What I Want vs. What I’ve Got

What I want…complete freedom

What I’ve got….days with fleeting feelings of freedom.

What I want…sleep.

What I’ve got…sleepless nights, awake in the dark.

What I want…to know Him intimately.

What I’ve got…a knowledge of Him that sometimes feels superficial, whether true or not.

What I want…salvation for my family.

What I’ve got…the hope that He wants the same thing.

What I want…a perfectly clean organized home.

What I’ve got…a semi-clean house, piles of laundry, dirty windows, lots of laughter.

What I want…to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

What I’ve got…the Holy Spirit indwelling in me always, but not always overflowing.

What I want…a healthy, loving, fun, rockin’ marriage.

What I’ve got…a healthy, loving, fun, rockin’ marriage.

What I want…to give generously and freely.

What I’ve got…a heart that still holds back.

What I want…to be willing to love others, no matter what.

What I’ve got…a willingness to love others who are easy to love.

What I want…to believe and know that my Father in Heaven is a good and loving dad.

What I’ve got…a heart that is beginning to believe that He is a daddy, but a heart that has far to go.

What I want…to feel confident as a mother.

What I’ve got…daily insecurities and uncertainties about how to raise my children and meet their needs.

What I want…for the pain to evaporate.

What I’ve got…a God who loves me and whose grace is sufficient even on the days when the pain seems too much.

What I want…to surrender fully.

What I’ve got…one finger still gripping the steering wheel, one corner of my heart still protected, one piece of my dreams still unspoken.

The obvious question: What do you want versus what you’ve got? How can you get there?

13 thoughts on “What I Want vs. What I’ve Got”

  1. I love this post…definitely one of my favorites for this week.

    So what do I want vs what I’ve got…I believe you have just challenged me to write a post of my own because if not this comment will turn into one.

    One thing I can think of is definitely more peace. What I have now is a worrisome mind even though I always emphatically claim that I have given it to the Lord. I can get there by actually doing what I said that I have done!

    1. Latoya,
      Yes! Write a post. It would be great. I’d love to read it.

      Your want vs. got…man, can I relate. I love too how you recognize that you claim to have given it to the Lord, when in reality by worry we are actually doing the opposite.

      Great truth for me today. Thank you!

    1. Donald,
      Sorry, it was just laying out. I couldn’t help myself…

      I am officially stealing, re-quoting, and making a T-shirt out of these two lines:

      “My faith is not always consistent, but it is always constant.

      What I want is moot; what my Father gives me is more than enough.”

      I’ll be thinking on this one for a while.

      P.S. I hope you enjoy vacation!

      1. Thanks! The faith statement came to me on a nightly walk, as I was meditating on ‘proof of a person’s Christianity’.

        I shall most def enjoy the vacay. Weather forecast looks great, my bride is jazzed about going, and I will be sans technology until Tuesday morning.

        Oh, and one last thing. I have this as my next tattoo idea:
        “I have laid my free will down; my will be a dead man.”

        See you and JC next week!

  2. Great post. And one thought: sometimes what you’ve got may not be exactly what you want but precisely what the Father knows you need. Because his strength is revealed in our weakness.

  3. What I want is stability and to know the future. I want America and my kids to have friends that speak English. I want them to be able to play soccer in the fall. I want things to be easier. I want to paint my walls and unpack my suitcases.

    What I have is life on the road. An unknown future. And heading into a world of isolation on many levels. I have shallow tent stakes and a rental house and a salary that changes monthly.

    But, somehow, trusting with a white-knuckled grip on the reality that what I’ve got is what I need. And, just what my kids need, too.

    Thanks for the prompt to consider this tonight, Nicole.

  4. What I want, is my best friend back.

    What I’ve got is a man who hates me and terrifies his children.

    What I want is to be able to pay my bills.

    What I’ve got is a credit card balance going up for summer clothes and toilet paper.

    What I want is to be thru school.

    What I’ve got is 3-4 yrs of hard work ahead of me.

    What I want is peace.

    What I’ve got is peace inside our home but turmoil inside my heart, and fear for my husband — and if I’m being honest, which I tend to do on this blog, fear for us if he comes around.

  5. What I want = a stable job, where I have something consistent everyday, with a nice retirement package.

    What I got = a chance to work with “at-risk” kids and give them the love and encouragement they need just to make it out of high school.

  6. What I want: A secular government that leaves me the hell alone, and stops vilifying Jesus

    What I’ve got: Barack Hussein Obama and the joy-boys of Socialism

    *facepalm* There’s a joke in there somewhere. I simply can’t seem to be able to find it.

  7. What I want is to see unity amongst brothers and sisters in Christ, working together to be the arms and feet of Jesus.

    What we’ve got is a perpetual battle over theology, the very thing we were warned against,, and a mess of men and women too busy tripping over their battles lines to do anything but bicker.

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