What do you do when life doesn’t turn out the way you expected?

What about when prayers go unanswered, desires remain unmet, and people let you down? 

Disappointment can shake your faith, leave you questioning God’s character, and make you wonder if hope is even worth having.

Through biblical wisdom, personal reflection, and real-life examples, What Did You Expect? | Trusting God When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned walks you through the painful realities of unmet expectations—whether in God, in others, in yourself, or in life itself. 

What Did You Expect? | Trusting God When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned is a book that will:

• Help you uncover and inspect your unmet expectations, exploring how they may have affected your faith.

• Show you how disappointment can shape what you believe about God, yourself, and others.

• Encourage you to place your trust in God’s character rather than your circumstances.

• Teach you to expect God to be true to His nature—always good, always faithful, and always sovereign.

You will be challenged to consider how your disappointments have shaped your understanding of God and to realign your expectations with the truth of His character.

Each chapter will guide you through common struggles, including:

• Disillusionment – How repeated disappointments can lead to cynicism, hopelessness, and a crisis of faith.

• Misplaced Expectations – How we sometimes expect God to act like a genie rather than a loving Father.

• Relational Hurt – How our expectations of people—parents, friends, and spiritual leaders—can shape how we view God.

• Self-Disappointment – How the weight of our own failures can lead us to shame, discouragement, and a distorted view of God’s grace.

• God’s Faithfulness – How the attributes of God—His sovereignty, goodness, and love—give us firm ground to stand on even when life feels unpredictable.

• Hope Beyond Disappointment – How unmet expectations point us to our ultimate hope in eternity, where every longing will be fulfilled in Christ.

You don’t have to live in despair. Get What Did You Expect? | Trusting God When Life Doesn’t Go as Planned today and discover how to navigate unmet expectations with faith, trust, and a renewed understanding of God’s unchanging love.

Special resources within this book:

• Reflection questions to help you process personal disappointments.

• Biblical case studies of unmet expectations and God’s response.

• Prayers for trusting God when life doesn’t go as planned.

Key themes: Trusting God, Disappointment, God’s Faithfulness, Hope.

Pairs well with: Draw Near to God | A Collection of Liturgies, Prayers, and Blessings and Between Grief and Glory | Lamentations Study.

Details:

• This resource is perfect for anyone struggling with unanswered prayers, relational wounds, or doubt in seasons of disappointment

• Measurements: 7.4" x 5.4” x 0.67”

• Weight: 0.65 lbs

• Page #: 168 pages

• Paper type: Matte

• Binding type: Hardcover

• Color: Cadet Blue Gray Dust Jacket, Dark Gray Hardcover

• Special Features: Dust Jacket included

• ISBN: 9798885232609

• Publication Date: December 2025

Table of Contents:

• Foreword

• Introduction

• Chapter 1: Perpetually Disappointed

• Chapter 2: Meeting the Man of Sorrows

• Chapter 3: A God in a Bottle?

• Chapter 4: Appalled by People

• Chapter 5: Remorse in the Mirror

• Chapter 6: The God We Can Expect

• Chapter 7: Predicting the Unpredictable and Expecting the Unexpected

• Chapter 8: The Giver of Good Gifts

• Chapter 9: Expecting Heaven

• Chapter 10: Expect to Endure

• Acknowledgements

• What Is the Gospel?

• What to Read Next

• Notes

• Bibliography