Great Expectations

Hi, Dr. Raymond here and welcome to the first post of my blog! I am so excited for you to join me on this journey! Allow me to introduce myself: I am a physician, runner, life-long student, and rip-roaring A+ personality type! In fact, a close friend of mine who happens to be a clinical psychologist told me a few year back that I am going to die early because of how uptight I am lol!!! I am highly ambitious, hard-working, and goal-oriented as I know many of you can relate. And while it is good to have goals, over the last few weeks God has been showing me how unrealistic expectations can limit us severely in life. And why is that? Because often times our expectations are based on a limited view point, the opinions of others, and a misguided time frame and definition of success. God is certainly concerned with our success but our definition of success may not be the same. Our society places great emphasis on money, materialism, power and influence. There is nothing inherently wrong with these things but when we do not have a proper foundation, these things can destroy us. God is not concerned with the appearance of success but wants to make sure that our body, mind, and soul are all in alignment with Him.

In building my own practice I had all kinds of expectations. I wanted growth, I wanted it quickly, and I wanted it right now! Over a series of unfortunate events, I realized that growth while important is not the main focus. A strong healthy foundation is more important so that when growth does come, I am ready for it. Does this sound familiar? How many times are we so worried about the appearance of success that we forget what is really important? You may have the perfect job, but your family life is in disarray. Or, we have all the money that we could ever ask for but at the end of the day all we feel is emptiness. God views us as body, mind, and spirit and wants us to have success in every area of our life, not just one aspect. And if we are not careful, when success doesn’t come the way we think that it should, we may give up prematurely.

So today as you begin your week, ask yourself: what are my expectations? Are those expectations rooted and grounded in faith and the Word of God? Or are they wrapped up in selfish ambition and a need to impress others? If they are not in alignment with God’s Word, I sincerely urge you to surrender them to Him. Then walk in faith; trusting Him to bring about your success in His way and time frame. And I promise You, that He will blow your mind as He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all you could ever ask or think! For more information on this topic, check out my Youtube video @ https://youtu.be/mtPx7GPSKTE

Be well,

~Dr. Ebony N. Raymond D.O.