By Malita Wamala The Observer (Kampala) – I love to read a good, enriching book when one comes my way. And this week, I got double dose.
The first came from a book I am editing that tells the story of perseverance, faith and pushing until something happens. The other, the one that astounded me most, is a small book, Heart’s Desire, by Patsy Oda, the true story of a Japanese-American woman’s search for her Mr Right.
So inspirational for anyone believing God for anything. It could be your healing, a job, ministry, a spouse, anything. The principles remain the same. Her book is about ignoring what the world is all about and conforming to the will of God.
Born in a family of Buddhists and in a culture where matchmaking was the way things were done for marriage, at age eight she received Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Saviour and her path of doing things the ‘unconventional’ way started.
Her deep, intimate relationship with God in the USA’s 1960s and 1970s is humbling and makes receiving from God look so easy if one follows God’s principles. Of course our Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, but we often lose sight of the truly important norms to our God.
Believe it or not, He is a God for whom terms and conditions indeed apply. It is everywhere in the Bible.
He says, in Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it shall be given you”. It is written in Hebrews 10:36-37, “… after you have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.”
And there is the entire Malachi 3, where God promises to rebuke the devourer on our behalf, open the floodgates of heaven and pour us a blessing… only if we tempt Him with our offerings and tithes. Or Matthew 6:33, where God tells us to seek first His kingdom and righteousness, and the things we desire shall be added unto us. And many more.
God has His conditions and Patsy Oda understood that well and walked in those principles however hard it seemed, until her heart’s desire was realized. It is a book I strongly recommend for every believer. It won’t take more than two hours of your time.
