✨ Releasing All Expectations ✨
A Tough Reflection by Jennifer Greene-Sullivan
On Saturday, as Liam and I stayed home to recover from the flu, the Lord spoke softly but firmly into my spirit: “Release all expectations.”
Not just some expectations.
Not just the ones that seem unfair or overwhelming.
All expectations.
As I sat with that word, He led me to two scriptures to anchor His instruction:
“The wisest of women builds her house, but folly with her own hands tears it down. Whoever walks in uprightness fears the Lord, but he who is devious in his ways despises him.”
— Proverbs 14:1–2 (ESV)
“The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”
— Psalm 121:7–8 (ESV)
Through these verses, He began to show me:
- That wisdom builds but expectations tied to control can tear down what He is building in me, through me, and around me.
- That uprightness requires a fear of the Lord, not a fear of unmet plans, unmet people, or unmet outcomes.
- That He is the Keeper of my life, my comings and goings—not my expectations, not my efforts, not even my best-laid hopes.
Releasing expectations doesn’t mean releasing hope. It doesn’t mean surrendering dreams. It means surrendering the terms and conditions I unconsciously or consciously attach to God’s promises, to people, to situations, to efforts, to projects, to ANYTHING.
It means saying:
🌿 “Father, I trust You with the outcome, even if it looks different than what I expected.”
🌿 “Father, I trust You to keep my life and to finish the good work You started in me.”
I cannot build a house of wisdom and strength if my hands are busy gripping expectations He never asked me to carry.
Instead, I can:
- Build with wisdom.
- Walk in uprightness.
- Trust in the Keeper of my life.
This is a season of surrendered expectation and holy freedom, and it starts with an open hand and an obedient heart.
The Lord is teaching me that releasing expectations is not just about surrendering goals or outcomes—It’s about surrendering relationships too.
It’s about letting go of the silent scripts I’ve written for how my marriage should grow. How my friendships should look. How ministry partnerships should align.
The unspoken “terms” I’ve carried in my heart—even the good ones—can quietly place expectations on people that were never meant to carry the weight of my hopes.
I am learning:
- My husband is not my savior.
- My friends are not my source of identity.
- My partnerships are not my confirmation.
- My worth and security must come only from the Lord.
Because only God can be the true Keeper of my heart.
Only God can oversee my going out and my coming in (Psalm 121:7–8).
Only God can shape relationships without manipulation, pressure, or disappointment.
Proverbs reminds me that the wisest woman builds her house.
However, if I build it on shaky expectations—on anything less than God’s wisdom, grace, and timing—I risk tearing it down with my own hands (Proverbs 14:1–2).
Releasing expectations does not mean caring less.
It means loving freer.
It means trusting deeper.
It means building wisely—with open hands and a yielded spirit.
🙏 Closing Prayer of Release
Father,
I release every expectation I have placed on others,
on myself,
and even on You.
Forgive me for gripping silent demands tighter than I have clung to Your promises.
Forgive me for seeking security in the fragile instead of trusting the unshakeable Rock that is You.
Teach me to build wisely,
to walk uprightly,
to love freely,
and to live surrendered.
I place my marriage, my friendships, my partnerships, and my dreams into Your hands,
because You are the Keeper of my life—now and forevermore.
Not my will.
Not my timeline.
Not my understanding.
Only Yours.
In Jesus’ holy name,
Amen.
✨ What Releasing Expectations Looks Like in My Everyday Life✨
Releasing expectations isn’t just a spiritual idea—it’s a posture lived out in the small, hidden moments of ordinary days.
It looks like:
🌿 A wife being present and content in a relationship with a man who doesn’t say much and rarely participates—choosing to love him without demanding change, trusting the Father to tend to what she cannot fix.
🌿 A former teacher being obedient, even though she has no students to teach right now—choosing to believe that seasons of waiting are still seasons of purpose.
🌿 A mother standing strong in the aching quiet of a serious empty nest—loving, nurturing, and cheering on the one fledgling still at home, while surrendering the ones who have already flown.
🌿 A sister who continues to pray for a brother who rarely notices her existence—believing that unseen prayers are still powerful seeds.
🌿 An educated writer who gives all her dreams to the Father, instead of striving to prove her worth to the world—trusting that His plans are better, deeper, and more eternal than anything she could manufacture.
🌿 A daughter of God choosing to love, to pray for, and to support the very people who may never say thank you, may never see the sacrifice, may never reciprocate the love freely given.
This is what the daily, dusty, deeply sacred walk of surrendered expectations looks like for me:
Choosing Jesus over outcomes.
Choosing love over recognition.
Choosing trust over control.
Choosing to build wisely even when no one else notices the house going up.
If this describes you, keep up the good fight. He sees you. He knows you. He loves you.
Remember:
Obedience blooms when expectations fall away.
No expectations–only GRACE.
📇 Memory Verse Card:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
— Proverbs 3:5–6 (ESV)
#ReleaseAllExpectations #FaithfulObedience #BuildingWithGrace #TrustWithoutTerms #SurrenderedHeart #DailySurrender #WalkingByFaith #ChoosingLoveDaily #TheHouseGraceBuilt #ChristianReflection #FaithNotFences #JenniferGreeneSullivan
The Aging English Major 