Have you ever had a time when everything turned out exactly the way you wanted and it was as good as you had hoped?  If I have, I do not remember it now.  My lack of memory means either it has never happened to me or it has happened and was not memorable.  I am inclined to believe the former.  Most of my life has not turned out the way I thought it would.

On December 26, I went to a ten-year reunion, of sorts.  When I was growing up, our home school group met at the public library every week for educational programs, story time, research, etc.  In December 1998, I was in high school and we put together a ten-year time capsule.  Along with several library-related items and a video, we each included a short survey that we completed.  The last question on the survey was: Where do you think you will be and what do you think you will be doing ten years from now?  I answered that I would be out of high school and college with a career in the home economics field (at the time, I think I was interested in cooking and interior decorating).  Until I looked down at my handwriting on that red sheet of paper, I had completely forgotten that I ever wanted those things.

Now I use my degree in English to run payroll for a local factory during the day.  At night, I teach English language classes to Spanish-speaking adults (my Spanish minor frequently comes in handy).  I will not bore you with all the details of my current life, but I love it and I know that I am in the place where God wants me now.

Sometimes, when I pray about the future, I can almost hear God laugh and say, “Oh, honey, you don’t know what you want, but it’s okay.”  At those times, I am asking Him for what I want instead of asking what He wants or simply saying, “Lord, I want whatever You want.”  Psalm 37:4 explains, “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He will give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart” (Amplified Bible).  When I am truly and utterly delighted in Christ, my hopes and dreams will match His.

In the movie 27 Dresses, Kevin asks Jane, “So is this moment everything you hoped for?”

She responds, “No.  It’s more.  It’s much more.”

Sometimes I stop and look back at the story of my life and I am glad that God did not write it the way I thought He should ten years ago, five years ago, or even one year ago. If He had, I would not be where I am now… and it really is much more.