Human beings will let you down. It is just a reality of life.

It isn’t a sad reality, really, just a fact of life. If we can grasp that then I think our relationships will be a lot more fruitful because we won’t project unrealistic expectations upon those around us.

The only thing we have to be careful of is that we DON’T lower our expectations of God.

So often I feel like I have it backwards; like I have monumental expectations for the people in my life and then when they disappoint me, I turn that back on God and expect Him to let me down too. The only difference is that He never disappoints and He always fulfills His promises even when people don’t.

Four months ago I was a young woman asking God to lead her into the next step of life- a young woman who didn’t know what was in store, but who chose to trust God and let Him take control.
Two months ago I was a young woman with a plan for the future asking God to provide for the next season of life- a young woman who didn’t know how God would provide, but who knew that He would.
Today I am a young woman standing upon the fulfilled promises of a faithful Father in the midst of an uncertain life- a young woman who still doesn’t have all the answers but who knows the character of the One who guides her.

I decided to go back to school to finish my bachelor’s degree through a new partnership my previous Bible College offered with Calvary Chapel University. When I made the decision to pursue higher education, I didn’t know what I wanted to major in or how I was going to pay for it. Contrary to popular practice, I didn’t even “wait upon the Lord for an undeniable answer” about what I was supposed to do after Bible College, but I took a step in a direction that I knew would honor God and bring Him glory and I trusted Him to redirect my steps if they were headed in the wrong direction. The beautiful thing about the freedom we have in Christ is that we have the freedom to choose what we want to do with our lives as long as whatever we choose is in accordance with His Word and is intended for His glory.

The important thing is that we continue to move toward Him so that He can direct our steps. He can’t direct us if we refuse to move, even when the reason we aren’t moving is so that we “don’t make a wrong move.” Through my Bible College experience, He has taught me that it is fear, and not faith, that keeps us in a place where we say, “God, I am not going to do anything until I am sure it’s from you, so please reveal your will to me.”

Now, there are things that we need to absolutely wait upon Him for, but I have found that He meets me most powerfully and directs most clearly as I am moving in a direction that I know, based upon His revealed and explicit Word, will please Him.

In the same way that you can’t turn a ship while it is anchored in the harbor, God can’t direct you if you’ve dug your heels into the sand to wait for a sign. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus said to the Jewish religious leaders who asked Him to prove that He was the Messiah, “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah” (Matthew 16:4a NKJV). So what does this mean for us? For me?
That I need to stop asking God to miraculously split the clouds and thunder down what I am supposed to do or what I am supposed to choose and I need to seek HIM through His Word, through prayer, and through a genuine, living relationship, because if I know Him personally, I am going to know which options please Him and which do not. From there, I am free to choose whatever I want from the options that please Him.

And that’s what I did.

I chose to go to school to get my bachelor’s degree so that I would be better equipped to serve Him wherever He led me.
I didn’t know which degree to pursue, whether Biblical studies or Christian Education, but I committed to coming back to school anyway and asked Him to show me which degree would be most beneficial in the ministry that He has for me in Israel. To help determine that, I looked at the ministry opportunities in Israel and I found an International Christian school located in Jerusalem. Almost immediately it was decided that I was going to pursue Christian education and use it as a means to provide for myself in Israel (and to get into the country without too much hassle). It was as if a veil was torn away and I could see the perfect harmony of His handiwork in my life up to this point; when I was 10 years old I wanted to be a missionary after hearing some missionaries share their testimony at my cousin’s church, but that only lasted a few years. Later, I wanted to be a teacher (from 6th grade to my junior year of high school, at which time I started to desire to go into ministry, and ultimately missions). Now I see how BOTH desires were and are from God because it was His plan all along for them to go hand-in-hand in a beautiful symbiotic relationship for His glory.

Through it all, as I was taking steps of faith, He was confirming them and giving me the confidence to take the next step(s).

The next obstacle was financial; logistically I was not going to be able to pay for school because tuition through the University is almost $1,000 higher per semester than the tuition I paid per semester to get my associates degree and I didn’t even have the funds to pay for a semester of regular Bible College. As I laid this before the Lord (all the while still committing to spending the semester here) I won’t deny that I stressed about it a little bit in those vulnerable moments, but He met me there too. He reminded me that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and that He is faithful to provide for all of my needs.

I spent the summer working full-time at the retirement community and I applied for a scholarship through work as well as church. With all of my paychecks and the scholarship money the Lord generously provided through both work and church, I was able to pay for my entire first semester back at school plus a little bit extra toward next semester!

I can’t even describe to you how incredibly faithful God is and how indescribably trustworthy. When you bet on Him, you will always win and He will always prove Himself true. It was missionary William Carey, the “father of modern missions”, who said,

“Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God”

William Carey

and I want to encourage you with that today.

It doesn’t matter what you face, God is with you and you don’t have to be paralyzed or debilitated by fear and doubt. Take a step! EXPECT God to be true to His Word and faithful to His promises and then step out upon those promises! He will not let you down because, unlike people, He is completely reliable and capable of keeping His word without variation or mistake.

Take the first step. You don’t have to know step number two. Just step out in faith and watch God move.
Our sight may fail, but that is where faith begins because we are called to walk in the knowledge that we serve a God who is endlessly faithful.