keiser's Heaven's Hunter, Randall just wants to do his job: bringing a killer to justice. But as his life becomes more complicated and his choices bring him into greater and greater danger, only God will be able to bring good out of evil and give Randall what he truly desires.

• In Susan Peek's saint story A Soldier Surrenders, Camillus spends his life as a soldier seeking honors and pleasures. An injury cuts him off from both, and it seems like his life is over. He turns to God in his despair, and God leads him out of his misery and shows him what real honor and joy can be.

• In Rightfully Ours by Carolyn Astfalk, Paul and Rachel's desire is for each other. But the only way they can truly and completely love one another means honoring their duty to God, and coming to know how His plan is the only plan that brings joy, even when it requires patience, trust, and sacrifice.

• In Loving Gabriel by T.M. Gaouette, Gabriel is desperate to do what he thinks is God's will, but his inner desire seems contradictory to what He wants. Sometimes stepping away from it all and prayer are the only way to find answers.

Image by Silverhorses from Pixabay