What do you expect in your life? Will next year be pretty much the same as this year? Will you be as happy as can be expected in your marriage? Will you be merely satisfied in your job? At my age, I tend to think that the exciting things of life are in the past. I expect to live the rest of my life as someone in the background-a spectator.

What are you expecting in the coming year? Do you expect what you've always had? Or do you expect abundance?

As I read the bible, I see that wherever Jesus went, people got more than they expected. In Mark chapter two, a paralytic was brought to Jesus, expecting to be healed. He walked out of the house carrying his mat - healed. He also walked out free from sin. He not only had a new life physically but a new life spiritually. (Mark 2:1-12)

In the book of Luke, a widow was expecting to bury her son and spend the day grieving. She met Jesus along the way and he restored her son to life and gave him back to her. (Luke 7:11-17)

One day, over five thousand people had followed Jesus. At the end of the day, his disciples expected him to send the people away to find food. Jesus showed them that he is the Creator of food, and let those disciples participate in the miracle performed as he fed everyone, beginning with five loaves of bread two small fish. (Matthew 14:13-21)

After that event, the disciples were in a boat, a considerable distance from land, when an intense storm overtook them. They expected to work hard to save themselves from drowning. They didn't expect to see Jesus walking on the water in the middle of that storm. They didn't expect the wind to die down as soon as Jesus climbed into the boat. (Matthew 14:22-33)

We tend to expect what we've always had. We expect to work out our own problems and to persevere under our own strength. When we meet Jesus, what we get is so much greater than we could imagine. Let's stop expecting what we've always known and look for the miraculous.

• Expect to no longer be a slave to sin. Expect to be free to live for Jesus.


• Expect to be surprised by the joy of living.


• Expect Jesus to provide abundantly.


• Expect Jesus to walk through every storm with you.

Jesus always did more than was expected. As John wrote in his gospel, if all the things that Jesus did were written down, "I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written." John 21:25 - Expect more.


Enjoy three volumes of the Evelynton Murder Series. Heart Strings, Heart Beat, Murderous Heart