by Lt. Colonel Patty Richardson
Territorial Racial Diversity and Inclusion Secretary
To say this last year and a half has been nothing like any of us expected is a huge understatement. Yes, things happen all the time that we don’t expect, both difficult and pleasant, but these times have felt especially overwhelming. Fearfulness and questions about God creep into our minds because situations appear to be out of His control, and certainly ours.
What often gets overshadowed is that God is hard at work reshaping our spiritual lives—our praying, our interaction with scripture, our waiting, our trusting and believing—for the purpose of clarifying our view of the Holy, Sovereign God’s activity amid our circumstances.
God says, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19, NIV)
What encouragement! A new thing! Even in a harsh place!
The fact is we all have moments in the wilderness; they are unsettling, difficult and disorientating.
Our lesson: expect God to be present, providing all we need on the journey through the wilderness and beyond. God promised His people and assures us: “When you pass through the waters, I am with you; when you pass through the streams, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not harm you.” (Isaiah 43:2, NET)
A good definition of expectation is: the prospect of the future; grounds upon which something excellent is expected to occur; prospect of anything good to come.
God never just meets our expectations; He always exceeds them with something much better.
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all that we ask or imagine, according to the power that works in us.” (Ephesians 3:20, MEV) His plan is for our good and His glory.
The song, “God is about to do,” by Morris Chapman that I discovered years ago still inspires and encourages me:
That old feeling we call giving up,
same old dark cloud always
hanging round
Now is the best time I know for
looking up.
It’s time to put a smile where there
used to be a frown,
Don’t let it get you down,
Remember Moses when he stood
by the Red Sea
Pharaoh’s army was closing in.
God spoke to Moses told him to
stretch out his hand
And the Children came walking
across, they came walking on
dry land,
People do you understand, start
believing,
God is about to do, His greatest
work in you!
That is the right expectation. Let it be so for each of us and our territory.
