Expectations | All Things for Good

If you’ve been alive for more than a few rotations around the sun, you’ve probably figured out that life doesn’t always go our way, even when we’ve done our best to make it. What happens then? 

Some of us experience a crisis of faith. I think I’ve written about this before, but during the separation and divorce process from my ex-husband, I questioned God. I didn’t question His existence but His ways. I’d been brought up with the expectation that if I did all the right things then our marriage would be healthy. That ideal went belly-up when our marriage was dying. We tried marriage counseling with a pastor who was also a counseling professor at a Christian college to no avail. Why, God, would You lead us to get married (both my ex and I had always felt that God had led us to each other) only to have our marriage end that way? 

Others may experience different kinds of crises. This week I watched a video podcast on YouTube by the Christian rapper Lecrae where he interviewed Beth Moore. They focused on her experience with leaving the church tradition she’d grown up in due to the backlash she faced when she spoke out against things she saw happening politically that she felt would be devastating to the Christian community. When Lecrae asked her if she’d had a crisis of faith during that time, she said no, she was already in too deep with Jesus and her faith was fine. Her crisis was one of community. She lost not just her own church, denomination, and church tradition, but also much of the evangelical audience that attended her Bible studies. It was devastating to her. She also eventually had to reconcile herself with the fact that faith leaders in her church world were aligning themselves to entities that she couldn’t condone. 

Fortunately, God doesn’t leave us in a state of crisis. We may never get direct answers of why things happened the way they did, but hopefully we get to see blessings or at least silver linings in how things play out eventually. He has good things in store for us if we persevere in trusting Him. My kids haven’t quite learned this principle yet; even when their dad and I have what they want already in the works, they panic or beg until they see their desire fulfilled. We hope they’ll someday trust God more than us.

If you know me, you know how things have worked out for the best for me and even for my ex.  I’ll let you watch the Lecrae / Beth Moore video to hear how things have worked out for her and her ministry. It is beautiful. She is now even more sure of where her salvation, hope, and identity are found: in Jesus, not a particular church denomination. You can watch it here: When “Biblical” Submission Becomes Abuse | Beth Moore Has Unfiltered Convo w/Lecrae

Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” 

Psalm 139:16
Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.