What To Expect At 30

Do you ever have moments in your life when you look around and you think to yourself, “How did I get here?”

Sometimes those moments are filled with sorrow and regret. But those moments can also be filled with awe and wonder knowing we serve a God who seems to lead us in our lives to places, people and situations that we would never had expected.

If there is anything that I’ve learned in the last three decades of my life it is that our God is a God of the unexpected.

Over the last few months at my church we have been having a conversation about how the Kingdom of God is often not what we expect, but it’s always what we need.

This Tuesday I turn 30.

There are so many cultural expectations I’ve had most of my life about what it means to turn 30: where you should be at in your life when you turn 30, what you should be or should not be doing.

I’m fully aware of these expectations. It’s difficult to avoid the reality as a single woman that I am now four years older than the average age women get married in our country. People make off handed comments about how old is too old for women to begin to have kids. Many people put expectations on where someone’s career should be at by the time they are 30 or if they own a house, make a certain amount of money, etc. The list could go on.

Sure, when I was 20 I’m sure I had a lot of thoughts about what I EXPECTED my life to be like by the time I turned 30. I probably did think I was going to be married and have kids and other normal expectations.

But somewhere in my 20s something changed.

God gave me a heart of expectancy that far outweighed any expectations I had previously had.

I started to realize that even some of my biggest expectations could actually be, in someways, limiting what a limitless God can do.

So as I have been approaching this benchmark birthday, I find myself asking the question, “How did I get here?” I am in awe of what God has done!

Two days away from 30, I can say that God has done WAY more than I ever could have expected or imagined 10 years ago!

• I have seen the power of God to begin to transform a neighborhood.
• Experienced the beginning of a church on mission to love their community in the name of Jesus.
• I’ve been able to see disciples of Jesus from my own home sent literally around the world.
• I’ve been mentored and discipled by women and men who I can’t believe I’ve been able to learn from so closely.
• God has given me opportunities to share the gospel of the good news of the Kingdom of God with people of many different cultures, ages, experiences, backgrounds and economic situations.
• I’ve seen the hungry fed, the sick healed and countless people experience freedom from bondage in their lives.
• I’ve seen God move in ways that I can’t help but to respond.

So now as I turn 30, I can say without a doubt that I do serve a God of the unexpected.

And as I look into this next decade, I don’t want to be a person of expectations… but a person of expectancy.

Who KNOWS what God will do by the time I hit 40?

I know there will be ups and downs and twists and turns just like the last few decades. But I can honestly say that I can’t wait to see God will do and I’m committed to following God’s lead!

I know God will do more than I would expect, but it will be exactly what I need.