give it up

Do you ever just wake up in the morning and realize you're alive? I have an incredible life. He has given me everything I've ever wanted--really. And now I'm at a place in life where He's bringing back old desires, renewing them and allowing them to come alive within me.
I'm starting to see that if I don't sacrifice everything I want then He can't perfect these things in His own time, so that I can actually enjoy them one day. He never says, "Sacrifice every want and desire you have to me so I can completely obliterate each one and leave you with nothing." He wants us to enjoy our passions and desires, but in the most perfect way possible. After all, He created us with these desires and dreams. How much more do you think He wants to see them fulfilled?
The things I sacrificed when I was younger in order to gain a better picture of who I am in the Lord are being brought back to me, only now I can fully enjoy them because I have learned to fully enjoy the Hand that is providing them.
It's just a matter of putting our focus on God. We're in love with the good things of this world. But why wouldn't we want to be in love with the Giver of those good things, instead? All He asks is that we trust His sovereignty. And there really isn't any other way. We can't eternally enjoy something that hasn't been marked by His holy goodness.
We need to start realizing that we don't really sacrifice to lose. We sacrifice to gain.