Psalm 37:4 — Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.

I’ve never been great with crowds.

Let me rephrase—I’ve never been great with all eyes on me. As a kid, that meant sweaty hands, red cheeks, and shaky knees. An open invitation to panic. From dance recitals, cheer tryouts, school plays, even stepping up to bat, each one brought out a paralyzing fear that I couldn’t escape.

Growing up didn’t magically fix that. If anything, I just became more aware of it. The difference was that I might forget what I said or did afterward, but my body still remembered the fear.

But deep down, I wanted to sing.

I wanted to encourage people with words. I wanted to lead. But I also knew I couldn’t do it in my own strength. Opportunities didn’t seem to come knocking anyway, so I placed those desires neatly on a shelf. Of course, like a pesky fly, they kept buzzing back.

But what God plants in your heart doesn’t disappear just because fear tells you to hide it.

Fast forward a few years—as my faith grew, so did my awareness of God’s prompts. I learned that when God nudges me toward something, the thought doesn’t knock once on my heart and then go away. It replays over and over until I listen.

The idea of being a part of our worship team at my church was one of those promptings that wouldn’t go away.

Then one Saturday night, while half-listening to a podcast, I heard the words: “Give back what God has poured into you.”

Convicting? Yes. Comfortable? Not at all.

So naturally, I turned the podcast off and played music instead. If we’re being honest, we’ve all dodged a nudge from God like that. It felt like making a sudden U-turn in the grocery store when seeing someone I know.

But the first song that played was about surrender. And the line that kept repeating? “It’s yours anyway.”

At that point, I looked up and said, “Okay God… if I’m supposed to be on the worship team, You’re going to have to put someone right in front of me to ask me.”

The next day, I was walking out church and the worship leader came to me and said, “A little birdie told me you can sing. Do you want to try out for the worship team?”

That moment felt like God smiling. Moments like these are a gentle reminder that He’s been paying attention the whole time. That heaven is closer than we think.

Somewhere along the way, I stopped focusing on what I was afraid of and started focusing on who God is—His goodness, His presence, His faithfulness. That’s what it means to delight in Him.

For a long time, I thought that meant God would eventually hand me what I wanted. But I’ve learned it’s deeper than that. When we delight ourselves in Him, He reshapes our desires to look like His—and then brings them to life.

The desire He planted in my heart as a little girl didn’t disappear. It was turning into worship. Now, I sing in front of a crowd on Sunday morning. I’ve spoken to rooms full of women and launched a podcast. Fear didn’t vanish, but it lost its authority. Confidence didn’t come from me. It came from the One who’s been inside me all along.

When you surrender what you love to God, He doesn’t take it away—He teaches you how to carry it with Him.

And maybe that thing stirring in your heart—the dream you tucked away because it felt too scary or too big—that’s not random either. Maybe it’s an invitation. Not to be fearless or to be perfect. But to delight in the Lord enough to trust Him with it as He shapes you.

Because in the end, God sized dreams come from Him in the first place.

A MOMENT TO REFLECT

• Is there a desire or dream in your heart that you’ve been holding back because of fear?
• What does it look like for you personally to “delight in the Lord” in your everyday life?
• Have you ever experienced God reshaping your desires over time? What changed?
• Where might God be nudging you right now—and how have you responded so far?
• What would it look like to trust God with that desire instead of keeping it on the shelf?