Desires of the Heart

To the side of the front door of my little white farmhouse is an iron bell with a white horse atop it. It’s the perfect place for it, as if it had always been there.  I look around the beautiful nine acres the Lord has given us; it’s just open land right now. I imagine where the paddocks will be for our horses.  What color the new barn will be. I see the chicken coop where our hens will be happily scratching and pecking the day away. I see the turkeys, guineas, and peacocks strutting around with their feathers displayed. I see the flowers blooming, the vegetables growing, the bees buzzing, all our precious children laughing and playing. Let me tell you, I want all these things so much that time and again I try to find ways to make them come to fruition… now! I figure and refigure, think and rethink, plan and replan. I get so restless and impatient!
But, the Lord called my attention back to that bell recently. You see, my mother and I found it at a flea market in Indiana about ten years ago, shortly before I was to leave for Kentucky to attend college. We passed it by, went home with our other finds. I can’t remember now if it was the same day, or the next morning, when my mother said, “You know Katie, I was thinking about that horse bell and I really want us to go back and get it.” I smiled and quickly replied, “I was thinking too how perfect it would be hanging on my little white farmhouse in Kentucky someday!” So we hurried back and it was still sitting there, covered in dust with its $15 tag.
As I was remembering that day, peace, the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7), came upon me. God called my attention to the scripture that tells us he is “able to do infinitely above all we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20), and to “take delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).  That little bell now stands as a reminder to me that no matter how many times over the last ten years I veered off the path He laid for me, He still got me right to where I dreamed I would be… in a little white farmhouse in Kentucky. And inside of that house is my loving husband and our precious son, who grows sweeter by the day. He is such a good God, isn’t He!?!
 All I have to do is trust in His Word, have faith in His promises, and it’s only a matter of time before our guinea hens are shrieking, our rooster is crowing, and our little herd of kids are running around covered in mud!! And I will always look back at the bell as my dreams unfold before me, and gaze heavenward, thanking my Daddy for all of it.