Throughout our walks with Christ, we tend to start expecting certain situations to go the way we want them to rather than the way God wants them to. We get into this mindset of ~~If I am faithful and live a morally decent life, then I should get what I want out of life.~~ The truth of the matter is that God wants more than a morally decent life. He wants more than our money, time, and resources. He wants our hearts.

It follows that when we surrender our lives to Him, we are often way more content with what He provides than we would be if we got what we initially wanted. And for any clarification, what I mean when I say "surrender our lives" is exactly that. Not "part of our lives" or even "most of our lives." If we completely and genuinely surrender everything to Him, then we will truly experience the joy and peace that He has for us.

As someone who loves logic and equations, it makes sense that if we surrender our hearts and seek God, then He will be glorified in the process. So basically,

Surrendering our hearts + Seeking God = Glorifying Him and following His will for our lives

Furthermore, I do not mean to convey that this is a one time thing. I may not even want to consider it an equation because that connotes a formula that results in salvation. What I am trying to communicate is that if we sincerely, wholeheartedly, and actively pursue the Lord and His will for our lives, then we will be glorifying Him and dwelling in His love, mercy, and grace. Psalm 37:4 (NIV) reminds us to:

Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

So often we ask and pray for God to show us what He wants us to do or what He wants us to be focusing on in life, yet when He does show us...we back off and question why. We get what we asked for and we tend to be too scared of it or too opposed to it. What I am proposing is that we not only recognize that we are shown what we ask to be shown, but also that we embrace the life that He has for us. Instead of becoming bitter and consumed with the diversity between what we expect and what we deserve, we should be thanking God for answering our prayers.

A neat aspect of Scripture that I have been noticing is that Jesus often starts out a lot of what he says by saying "Do not be afraid..." This relates in that we need to not be scared or against the ways that He is answering our prayers. If we were not so consumed and overtaken by what we want in life, we could actually be loving and enjoying what God gives us in life. This is all just a reminder to be thankful and rejoice in what God is doing in your life. Stay consistent in your faith and keep loving the Lord!