Expectations and the Lord’s Faithfulness

It’s so crazy how the Lord blesses us when we lay down our expectations—when we open up our hands and let the Lord take all of our own desires and dreams. This past weekend, I found myself needing to let go of expectations, still. Like many of my teammates, I had many expectations for this trip that were not being met.

I had dreams of little children running into my arms. I had desires to connect with the people of Guatemala and make life-long friends. I had expectations to learn Spanish, and to learn it quickly and easily.

And again, the Lord asked me to give these up to Him. To let my own dreams go and surrender to the plan that He had for me here. To abide in Him and His will for my time here. To trust in Him and in His good ways. One of my favorite songs by United Pursuit Band took on a whole new meaning when the Lord spoke to me so clearly through these lyrics: “I will climb this mountain with my hands wide open.” And that is exactly what I did: I surrendered and opened up my hands to let go of the things that I had been clinging to so hard with closed fists.

And that always seems to be the moment the Lord is waiting for. Because He is so faithful! He comes back around and pours out blessing upon blessing upon me—far greater than anything I could dream of or even imagine!

Yesterday, after we finished ministry at the orphanage, I was met with the most pleasant surprise from the Lord. One of my teammates, Chelsey, had met two little boys who lived around the orphanage the past week and had formed a connection with them. So when we waked out of the orphanage, they instantly ran up to greet her with a huge hug. She then introduced us to them, and they came around and gave each of us the same huge hug, as if they had known us for years. My heart melted.

I ended up staying for a good hour, playing and laughing with these amazing children. Somehow word spread quickly that some Gringos were out to play, and we got to love on lots of children. I laughed, I ran, and I was reminded of the freedom of the Lord. I felt so free and so blessed.

And today, we got to do the same thing. I can’t explain how freeing it is to be with these children and how blessed I am to get to love on them. And as if that isn’t enough, the Lord has been using these children to teach me more Spanish!

I am constantly blown away by the faithfulness of the Lord. He is just so good. And His plans are so much better than my own. He has so many blessings in store for us when we choose to walk in a life surrendered to Him!