The New Year in a Word…..

“Your car is being towed to your house, you need to make sure someone is home,” the text from my son-in-law read. I ran. Literally. I was walking my regular loop and still had 1.5 miles before I reached home. Seth and Amerey had borrowed my larger car for a trip and the radiator had gone kaput. During the Christmas week, two of my offspring locked their keys in the car. One had a dead battery. Another issues with the lights dimming. Another had a headlight go out.Another had a side view mirror knocked off. Husband Jerry headed to the parking lot after a long day of work to be greeted by a flat tire. Hmmm. Car issues and Christmas. Ever have a week like that? A week where it seems as if one thing after another goes wrong? As if you are eating the bread of adversity? A long string of adversities can lead me to expect it’s the only bread I’m going to get. This is where suppositions and expectations become bedfellows. Together they produce fear for the future.

I have a new radiator. The tire is fixed. The lights are fixed. The cars are open. The battery is recharged.  The side view mirror has been replaced. But, oh, the mind. It must be renewed. My feet follow my mind. My feet follow expectations. Do I expect the worst or that God will step in and provide a way. And even better, supply peace in the midst of the car Christmas storm. And He did. But, it made me think about how easily I fall into the trap of expecting adversity.

As I drove my car with its shiny new radiator to our local Barnes and Noble for a coffee date. I kept checking everything. Turning down the radio. Checking the RPMs (my car ignorance is showing). Sniffing the air for burning smells. Later my car-expert son asked me how the car ran. My immediate response, “Why? Do you think it shouldn’t work?”

“No, Mom. Just asking,” Smile. Relax. It’s okay. He had confidence. He expected it to work.

So, a long intro to my New Year’s Post! My new year in a word- EXPECT.

⁸ And therefore the Lord [earnestly] waits [expecting, looking, and longing] to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up, that He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who [earnestly] wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him [for His victory, His favor, His love, His peace, His joy, and His matchless, unbroken companionship]! – Isaiah 30:8

I cannot post a lengthy batch of wisdom on this verse or the word. Ask me at the end of December. I do know that after studying the word for a few days – I need to expect the Lord to show up. He longs to be gracious to me, to have mercy on me and show loving kindness to me. You too. Oh, how I long for victory, favor, love, peace, joy and His matchless unbroken companionship. He does not promise that I won’t have trouble. You either. But He does promise to be with us. To never leave us. To give us peace in the midst of circumstances.

When my car breaks down, when the children have their traditional after-holiday stupor followed by regression, He is with me. He is my companion (and their’s too). He gives me mercy when I am tired and snappy-mom. He gives me kindness when I give Him time. He gives me victory. Inside my mind where the real battle is. Then my feet follow the path that He has set in front of me. No matter where it leads. He waits for me expecting. Looking. Longing to be gracious to me, to you.