Expect What You are Not Expecting

As time goes along, I have not only learned that there are many things in life that I can count on, but there are also many more things that I cannot count on.  Years ago, I was known to quote the expression - "Expect the least and you won't be disappointed", but my husband challenged me that this wasn't good thinking nor did not line up with God's truth.  I began to retrain myself to not let that expression slip out and instead began thinking more positively and expectantly! 

This year, as we were preparing for Christmas, one of our children expressed great anticipation in a toy that they really wanted to receive for Christmas.  Unfortunately for that child, I had already gone to the store and looked at the toy they had requested and made the decision that we wouldn't give it to them.  My reasons were that I knew the novelty would quickly wear off and I didn't feel it was a quality toy that would benefit them in any way, even though it fit within the budget of what I could spend.  In order to prepare their heart, I let them know that they needed to begin expecting what they were not expecting.  What?  To look forward to something that they didn't know what it would be.

This led me to think about God, and His love and activity in my life.  How often am I disappointed because I don't get what I am hoping for, even though in the long run I get something much better?  I have been known to express frustration when things don't work out the way I would chose and yet, rarely, do I look back on the change and wish it were different  in the end.  If we are really going to take God at His Word, when we are told in Romans 8:28, that "In ALL things God works for the good of those who love Him," then we better be willing to expect what we are not expecting.

There is a song by Garth Brooks called "Unanswered Prayers" that tells the story of a man meeting up with an old girlfriend that he had longed to marry many years before.  It comes out that he had prayed over and over that she would become his wife, but God didn't answer that prayer.  Then as he looks over at the wife He loved and God had chosen, he says...

Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers, 
Remember when you're talking to the man upstairs,
That just because He may not answer,
Doesn't mean He don't care,
Some of God's greatest gifts...are unanswered prayers.

Rest in knowing that we can expect what we are not expecting with God and we will not be disappointed!