But If Not

Finding God in Unmet Expectations and Unwanted Detours

by Camille Fronk Olsen

Though we all have hopes for our lives, we often find ourselves taking unexpected detours - developing skills and talents we never envisioned, going in different directions than we planned, and feeling pain and loss we couldn't have imagined. Despite our diligence and obedience to God, we may find the path we hoped for is no longer passable or our strength is not sufficient to enable us to continue. How can we manage an unknown future amid unmet expectations, particularly when it seems that God has left us on our own? How can we find God when we feel distant from Him?