Message Minute (Trust the Heart God Gave You)

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." — John 10:10

Jesus didn't come to produce miserable, obligation-driven people who grit their teeth through their spiritual lives. He came so that people could be fully alive.

And being fully alive means engaging with the desires God placed inside — not denying them. The theologian Frederick Buechner put it well when he said that the place God calls a person to is where their deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet. Not deep drudgery. Deep gladness.

Here's a practical way to start: take 30 minutes with a journal and ask a few honest questions. What made you come alive as a kid? What do you do that makes time disappear? What injustice makes you the angriest? What would you attempt if failure weren't possible?

Don't censor the answers. Don't spiritualize them or apologize for them. These are breadcrumbs. God is speaking through them.

When you stop fighting your heart and start trusting the good heart God gave you, something wakes up. You stop going through the motions and start living the life Jesus actually came to give.

Reflection: What would it look like to stop apologizing for your deepest desires and start treating them as clues to your calling? What's one small step you could take this week?

Prayer: Lord, I want to be fully alive — not just getting by. Help me to trust the desires You placed in me, to follow the breadcrumbs, and to step into the life You prepared for me before I was born. Amen.