I’ve never been much of a realist – I’m more inclined to daydream and imagine life the way I wish it to be rather than work with what’s in front of me. And if I’m not careful, I can summon up pictures of a Hallmark movie, complete with ideal ending, all wrapped up in a happy, sappy bow!

Though I love the dreamer in me, it also has it’s shortcomings, among them, the tendency to expect things, then find myself mortally disappointed when they don’t happen as I imagine, sending me down the rabbit hole of “nothing will ever be alright again, ever!” (Perhaps I should add “dramatic” to the list…)

Expectations are perfectly normal, and we experience them a hundred times a day. I expect that my car will start when I turn the key, that everyone will stay in their designated lanes as I drive to work and that I will see my co-workers when I get there. I expect water to flow from the faucet and my dog to be excited to see me when I come home….just normal expectations that nearly always happen as expected.

Nearly always….

Life isn’t really a Hallmark movie, is it? Sometimes the car doesn’t start, and water pipes burst. Sometimes the phone rings and suddenly nothing about the day – or month – or year is what we expected at all…..and what do we do with that?

I’m becoming somewhat of a veteran in the realm of unmet expectations, and I’d like to offer some hope to my dreamer friends – and also my realist friends. =)

I was driving home from work last week, and something caught my attention. It was an old tree, still dormant from winter, but there was something odd about it that I couldn’t quite make out. Traffic was kind of heavy, so I kept going. The next day I purposefully looked for the same tree, but there were construction trucks on both sides and I still didn’t get a good look at the thing. Finally, Sunday, on my way home from church I drove down the same road, only this time I went slowly, not about to miss it again. And there it was….on the side of the road, an old oak (I think?) with a patch of yellow flowers growing out of the center of what seemed to be a very un-alive tree. I’d never seen anything like it, and I fended off traffic to get out of my car and get a picture or two…..

On the short remaining drive home, I kept thinking about how beautiful and how unexpected it was to see those yellow, spring flowers growing out of the middle of that winter tree. It doesn’t usually happen that way – it’s not how it’s “supposed” to happen. Flowers don’t grow in trees. But evidently, they do – it’s just not expected.

There really can be such incredible beauty in the unexpected, but it’s not always easy to find. I’m seeing God take the most tragic and unexpected events in my not-so-Hallmark life and begin to breathe new life into old dreams, because He is faithful. His promises are as true today as they have ever been, and I truly have seen Him move mountains – so many of them! And if He did it in my “before” life, I am confident He will do it again, just maybe not in the way I expect.

How about you? Are there places in your life that don’t look like you thought they would? Hold on….waiting is hard, but there is beauty yet to come from the dry places. If God can bring beauty from a plain old wintery tree, how much more does He desire it for us? ♥

Expecting with you,

Shellie ♥

Do It Again
Elevation Worship

Walking around these walls
I thought by now they’d fall
But You have never failed me yet
Waiting for change to come
Knowing the battle’s won
For you have never failed me yet

Your promise still stands
Great is your faithfulness, faithfulness
I’m still in Your hands
This is my confidence, You’ve never failed me yet

I know the night won’t last
Your Word will come to pass
My heart will sing Your praise again
Jesus, you’re still enough
Keep me within Your love
My heart will sing Your praise again

Your promise still stands
Great is Your faithfulness, faithfulness
I’m still in your hands
This is my confidence, you never failed

Your promise still stands
Great is Your faithfulness, faithfulness
I’m still in your hands
This is my confidence, You never failed me yet

I’ve seen You move, You move the mountains
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again
You made a way, where there was no way
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again

I’ve seen You move, You move the mountains
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again
You made a way, where there was no way
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again

I’ve seen You move, You move the mountains
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again
You made a way, where there was no way
And I believe, I’ll see You do it again

I’ll see You do it again, Oh-oh

Your promise still stands
Great is your faithfulness, faithfulness
I’m still in Your hands
This is my confidence, You never failed me yet

Your promise still stands
Great is your faithfulness, faithfulness
I’m still in your hands
This is my confidence, You never failed me yet

And You never failed me yet
I never will forget
You never failed me yet
And I never will forget