When I was in college, I participated in multiple mission trips, but one in particular was a lesson in just whom, exactly, I was delighting in: God or myself.

A group of us planned to go on a mission trip to Indonesia over winter break. Unfortunately, that same semester I found myself on crutches.

Throughout the semester, I asked God to bless my plans, but ended up disappointed when, a week before the trip, my doctor told me I was to remain on crutches and I wouldn’t be going to Indonesia. When I truly looked at why I was upset at not getting to go, I soon realized that I had made the trip about what I was going to get to experience instead of how I was going to serve God.

It is all too easy to set goals and make plans and then ask God to bless them.

However, if I truly delight in God, then I start by asking Him what goals and plans He has for me.

God promises us in Psalm 37:4 that He will give us the desires of our hearts when we delight in Him. It is when I seek God and allow my heart’s desires to be aligned with the desires of His heart that I know He is my delight and He will meet those desires.