The problem with life is it's so daily and isn't that the truth you face one problem you have a victory in the next day there's another problem you will have trouble right here in Franklin city.

Yeah.

Hey everyone and welcome to the Christie right show I'm so excited because today we are continuing our series talking about how to get back to you.

We talked about who God is who you are where you are and today we're talking about where you're going we're going to dive into what God says about your future and then I get to sit down with the hilarious and amazing.

Patsy Claremont where we're going to ask her for her perspective on where we're going and I know she has some valuable wisdom for all of us but first let's dive into what God says about your future.

Well I want to start by sharing a story with you many of you may have heard me talk about this before but this is the most tangible specific example that I have of God showing me he feels differently about my desires that I thought he did this is a couple years ago and I was pregnant at the time with my daughter Mary Grace but of course I didn't know that I was pregnant with the girl.

I remember standing in church one day and I was worshiping and praying and I just kept having this thought creep up that I wanted a daughter that I was so thankful to be pregnant of course I was so excited to get to have a third baby in our family but y'all this thought just kept creeping up and I just kept pushing it down.

I've done that a thought creeps up and you just try to push it away no no no I can't want that know that selfish that's greedy I should just be grateful to get to have two healthy children I should just be grateful to be pregnant and I was but it didn't change the fact that this dream this desire just kept creeping up and so I kept pushing it down.

I shouldn't want that no I feel guilty no that's greedy no I just I just got to guard my heart that's what I've got to do I've got to guard my heart that sounds so spiritual so Christian oh I just got to guard my heart I can't want that because what if I'm disappointed I can't get my hopes up because then I'll be let down I just need to be practical realistic I can't control that I need to be grateful Christy you just need to be more grateful don't want that I've just got to guard my heart I've just got to guard my heart.

And in the middle of this moment in a sanctuary surrounded by hundreds of people worshipping and praising God I felt this gentle whisper say you don't have to guard your heart with me I created your heart and I know what to do with every desire I have given you and I know what to do with every broken piece when you're disappointed you never have to guard your heart with me.

Y'all in the middle of that moment I was truly transformed it wasn't about getting what I wanted it was about understanding how God feels about me and my heart and my desires you know so often we think that our desires are just our own there are selfish motives and they're all bad and we try to push them down and push them away and try to hide them like the junk in our closet before a guest comes over to our house.

But it doesn't change the fact that they're there no matter how much you try to downplay them or deny them it doesn't make them go away because our desires are a part of who we are and God created you and he created your heart and so many of those desires he has given you and he knows exactly what to do with them.

I remember standing there as I felt this a ha moment this breakthrough for me that my desires were not bad that God gave them to me and I could bring them to him and I could trust him with them and of course it didn't mean I was going to get a daughter and it didn't mean I'm going to get everything I want like a like God is a genie in a lamp he's not but it did mean he can handle them he can handle them.

And I felt that whisper once more say and get your get your hopes up I'm the God of hope get your hopes up friend I don't know where you are today I don't know if it's about a baby or job if you need a financial assistance you need some type of breakthrough in your finances you need something in your family relationships I don't know what you need I don't know what you want and I don't know where you are.

But God does even if you're trying to deny it even if you feel guilty or selfish even if you want to pretend like those thoughts and feelings and desires aren't there and you're talking to yourself like I did that day I've just got a guard my heart I don't want to get my hopes up I just want to remind you that you never have to guard your heart with God.

He created your heart he knows what to do with every desire he has given you and he knows what to do with every broken piece when you're disappointed and he is the God of hope that is such a powerful reminder for you and for me not just today with the desires we're dealing with today holding them with open hand feeling vulnerable what if I'm let down what if I'm disappointed what if it doesn't work out I know that feeling and I know it's vulnerable and I know it doesn't always work out I have those stories and examples.

I brought the broken pieces of my heart to the foot of Jesus as well have been there too but the point is that our hope is not in our circumstances anyway it's not in a job or bank account or even a baby our hope is in the God of the universe that loves us and for that we have every reason in the world to get our hopes up we should have bigger and better and bolder dreams we can come to the throne of Jesus with confidence and say cut this is what I'm saying.

I want and I've got chills even on my arms as I talk about this and I feel vulnerable silly selfish greedy I don't even know how I feel but this is what I want and I'm holding it with open hands and I'm just praying that you can meet me here that I can at least be honest with you about how I feel and honest with myself about how I feel and what I want that I could have the courage to get my hopes up no matter how many times I've been broken hearted in the past been

let down or disappointed or wounded from people or the world or circumstances no matter how many times I have been brought down that I could get my hopes up again because you are the God of hope.

I'm just a great example of this in scripture and I think so often we've heard this story but we just breeze past it and I want to invite you to listen to it with new ears this is the an account in Matthew it's in multiple gospels but this is in Matthew 920 this is about the sick woman it says just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak let's camp right here for a second.

This woman had been bleeding for 12 years in a society where she was deemed unclean she was an outcast she was humiliated she was embarrassed and in that culture at that time if you had some type of disease or ailments something certainly like bleeding for 12 years then it was a lot of times associated with some of your sin your fault this was the consequences of something you had done so she was an outcast and humiliated broken hearted and implanted.

She was embarrassed for 12 years not to mention the health side of how frail and weak her body was 12 years talk about being discouraged disappointed let down.

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