And you for now have sorrow but I will see (and understand) you again and your hearts will rejoice and your joy no one will take from you. In that day you won’t want to ask anything more of me. (John 16:22, 23a paraphrased from the original Greek).

To be noticed or recognised is one of our most fundamental psychological needs. If either or both our parents ignored us or were emotionally or physically absent it can leave us with a deep sense of worthlessness and longing/ emptiness. But when we know in our heart that the God of the universe, our creator and Father sees and understands us it leaves us with a deep sense of worth and fulfilment. When our longings are satisfied in this way we no longer have anything to ask of God, our felt needs are met.

Three things encourage me and make my heart rejoice. One is the Holy Spirit’s witness to me that the desires of my heart are from Him, that they are what I was created for. The second is that heaven will include the fulfilment of those desires more than I can imagine or think (Eph. 3:21). Thirdly, God is working in my heart to do and to want according to His good pleasure (Phil. 2:13). He is actively changing me with my cooperation.