Joyful Anticipation

Anticipation (noun) 1. Expectant waiting; the feeling of looking forward, usually excitedly or eagerly, to something that is going to happen.

  

I have lived my life always looking forward to something:  graduation, new job, marriage, children, and now grandchildren.  I believe that God places in us a longing to look forward.  In fact, in Isaiah 43:18-19 the Lord says, “Do not call to mind the former things or ponder things of the past.  Behold, I will do something new. Now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it?  I will make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”  The Lord wants us to look forward to what He has planned to do in and through our lives. 

The problem is that I lose that excited and eager feeling of anticipation.  I find myself living more in dread that in joyful expectation of what is coming next.  As a fifty-something empty-nester, I have seen my anticipated hopes and dreams come to life through my own graduations, jobs, marriage and children.  I am hanging on to the joyful anticipation of one day becoming a grandparent, but other than that at times my vision of future glories fade.  Last week’s cloud that I wrote about in my last blog posting was partly due to my lack of vision.  I had lost sight of what God might have planned for me in the future and so my “looking forward” had given way to doubts, fears, and regrets. 

I had to choose to drag myself out of that pit of self-pity and bad vision to a view above the clouds. Matthew 6:22-23 says that “the eye is the lamp of the body; if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad your whole body will be full of darkness.” I needed a clear vision of my life. It seemed all my dreams had been fulfilled, so what would I be looking forward to in my “growing old” state of mind? 

I went to the gym early on Monday morning in search of a clear new vision.  I found it on the treadmill.  As I walked I asked the Lord to show me a purpose, a new dream to look forward to.  A picture so clearly came to my mind of what He was calling me to.  I saw a vision that was clear, detailed and very real. The Lord gave me a glimpse of what He is calling me to give the rest of my life to!  That vision began with a vision of Him.  The Rend Collective Experiment version of “Be Thou My Vision” came flooding through my earphones and straight to my heart:

You are my vision, oh king of mine heart

Nothing else satisfies, only You, Lord

You are my best thought by day or by night

Waking or sleeping, Your presence, my light.

Are you looking forward to something with joyful anticipation?  If your eyes are bad right now and you can only see the darkness, then get a glimpse of Jesus, our Light, Redeemer, Savior, and soon coming again King!  “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?   But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”  Once you place your life into the hands of Jesus He begins to reveal Himself to you and His plan for you; a plan that includes one day seeing Him face to face and spending an eternity of joyful anticipation in His presence.  Now, there is nothing more satisfying, more exciting, and more joyful than looking forward to that! 

With Joyful Anticipation!

Nancy