57: What Are You Expecting Your New Life To Be Like?
Episode Summary
When you’re starting over, it’s natural to focus on what you’ve lost. But eventually, another question comes up: What are you expecting your new life to actually be like?
In this episode, Tom and Paul talk about how hardship can quietly lower our expectations. After enough disappointment, we may stop thinking about building a meaningful life and start concentrating on building a safe one. But starting over can also give us an opportunity to rethink our priorities, relationships, work, habits, and especially our relationship with God.
Why You Should Listen
If you’ve been knocked down a few times, taking another risk may not sound very appealing.
Tom and Paul share some of their own experiences with career changes, family decisions, moving, and plans that turned out very differently than expected. Looking back, some of those unexpected changes became opportunities they couldn’t see at the time.
The conversation challenges you to consider whether you’re being wisely cautious about your future or whether disappointment has caused you to think smaller than you need to.
Why This Episode Matters
Starting over doesn’t have to be only about surviving what happened to you.
There comes a point when you can begin looking beyond survival and asking how your life can make an impact again. That might mean helping someone, serving in your church or community, taking a career opportunity, learning something new, or simply becoming more willing to step outside your comfort zone.
And as Christians, our confidence isn’t supposed to come from believing everything will work out the way we want. Our confidence is in God, knowing that we can make plans while trusting Him with where those plans ultimately lead.
Go Deeper
Pay attention to what you’re telling yourself about your future.
“I’m too old for that.”
“I tried that before.”
“I don’t want to be disappointed again.”
Those thoughts may feel reasonable, but they may also be fear talking. As the episode points out, you don’t have to say yes to every new opportunity, but you don’t want fear saying no to everything either.
Proverbs 16:9 reminds us that we can make plans while God directs our steps. So bring your expectations, fears, and plans to Him and leave room for your new life to look different from what you imagined.
You don’t know what the next six months or the next few years will look like. But you can ask God to make you wiser, stronger in your faith, and more useful to Him through whatever comes next.
Important Links:
If this podcast is encouraging you, you'll find a deeper roadmap in my book, Starting Over | Life 2.0 With God, where I walk through six biblical phases of turning your life around: Pray, Worship, Heal, Hope, Move Forward, and Trust.
Share this episode with someone who may need a reminder that they’re not alone. Let’s inspire hope and show that with God’s grace, even the most broken seasons can lead to a beautiful new beginning.
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