Micah 7:7-8 “But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall, I will rise, though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.” Verses 18 and 19 say, “Who is a God like Thee. Who pardons our iniquity and passes over the rebellious acts of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever. Because He delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, Thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” It is encouraging to wait for God. Micah says, “expectedly” The excitement of waiting for something can be the encouragement we need. I think of my recent trip to Arkansas this summer. I have a hard time walking long distances because of my hips. We went to Hot Springs and decided to take a trail that led to an area about the history of the town. When I looked at the map at the beginning of the trail, it gave the distance from one end to another. At first, I thought can’t walk that far. My family encouraged me to try, and it wasn’t really that far. As I began to walk, I was glad to see benches along the trail and was thankful to know if I needed to, I could rest. There were points of interest along the trail that gave the history of the town. I soon started measuring the distant between the signs to encourage me to keep moving. When my hips began hurting, I was able to stop and rest. I think now of how my family patiently waited for me to continue. They encouraged me to keep going. We were almost to the end. As I continued, I kept looking for the end of the trail. I remember feeling such relief when I saw the end of the trail was coming up. This memory shows that though my hips were throbbing, the trail was prettying amazing. The points of interest kept me focused not on the pain, but of the finish. Without my family’s encouragement to try, I would have missed seeing the things along that trail. I was pushing forward to the end and the excitement of seeing the end can be parallel to these verses in Micah. “But for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation.” Expectantly as defined in the Oxford dictionary, “with an excited feeling that something is about to happen especially something good”. Michah 7:18-19 says, “Who is a God like thee, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remanent of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love. He will tread our iniquities under foot, Yes, Thou, will cast all their sins into the depts of the sea.” This trip showed me the importance of encouraging others to finish the goal of following Christ. To remind us to take the opportunities God gives us in reading the signs along the path. Our eyes focused on the rewards He has for us.