Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.
PSalm 143:10 NLT
The first couple years of marriage are said to be the makers or the breakers of relationships. Within one month of getting marriage, my husband and I packed up and were moved to Alaska. This included a cross continent drive from the gulf to Anchorage!
After being transplanted several days away from our support system, we only really had each other day in and day out, and it was hard! We went from a young fun dating couple to a married couple who was trying to figure out each other and a completely new location.
We barely fought during our dating, but pretty quickly into our marriage, fighting became a regular occurrence. For the longest time I couldn’t figure out why. Why were we wasting our precious time together arguing over trivial things?
Then one day, the Lord showed me what was wrong. I was putting unrealistic expectations on my husband’s and my time and relationship. I had dreamed of marriage for so long and had built a ideal marriage in my head, which was totally unfair to my husband and made it impossible for me to be satisfied.
Unmet expectations lead to frustration. When we base our happiness on our ability to control outcomes, we end up disappointed when life throws us circumstances that are less than ideal or when those closest to us fail to live up to what we want from them.
Thankfully, there is one place we can place our expectations that is guaranteed not to disappoint. The Bible says, “My soul, wait silently for God alone, For my expectation is from Him.” (Psalm 62:5) As we go in 2021, place your plans, hopes, and dreams for your family into God’s hands. He loves your and his plans for you can be trusted.
Father in heaven, help me to turn over my expectations of life to you. I know that your thoughts are greater than mine and you see far beyond my limited vision. Help me to be present in what is going on around me. Amen
Dig Deeper: What is an unmet expectation that you have that needs to be released to God?
Also see: Lessons Learned while waiting for Prayers to be Answered