But If Not: Finding God in Unmet Expectations and Unwanted Detours

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? With trust in God’s plan of happiness, His word, and His healing balm, beloved author Camille Fronk Olson explores how the consequences of living in a fallen world, our own mortality and personal agency, and unfounded gospel interpretations sometimes take us on unexpected detours. As we strive to understand the will of God, and with faith in His love for us and the power of Jesus Christ’s Atonement, our unmet expectations can lead us to needed blessings in our ultimate desire to become like Him. View Less