Expectancy ~ By Paula Moldenhauer

A friend promised me a surprise, telling me it would be received in the mail the following day.  She said GOD had told her to send it it, that HE wanted to bless me.  Waiting expectantly, I wondered what my gift would be.  I went though my day listening for the sound of the mailman's vehicle, waiting for the crunch of his tires at my mailbox.  When the doorbell rang that afternoon, I threw open the door, only to discover our family's monthly delivery of vitamin supplements.

The present didn't come that day so I assumed it would arrive the next.  It didn't.  When the third day came, my ear wasn't quite so tuned to the sounds of the postman. As another day crawled by, I quit listening for the doorbell.

Hope.  It's hard to hold onto it when our dreams are delayed.

Expectancy seems impossible when desires are crushed and longings unfulfilled.  The wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, even commented on this in Proverbs 13:12.  He said, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick."

I was going through a difficult season when my friend mailed that package.  Many of my dreams seemed like lifeless papers shoved to the back of a shelf.  Things I'd hoped for hadn't seen fulfillment - even things I thought God had whispered He would give me.  And, I'd almost quit expecting them.  The promised gift in the mail got my hopes up, hopes for something special from the Father, via my friend.  And, when it didn't arrive, the disappointment I felt was all too familiar - unfulfilled expectations.  Desire dashed.

Eventually my friend and I talked.  She discovered that the mail service she'd used sent the gift by ground instead of overnight air.  She admonished me to live with an expectant heart.  She said the delayed gift was a good example of how we have to learn to trust that God is working on our behalf, even when we don't see it - that I should expect God to be working for my heart's desires.

When the package arrived, it was full of gifts obviously chosen to minister to me - beautiful, delicate, extravagant presents all in a fabric covered gift box.  I stared at the gifts' elegance, so completely different from the rough and tumble world of a house full of boys and no budget for home decorating.  I wondered where I could place such lovely things in my worn - out (but well - loved) home.

Over the next several days I found the perfect placement for the various items - and I used them.  One day the children were gone and I filled my new teapot with boiling water, popped in a couple of packages of the new herb tea, lit a candle underneath the scented wax, and put classical music on.  Ah... the present had been worth the wait.

The beautiful gift box sits in a prominent place in my living room.  It's cheerful, elegant, fabric, just my favorite color, reminds me that God knows my desires, my dreams.....my...heart.  He'll carry out His plans for me.  His gifts for my life aren't heading to the wrong address.  He didn't change His mind at the last minute and decide not to send them. They are in the mail.  They just haven't arrived.

When God gives us a promise, we can believe it will happen in His perfect time.  

Father, sometimes you whisper beautiful things to me and I get my hopes up.  When I don't see the fulfillment of those desires, I too often become discouraged and doubt the very things You've already set in motion.  Give me the faith to keep hoping in You and the patience I need for the wait.

~ A mother of four, Paula Moldenhauer is passionate about God's grace and intimacy with Jesus.  Her website offers book reviews, home schooling hints, and a free weekly devotional, Soul Scents. Subscribe to Soul scents at www.soulscents.us. Visit her blog at www.gracereign.blogspot.com

You can contact Paula at Paula@soulscents.us.