Lord,
You are our Father who knows our hearts. Please help us to wait on you for expectations and trust that our soul brings You glory. Lord, help us to find the stillness so that we may hear You calling our heart.
Amen.
When I was thinking about what to write for this newsletter I found myself uncertain of direction and stumped. I wanted to offer encouragement and hope that brought sunshine to you. I asked my
stepmom for her favorite verse and she responded with Psalm 62:5 “My soul waits only upon God for my expectation is from Him.” Initially I was not very moved by the verse until I took a deeper look into it. I am not sure of the past encounters you have had or your present situation, but I know that I struggle with being disappointed or feeling let down because life does not reflect my vision or dream. Expectations are all around me and I feel as though there is a lot of pressure to appear a certain way, act a certain way, become a specific person, etc., and all this pressure leads me to control elements in my life because it allows me the chance to come close to meeting the expectations; however, I am constantly left wanting more or wishing things could have been different. This intertwined tangle keeps me captive and prohibits me from experiencing the truly meaningful freedom granted from God. See, this verse expresses the power of freedom in Christ because it points us in the direction of trusting the Lord with all we are, the very essence—the soul! The soul is the very treasure that God is trying to protect but when we take the power away from Him we are left to our own demise. When our souls truly wait on the Lord then this world has lost its control of us and we are free to experience the liberty of the Lord’s divine hands shaping and molding His creation. So, when we re-center our expectations to trusting the Lord and seeking Him then we will finally be able to experience each day as it was meant to be seen—a gift from God trying to reach our hearts in only the perfect way He knows.
I am not saying that it is easy or flawless, but I know that when I finally wait on the Lord then I am more open to His calling and I experience the moment in a more positive way. For example, I have been struggling through the last few weeks of teaching. I had this vision that this experience would be all glitzy and glamorous; after all, this is what is portrayed on the motivational movies showing effective teachers. So when things started off rocky because students were testing me and I was struggling to adapt to all the newness, I was left feeling like I failed everyone who ever thought I was a great teacher and I had failed myself because it was not what I had envisioned. It was not until my third week that one of God’s angels graced me with the most precious gift of all: a prayer of peace. This angel came in the form of a
custodian named Alice. Alice saw that I had stayed after and she came to check in on me. Out of
nowhere, her heart called out to mine and she prayed with me that I may experience peace. It was only after that that I could begin to trust God and His purpose for me. In God’s eyes, I am doing the best I can and that is my expectation from God.
How about you—where does your expectation lay?
Are you allowing yourself to experience the peace of turning away from the world’s perception of
expectations?
