Environment Shapes Expectations

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How did you grow up? What was your environment?

If you grew up in a loving, two-parent family, with God at the center, then your expectations can be that you are loveable, God loves you, people love you, family is important, you are to give love to others, and God will heap joy upon joy as you serve Him.

If you grew up in an abusive, neglectful, caustic home, then your expectations can be that you are worthless, love hurts, no one is to be trusted, hurt others before they hurt you, comfort is found in a bottle or needle or pill or escape, and you get out of life less than what you put in.

So many environments on the continuum of homes and people and circumstances. And these are by no means hard-and-fast rules: unhappy / ungrateful people come from loving homes; giving / joyous people come from hurtful homes.

The good, amazing, glorious news is that God can change everything. If you came from a good home, He can make it glorious. If you came from a bad home, He can make it glorious. And by making all things new, He glorifies Himself AND (not as a by-product, but part of His glorious design) brings us peace and joy.

God gives each of us an environment for His purposes, for His glory. Only He can bring beauty from ashes. Only God can change expectations.

In His Word, through His Spirit, and through His people, God can bring hope, light, love, comfort, joy, peace into any environment, into any heart.

And He wants to.

Ask Him. Seek Him. Lift up your voice and cry for Him. Incline your ear to Him. Apply your heart to Him. Open your life to Him.

Surrender to God.

Published by Kathy Wire

Please visit my blog at https://maggietiggles.wordpress.com/

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19 thoughts on “Environment Shapes Expectations”

  3. Pingback: Post Share: Environment Shapes Expectations — Maggie Tiggles – Miraculous Smile

  4. I grew up with a father who yelled and screamed in my face every day. I grew up thinking my father hated me. That was before we were saved by Jesus. The evil one still attacks me with bad memories from those 18 years growing up under my dad, but God protects and heals my mind and heart. I forgave my dad a long time ago and we talk pretty good now.

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    1. Praise our Lord! Isn’t He simply, absolutely, amazing??? I have a friend who forgave and ministered to her abusive step-father. She brought him pie every week, and they chatted, and he’s in heaven now. Only God could do that.

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    2. Thank you for your testimony Ryan. I agree, only God could have made that miracle happen. Only Him! We humans as not capable of loving in the same capacity as that, that come from God. So in return, when we hurt, we hate. But through God alone, can healing and forgiveness arise.
      I grew up resenting my own father, but when I was preparing to get married, I asked him for forgiveness. I knew I couldn’t walk down the isle having such hatred towards him – I wanted him six feet under. But God gave me the will in my heart, to ask for forgiveness for all the bad that I desired for him, he accepted my apology and he walked me down the isle. Since that day – 2009, our relationship is better than ever.

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  6. Loved this and yes children learn what they live. Our view of GOD is shaped often by how our own fathers were. Thank GOD, mine was a very loving Daddy, who let me know that GOD loved me too. Thanks for this great post!

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