Do you like being disappointed?  I don’t. 

I’ve learned the hard way that expectations are nothing more than a set up for a let down.

Having expectations is trying to get from others what only God can give. 

Expecting someone else to fill voids, repair fractures, heal old wounds and make us feel loved, enough and valued is disappointment waiting to happen.  

That is not their job nor are they qualified. Only God has the power and ability to do that. 

I only wish I’d learned this sooner. 

God never intended for others to shoulder the responsibility of your happiness.  

It’s no one else’s job to make you feel like who God already says you are.

This is great news!

It means you are loved even when others walk away without an explanation. 

It means you’re enough even when you’re excluded, passed over, ignored or dismissed. 

And it means you matter and have value even when rejected or treated second class. 

Expectations sabotage relationships, destroy marriages and keep you stuck in cycles you desperately want free of.

Expecting others to behave or respond in a certain way opens the door to offense and resentment when they don’t.  

Expecting perfection from imperfect human beings is inviting heartache.  

When you no longer need from others what God already freely gives, you regain your personal power. Letting go of expectations is liberating!

Only God can heal you of the insecurities that haunt you, the expectations that sabotage your relationships, the voids shopping cannot fill, the hurt and pain alcohol can’t numb and the past you can’t outrun. 

I know this firsthand. God did (and keeps doing) what expectations never could and never will. And that is healing and mending the wounds that having expectations create.

Let go of expectations in others and embrace faith in Him. Had the Israelites put their hope in God to deliver them instead of expecting Moses to set them free, their story would have ended in the promised land.

Instead they remained stuck in the wilderness. Their expectations costs them God’s best.

I encourage you today to live hopefully and expectantly, turning to God instead of trusting in others to meet your needs. He promises to do just that according to His riches in glory. (Phil 4:19)

Sandra Hubbard