Low Expectations

Today in my reading, I read this: One of our greatest spiritual shortcomings is low expectations. We don't expect much from God because we aren't asking for much." I'm inclined to rearrange that to say, " We don't ask much from God because we don't expect much from God."

Does this describe you? It certainly has described me for much of my life. Yes, I've been a faithful pray-er for all of my 32+ years as a believer, but for most of those years, I asked only minimally for myself. Now, I'm not in the 'ask for a gold cadillac' group, BUT...I do think that many of us who are His kids don't ask Him for NEARLY as much as He'd love to give us. And even in that, we must exercise humility. (one of those words not promoted much by our current culture)

Example: Almost four years ago, very dear friends of mine went to Thailand with a well-known ministry organization. When they knew for sure that they'd be going, they said to me, "You'll have to come and visit us in Thailand!" Now I'd never seriously aspired to even visit another country, but even if I had, it would never have been Thailand. HOWEVER, as I've always said about New York, I'd LOVE to go if I could go with someone who knew it! And, certainly, by the time I'd go, my friends would 'know' Thailand. So, I got online and starting looking at airfares. Well, AY YI YI!!! Even using the sites that shop for the cheapest prices, I was looking at about $4,000! No way could I afford that, so I 'crossed it off my list' and moved on with life.

Then, a little over two years ago, it occurred to me that I'd NEVER EVEN ASKED the Lord about going to Thailand! (Yes, I'm a little slow...) I apologized to Him for not even asking Him about this and told Him if He wanted me to go to Thailand to make a way. I then pretty much forgot about it, but not for long. A friend from Egypt had been here for about six months, was getting ready to go back and asked me to go to dinner with her before she and her family left. I happily agreed. Well, before the night of our dinner, I looked up fares for Egypt, thinking maybe they'd be cheaper than fares to Thailand. They were about $6,000! I nearly fainted and decided I wouldn't be going to Egypt, either. So, during dinner, my friend said, "You ought to come to Egypt" to another friend who dined with us. I said, "Oh, right! It costs about $6,000!" She said, "Oh, no. We're only paying $500 apiece to fly back." I asked her WHERE she got those fares and she said, "Consolidator.com." So, when I got home that night, I checked that site and found a fare to Thailand for only $2,000! (Now, this is still a lot of money, but it was HALF of what I'd found at first!) So I emailed my friends in Thailand and asked if they still wanted me to come. They did and I went! And not only did God get me to the site with the $2,000 fare, He also helped out with the cost (but I'm not at liberty to share how). All of this prompted me to wonder how many things I've maybe missed out on because I never asked Him! I would have missed out on going to Thailand if I'd never asked Him! And I'm sure it was Him reminding me that I'd never asked Him! After all, I'd 'crossed it off my list!'

Can you think of any desire you've 'crossed off of your list' because you don't think He'd EVER work it out for you? Has it ever occurred to you that, just maybe, HE's the One Who put that desire in your heart in the first place? Maybe He's LONGING to fulfill that desire but He's waiting on YOU to trust Him enough to ask Him for it! Well, you just read my story and He loves me NO MORE than He loves you! Go for it! ASK Him! (I dare you!)