'Great Expectations'

Now that You're near

Everything is different, everything's so different, Lord

I know I'm not the same, my life You've changed

I wanna be with You, I wanna be with You

I love this song...

I love it because I know it to be true. Ever since the day I received the Holy Spirit in 2004, I know that I'm not the same person inside. Something HAS changed, though I couldn't put my finger on it. But I know for sure that I'm different... for everything the Lord touches, He made new.

I've come a ways since then... The Lord had to humble me, break me, sent people & events to teach me difficult lessons... But it's all worth it, for we are like gold tested in fire. Trials & tribulations serve only to make us more & more into the person God intended us to be.

But at times it seems as though no matter how much I've changed it is still not enough.

No matter how I try to be more patient & understanding, people say I'm overbearing.

No matter how I try to be more gentle with my words, people say they don't like my manner of speech.

Sometimes it feels like I wanna just say.. Enough is enough.

I am a work in progress... If the Lord is taking His time with me, then the rest of them would just have to learn to live with it!

Expectations...

Society expects something of me.
My parents expect something of me.
My friends expect something of me.
The Church expects something of me.
It's not possible to meet all of those expectations.. especially when some contradict the other.

How much should I care what people say of me?

How much should I conform to what 'they' expect of me and how much should I just be myself?

I guess another reminder to always turn to Jesus and seek Him above all else.
To seek counsel from the Lord and not just rely on human wisdom.
To find rest in Him, for His yoke is easy and His burden light (Matthew 11:29-30).

Yes, we are not meant to carry the weight of the world, the load of all those expectations...
And certainly never to carry it alone...