Reflections and Resolutions.

I've been trying for weeks now to remember what my New Year's resolution was for 2007. Tonight, as I was lying in bed trying to convince my brain to power down for the evening (a process that is taking longer and longer the older I get), it came to me in a whirl. I actually wrote a blog about it last year around this time.

Last year, because I was determined to escape the seductive grasp of comfort that seems to be constantly wooing all Americans, I said this:

"I have found myself getting comfortable in my life and my routine. I never want to be comfortable for the sake of comfort. I don't want to wake up one morning and realize that I have been making decisions by not making them, allowing life just to happen to me. I want to be proactive in seeking and following God's will for my life. I want every day to be lived on purpose, choosing to actively be a part of God's bigger picture, whether I understand it or not. Therefore, my resolution and prayer for 2007 is that God will show me some big decisions this year - ones that will impact the rest of my life and keep me on the path he has for me."

As the memory of this prayer flooded over me tonight, I found myself amazed at how God prepared my heart so that I would be ready for what he had already planned to show me this year. One of my favorite verses has long been, "Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4). Oh, how true this is. As I look forward to 2008, I am incredulous at the opportunity that God has laid before me as an answer to my prayer of 2007. On March 1st, 2007, barely three months after praying this prayer, I found what very well could be the door to the rest of my life.

It unfolded in ways I can only appreciate by looking back. Next week, for those who may not know, I begin a six month internship as a research assistant with ProVision Foundation. I will be researching orphanages and other non-profits overseas, studying success and failure in the field in which I have long felt called to work. Then in July, I will begin implementing what I have learned, working full time for One Vision International.

I am still working out a resolution for this year (although the alarm clock thing I mentioned last year is a sensational idea - I think I might try that again). But for now, my prayer is simply that God will prepare me for the path he has laid before me. I feel so blessed and amazed to see that my dreams came true so quickly after I asked for them. God truly has granted the desires of my heart. I pray that he will increase my delight in him, and allow me to follow wherever he leads.

May my dreams and desires be reflections of Your plans for me.