Episode 218

Why Some Desires Fade: What God May Be Preparing Your Soul For with Dr. Judith

Dr. Judith explores how, especially in midlife and later life, desires often change rather than disappear, raising questions about drive and ambition. She reframes this shift as God purifying desire by separating what is “mixed” in us—love with fear, service with needing to be needed, achievement with insecurity, faith with control—like refining gold in fire. Through examples of Ruth and Margaret, she shows how disappointments, aging, and changing family roles reveal attachments and invite deeper purpose, trust, and freedom. She explains fasting as interrupting automatic gratification to expose what’s underneath desire and suggests “fasting” from things like being right, rescuing, comparison, complaining, or being needed. She ends with a seven-day experiment to pause impulses, discern personality versus soul, and ask God to align desire with what brings us closer to Him.

00:00 When Desires Change

01:37 What Purification Means

03:38 Ego Versus Soul Wants

05:26 Refining Fire of Life

07:07 Midlife Vertical Growth

10:41 Ruth and Being Useful

13:50 Fasting and Freedom

17:23 Fasting From Ego Habits

21:20 Educating Desire

23:24 Margaret’s Purified Prayer

25:12 Aging as Soul Assignment

31:02 Seven Day Experiment

33:36 Closing Prayer and Farewell