By Sue Nichols
Two years ago, God brought to my attention that I was living my life too busy. The thought of tackling this issue was extremely overwhelming. There were several facets to the pace my life was taking: being a mother, a wife and an entrepreneur while working full time, serving at church, and doing everything I thought my family and I should be involved in.
I prayed a long time for God to show me how to change. In January, my husband and I were having an honest moment. He told me I have expectations. Hearing that word pierced through me. It was at that moment I realized my expectations were setting this outrageous pace. I could hear Matthew 11:28-29.
Then Jesus said, "Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” My expectations had created a tired and weary environment for my family. I had placed undue pressure and burden on us all.
I thanked God for opening my eyes. Now, I needed to take another step and change my thinking. I knew this wouldn't be an easy task.
The first place God lead me was my marriage and home. I began to surrender those expectations and asked God to continue to open my eyes. It was freeing to walk into the house and not get upset that my husband hadn't done something I thought he should've done. Then I realized
I had placed the expectations on me, not my husband. What enlightenment! My husband had never said he needed me to be perfect or the house to be perfect. Yet, I had placed so many expectations on myself in every area of my life.
The next area God showed me was in my job. He had blessed me with a new job in December, but by April I was feeling the expectations I had on myself bearing down on me. I kept hearing God say, “Trust me, I have this.” I tried to surrender.
May was supposed to be my best month yet. Management was impressed with my numbers. However, in the end, I had just met my goal. I was trying to make this happen on my own. God needed me to trust Him and surrender. June came and I knew I could not keep up my pace. Finally, I surrendered my expectations and believed that God would guide me in what I needed to do. What I found was less stress and more time. It was amazing!
Each day I am focusing on being intentional about letting go and trusting God and He confirms to me his power and love. Are you living with expectations? Have you let the expectations of yourself or of this world make your life so crazy busy that you are tired and weary? God has a better way. Let Him teach you.