Since I had such a positive response to the last Langstaff Letter I decided to add some further thoughts about ‘Expectations.’ In the last article I had a word for 2013 –

Expect the unexpected
Expect a Miracle
Give life all you have

I was about to leave on a trip to a conference at Melodyland Christian Center in Aneheim,California.  Before I left Sydney Australia, where we lived, my two daughters, who were young at that time, had made a list of things for me to buy when I was away. To make sure I didn’t forget it they had written it down.  They knew that Melodyland was just near the front gate of Disneyland, hence the requests they would like me to get while there.

Like a good father, I was only too happy to oblige.  But I also purchased gifts that they hadn’t asked for or even thought of.  I wanted to surprise them with the unexpected.  And so does God our Father.  He loves us and he likes to do unexpected things to bless us.  How do I know that?  Well, let me share a favorite scripture of mine –

My Life Verse

My life verse scripture is from Ephesians 3:20 (I have a favorite saying ‘The Best is Yet to Be’ which fits in with it).  ‘Now to Him that is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen’

This verse tells us a number of things –
1. God is a God of Abundance.  He wants to bless His children.
2. That abundance is above what we think or what we ask.
3. It is not necessarily dependent upon having faith, or praying the right kind of prayer because these things are beyond what we may ask or think.  It is an act of grace and blessing.
4. The reason is that when God does the unexpected He gets all the glory.  We know it was not because of our faith or our prayers (if it was it would be a temptation to pride) but we know it was His doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.
5. It is an expression of His love extended to us in unexpected ways and often miraculous ways.  (Psalm 118:23)

Think for a moment.  When I went to Disneyland I could have said, ‘well that is all my daughters asked for, that’s all they had faith for, so that’s all they are going to get.’  But no, I wanted to do the unexpected.  God’s like that, so get ready for the unexpected.  Expect a miracle.