Great Expectations…

Sometimes great things aren’t pretty but they’re still what’s best.

I have a friend who signs her emails and notes with her name and then: ‘Expecting Great Things’. Not because she wishes them, not because she deserves them, not because she has it all. Because she knows God, the One who knows the plans He has for us.

Oh sometimes those plans don’t look so great. We want to run, hide – we want do overs – we want anything but this plan. And yet – “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord.” (Proverbs 21:30 NIV)

This is how I’ve found great things show up – unexpectedly. The extra money, the anonymous gift, the phone call, the long wait. Yep, great things are encouraging and discouraging – pleasing and unpleasant.

A family’s sudden loss of a father, a business’ unexpected financial decline – these are not great. At least not right now. But the big picture isn’t our view. We see only the here and now. God sees the someday. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God…I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1a, 3b NIV)

My tendency has been – mostly – to not embrace the not so great. In fact, I tend to fight and control and stress. You?

But I’ve noticed in the midst of all that stressing I’m missing other things I do think are great. When we’re so wrapped up in the hard of now we miss out on the rest of life around us. I don’t want to miss the pink sunrise, the baby’s sweet sigh, and the other big things that are going right if I would just look.

We can expect great things because we serve a Great God. Great mercy, great love, great forgiveness, great salvation and more. Great is His faithfulness – may ours start to reflect Him and not our  puny expectations. “For His faithful love to us is great; the LORD’s faithfulness endures forever. Hallelujah!” (Psalm 117:2 CSB)