Skip to main content

High Expectations?

I was pondering the misery and disappointments that many of my loved ones have experienced during their lifetime. I was pondering their reactions to these miseries and disappointments. For whatever reason (while I was pondering these things) I recalled the lyrics of a country western song that I had heard as a young child. These few lines had a huge impact on me back then and I believe that God used that silly secular country western song to speak truth into my heart in preparation for my own walk with Him later in life which began at the age of 35. Take a listen:

I beg your pardon
I never promised you a rose garden
Along with the sunshine
There's gotta be a little rain sometime
When you take you gotta give
So live and let live and let go oh oh oh oh

I could promise you things
Like big diamond rings
But you don't find roses growin' on stalks of clover
So you better think it over

Well, if sweet talking you could make it come true
I would give you the world right now on a silver platter
But what would it matter?

"Ah, my reader, if you are one of God's elect--do not expect a smooth and easy path through this earthly wilderness--but be prepared for varying circumstances and drastic changes. The Christian's resting place is not in this world, for "here have we no continuing city" (Hebrews 13:14).

The Christian is a "pilgrim," on a journey; he is a "soldier," called on to fight the good fight of faith. The more this is realized, the less keen will be the disappointment, when our ease is disturbed, and our outward peace harshly broken in upon. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous," and if 'troubles' do not come to us in one form--they most certainly will in another!

If we really appropriate this promise--then we shall not be so staggered when afflictions come upon us. It is written that, "it is necessary to pass through many troubles on our way into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22), and therefore we should make up our minds to expect the same, and to "not to think it strange" (1 Peter 4:12) when we are called upon to pass through "the fiery trial." Affliction, tribulation, and fiery trial--are a times, our portion here on earth."

A.W. Pink

When I am faced with disappointments or place my expectations in others, I often feel that God is saying to me, "I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, all men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever. I have made My light shine in your heart to give you the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. Stop placing your expectations in this worlds gardens. I have given you the "Rose of Sharon" and it is in His Garden where all your expectations will be met.





Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Painted Patio Wall Transformation - Our New "Secret Garden"

Michael and I have discovered a Secret Garden every where we have lived since getting married in 2010.  Whether it was the creek that ran behind our first apartment in Sacramento or the tiny little space of our 520 square foot, 1962 single-wide, mobile home in Rancho Cordova, California, we were always able to discover and create a unique sanctuary to call home.  Even though, in years past, we did what we could to make our surroundings uniquely wonderful, we never had the room to go really crazy until now. Since moving to our new home in North Carolina in May, we have not only discovered a world of exotic creatures and plants outdoors, but we have also started taking full advantage of the additional space we now have available to add our own touch of whimsy to the new "Wood's Secret Garden". Our first major project was the Patio which joins the in-law quarters (where mom lives) to the kitchen entrance into the main house.  We have received so many questions abou

The Project!

So, I had a huge jar of left over glass pebbles--you know the kind that you get at the craft store in those little net bags. I use the flawless ones to make my custom art pendants and rather than throw away the flawed ones, I kept collecting them in a large glass jar hoping someday I would come up with a brilliant idea. Well, here it is! It's a work in progress... Clip I first cut out pages from an old pocket Bible that was falling apart and missing pages. Clip I them spent a good part of a day, decoupaging them to a long section of the hallway wall. Clip Once the decoupage had dried; I began at the bottom of the wall, gluing one glass bead at a time, using (you guessed it) E6000. This process took at least 10 separate, 1 hour sessions. Once I glued about 5 or 6 rows, I used lengths of scotch tape to secure them to the wall and allowed the glue to dry over night before starting another section. Clip This took a really, really, l

Custom Doll Trunk with Doll and tons of clothes and accessories now available!

This took forever!  After transforming the 24 inch Bratz Dolls into "Just K.I.D.S" as part of the campaign to help rescue kids trapped in the sex trafficking industry, I got the crazy idea to convert a vintage suitcase into a doll trunk.  After making the inside compartments and decoupaging and hand painting the entire outside of the suitcase (both front and back) the set is now complete and up for auction on Ebay. Leave a comment if you want to bid on this amazing doll trunk.  You even get to pick which doll you want to be included.