Expectation

Wait for and confidently expect the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for and confidently expect the Lord (Psalm 27:14).

Sometimes I rush through my Jesus Calling devotional just before I run out the door to work. This morning was one of those days. I almost didn’t take the time to look up the scripture reference that went along with the devotional. I’m glad I did. I took a picture of it so I could remember it throughout the day.

To expect something means you won’t be surprised if it happens. I’m often pleasantly surprised by God.

What am I supposed to expect exactly?

I can’t honestly say. I could make up answers that sound like the right ones, the ones you used to give in Sunday School when the teacher would ask a question. Even if you didn’t understand or have any point of reference, you knew what she or he wanted you to say, and it usually boiled down to “Jesus.”

I know what I can’t expect. I can’t expect Him to do what I want all the time. I can’t expect Him to instantly wipe away my pain like a dry erase drawing on a whiteboard. Not in this life. I can’t expect Him to spell out next steps for me like an instruction sheet from IKEA. Well, maybe not IKEA. It’s easier to follow a drunken sailor on a tightrope blindfolded.

What I can expect is that He will never leave me. I can expect that in my weakness, He is my strength. I can expect that He will work all things, even the crappy things, together for good somehow. He will redeem everything. I can expect that when I take my last breath on this earth, I will be with Him. And with Chandler. And Mama and Daddy.

There’s also that part in the middle. Be strong and let your heart take courage.

When I’m DIS-couraged, I have to allow my heart to open to the possibility of EN-couragement. It comes in so many ways. Through friends, through being in nature, through exercising, through being with my family, through a good day at work.

Through a morning reading that I almost skipped, but didn’t.