Expectation: the act or state of looking forward or anticipating. (dictionary.com)
So keeping that in mind, here are some of the things I’m expecting this year:
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For God to break my heart for what breaks His
- For Kingdom to be built on earth and inside of my team and myself
- To make friends from all over the world
- For many of those friends to become family
- To be pushed past my limits and then go farther – not on my own, but by the strength that comes from God alone
- To see the church body in action, working and functioning like in Acts
- For my teammates to encourage, challenge, love, frustrate, bless, teach, stretch, humble me and to be strong when I can’t
- To be championed in my faith, gifts and abilities and built up as a woman of God
- To be so inspired that I write new songs and have enough to fill an entire album
- To go with the intention to impact others, but I have a feeling they’ll unintentionally end up impacting me even more
- Miracles and healings because I believe God still does that today (Can I get an amen?)
- To learn to live with as little as possible. Goodbye materialism!
- To make amazing memories, laugh alot and see things I’ve never dreamed of (good and bad)
- To miss my friends, family and church back home
- To have selfishness, pride and materialism knocked out of me on a daily basis and be replaced by grace, humility and love as I fall to my knees and surrender
- To learn to give until it hurts, so much so that it becomes a joy and a new way of life
- To eat food that I never imagined would enter my body and then by the end of the race just be happy to eat anything as long as it looks cooked
- To learn sweet up new dance moves from all sorts of different cultures and have a dance party in Africa! Woohoo!!!
- To pick up random words and phrases in many different languages that will entertain my friends when I get back home
- To leave a piece of my heart in each and every country
- To grow in my understanding of Christ, missions and the way He is moving globally
- TO NEVER BE THE SAME
But, even with all these things I’m anticipating, I have learned to surrender my expectations to Jesus and walk with my hands open, ready to receive anything he places in them and to go wherever he leads me.
I hope that by the end of this journey, like the Apostle Paul, I’ll be able to say “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” (Philippians 4: 11 – 13)
