Expecting The Best

Expectations.

We all have them. We all “expect the best prepare for the worst,” however, who says we are even allowed to expect the best? All things are grace given gifts from the Lord. I mean for my life, I expected to get a car at 16 (but totaled my mom’s car and didn’t get one until 21), I expected to be in a sorority for four years (lol didn’t happen), I expected to be fulfilled by my marriage solely (Christ only fulfills me fully), I expected to have newborn bliss (just. No.) Y’all, who am I! Why do I think I can expect all these things because I do the “right” thing, I believe, and I go to church. HA. God never promised this life to be easy and never promised to live up to our expectations. [key word: our] we are supposed to live for His expectations. To better His kingdom, not better our own. News flash, his plan is the BEST. I’m so thankful I haven’t gotten all I expected to get because through each trial, each journey, each new finding, I’ve grown, matured, and learned to love in all new realms. I have become so compassionate to the mama that has tears in her eyes admitting she needs a break from her baby. I’ve become understanding to the mamas that breastfeed, exclusively pump, formula feed, supplement WHATEVER they pick. Why? Because this is survival mode for a new mom…and because God has a journey for them and their sweet baby.

I felt led to write this post since listening to “changing our expectations: dealing with unfulfilled longings” in which Janet Aucoin speaks on questioning ourselves and what we expect from our lives. We expect to be happy, get married, have children, and think somehow all this will fulfill us. The most powerful question she asks is “what happens when you get what “fulfills” you and NOTHING changes?”

Psalm 34:8 taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in Him.

Our souls were created to yearn for heaven. “if we arent expecting the feast you can enjoy the taste”

When we feel discontent with our lives it doesn’t mean we don’t believe in God “enough.” Our souls were created to yearn for heaven. We can enjoy the small tastes Christ shares with us when we aren’t expecting the full “feast” this side of heaven. We can walk humbly and show mercy to all of His creation. We are given the freedom to change our perspectives and choose the way we see our lives. We can either stay miserable by comparing ourselves to others, longing for the next chapter, and hoping it’s better than the present or we can wake up each day knowing this day was God-ordained. Whether we are dog-sick with a fever and only make it to the bathroom and back or meet with an old friend and speak about Jesus for hours, God planned that day.

When we start to expect everyday to feel like heaven, we quickly lose ourselves in idols of the world. Idols can be easy to spot in our lives or sometimes they need to be spotted by someone else. I idolized the internet before I found the freedom in the Word. I would search and scroll until I could lift 10 lb weights with my fingers before I opened my Bible. What it led me to was a lot of misery, wasting a perfect day, and so many unnecessary tears. Just one bible verse changes my perspective in a way all those Mom blogs I read couldn’t 🤦‍♀️.

Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

compare to the Message

“But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.”
at we “expect” God gives us what we need not want. The only thing we should expect from this life is constantly finding the joy that is found in the freedom of Jesus’s name.

I hope these words are like honey, sweet to your soul and refreshing to your lips.