*below is a talk I gave to our students in the hills of India during one of our nightly bible studies*

Expectations

 

“Hey guys! If you don’t know me, my name is Sara, I am 19 years old and am from Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is a state in the North East of the United States, near New York City. I have 5 older brothers: Pieter, Paul, Andrew, John, and Ben. I also have two parents, and one small dog named Lucy!

 

Tonight, I wanted to talk to you guys about expectations. Expectations are things that you look forward to, or things you expect. 

 

I have learned a lot about expectations on the World Race, the trip I am on now with this group here. I had so many expectations for what the trip would look like, and what I would do on it. I thought the entire time we would be living in a tent outside, and the reality is that we’ve mostly had a roof over our heads, showers, and toilets. After hearing stories from our leaders about when they went on their world race, I thought I was going to see a lot of healings, which has not happened. I honestly thought I was going to lose weight and become very strong, which has also not happened. I set myself up for disappointment or confusion from the beginning because of all my expectations.

 

Another example of expectations I have had on the World Race has been with my parents. I have always had a good relationship with them. They are definitely some of my most favorite people in the world, and they have demonstrated so much wisdom, kindness, and love towards me. I placed them on a high stool way above me, where I would look up to them because, in my mind, they had few faults. My doing this was probably the result of being away from them for so long, and only being able to communicate through phone calls of saying how much we loved and missed each other. We saw them at the beginning of April because they came to India to visit us, and at that point it had been 7 full months without seeing or living with my parents. I was so excited to see them and show them off to my friends here, because I had talked so highly of them. It really was amazing to have them here, but because they are human, they made mistakes. They told me things they struggled with, and they were very honest with me. But of course, this shocked and hurt me. I was still looking at them from below, holding them up above me and was faced with the reality that they weren’t the perfect people I had created them to be after not being with them for so long. It took me a bit to accept this, but I had to work through disappointment that was the result of me having unrealistic expectations for my parents. 

 

We often do this with the Lord. We finally truly accept Christ into our hearts, and expect so much change to come out of our lives because of it. We expect to never be sad again, or to never struggle with some things because we have Him on our side, fighting for us. But we do get sad, and angry, and we do struggle. The struggles we feel almost always come from sin, which of course is not of the Lord, but of the world. We live in the world. We live right in the middle of so much sin. We face it every day, and we try to be perfect and have control over our lives, but we are human and the Lord made us independent, so of course we are going to make wrong decisions sometimes and struggle and sometimes bad things that we will never be able to control are going to happen to us. But in reality, struggle and pain can bring so much much growth and bring us closer in our relationship with the Lord. He teaches us so much through it. We expect Him to fix us, and to make life perfect for us because we follow him, but He calls us to trust him. And how can we fully trust him if we have so many expectations? 

 

Something I am really learning is to fully place my trust in the Lord. I have had to let go of the expectations I had for Him. I had to take a look at the expectations I had for my parents, and let those go. I had to walk with my parents through those expectations and through the disappointment I experienced from having them. I had to lose any future expectations for the race, which allows me to be more flexible and ready for anything that could happen. I want to encourage you all to examine your lives and what expectations you might have. Sometimes we need to learn to trust in the Lord and let go of our expectations.”

 

If you know me, you know that I do not enjoy speaking in front of groups at all. Before talking to the kids that night, I was certain I was going to get up there and have absolutely nothing to say. I actually even convinced myself that I hadn’t grown or changed at all since starting the race! But the Lord shook that lie, and reminded me that I have, and that I have learned so much.

  

I am now in Nepal for month 9. The Race is coming to an end, but there are still around 25 days left. That’s 25 days for the Lord to do even more amazing things! 

 

Thank you to everyone who has supported me financially, through prayer, and through all the words of encouragement and affirmation! I appreciate it all so much, and without it I would not be here.