What do you Expect?

How your expectations effect your feelings.

Have you ever noticed how your expectations impact your experiences? This phenomenon is known as the "expectation effect" or the "placebo effect." Essentially, your expectations have the power to shape your perceptions and outcomes in major ways.

For example, if you expect pain relief from a medication, you're more likely to experience a benefit, even if it's just a sugar pill. Or if you expect failure, you're less likely to put any effort into the thing. Our brains tend to notice what confirms our beliefs, and we can unconsciously act to make our expectations come true.

This highlights the importance of where we place our hope and what we fix our thoughts on. Setting your mind on the high things above and not on the low things below impacts what you experience in your everyday life. Your expectations reveal whether you're trusting in God or relying on your own limited understanding.

There is a Proverb that says, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." If all your thoughts dwell on worst-case scenarios, you'll be filled with anxiety. But if you meditate on what God's promises to do, you'll have expectant hope even when it looks like all you should have is anxiety.

Faith is described in the book of Hebrews as "the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." When we truly believe God at his Word, we become holy expectant that even against all odds, God can be trusted. Our bodies, emotions, and subconsciouses then respond to that hope, which relieves anxiety, worry, fear, and frustration.

Of course, God’s mere existence can defy human logic and reasoning and the circumstances in our lives can leave us wondering if he’s really even there. But when you risk embracing the mystery that is God, you can reject negative thinking and choose to fix your thoughts on his sufficiency to provide and care for you and everything in your life.

Considering the ‘expectation effect,’ what do you expect God to do today? Will it be good and loving and full of grace? Then look for it and count it all a blessing my friend.