Unknown Expectations

05/18/20 • 18 min

Uncertainty, unpredictability, unreliability, riskiness, chanciness, unsureness, changeability - 2020. It’s one thing to have expectations gone unmet. It’s another thing to be so uncertain that expectations can’t even be set. Those are the days we are in. And yet, there is an advantage these days afford. In this episode of Breaking Bread, Arlan Miller helps us see those advantages.

We learn flexibility. A lot is out of our control.
We learn childlikeness. God is our Father.
We learn dependence. God is our supplier.
We learn to be responsible in those things we know.
We learn to shift our trust from those things uncertain to the one who is – God.

We learn flexibility. A lot is out of our control.
We learn childlikeness. God is our Father.
We learn dependence. God is our supplier.
We learn to be responsible in those things we know.
We learn to shift our trust from those things uncertain to the one who is – God.

Previous Episode

Walking With Kids Through Their Loss

It is easy to overlook the losses our kids are enduring these days. In this episode of Breaking Bread, Craig Stickling highlights what many of our kids are experiencing as their lives have been put on hold during these days of COVID-19. Fortunately, parents are equipped with a few helpful tools to minister to their losses.

Some tools for the toolset:

Acknowledge their loss. Don’t down-play it.
Kids have had limited experience. Bring perspective.
Connect with their loss. Resist shifting the focus to yourself.
They will be fearful. Help them express it.
They will be frustrated. Help them channel it.
They will be scattered. Help them focus.
They will be absorbed in the present. Help them see the future.

Next Episode

3 Small Things for Improving Your Marriage, Part 3

Conflict happens. Some conflict can be avoided. All conflict needs resolve. Sometimes little things make big differences. In this episode of Breaking Bread, Kaleb Beyer relays three small things that exist in happy marriages.

3 Small Things

Be Purposeful

Highly happy couples find that when they can’t resolve conflict before bedtime, they choose to sleep on it. If anger remains in the morning, they don’t let it go unresolved; they deal with it.

Be Present

Highly happy couples treat one another with intentional kindness; they joke and they challenge, but they try to never do it in ways their mate would perceive as disrespectful or hurtful.

Be Positive

When highly happy couples inevitably experience hurt feelings and conflict, they eventually reconnect by mutually sharing a private signal that says “We’re okay.”

Taken from “The Surprising Secrets of Highly Happy Marriages: The Little Things That Make a Big Difference” by Shaunti Feldhahn