This One Phrase Reveals Why Your Life Feels Off Right Now

“We had hoped...”

This phrase is common in our world and culture. It often describes disappointment in a person, plan, or situation.

But when you slow it down, it exposes something deeper: not just disappointment, but misalignment.

This is a great season for many people. The weather is warming up and spring is here. We’re coming off the most watched stretch of college basketball all year, March Madness.

People come from everywhere to predict who the next national champion will be. For most of us, it’s a game. For others, it means a little more.

As teams lost, players entered the transfer portal, meaning they were switching schools, and coaches were fired.

One such school is my favorite, North Carolina. After five seasons, North Carolina’s head men’s basketball coach was fired.

That led to an interesting search for his replacement. Most of the top candidates were coaches still leading teams in the NCAA Tournament. One candidate was an NBA coach who said he would not consider any other job until his season was finished.

The challenge is that the transfer portal opened before the NBA season ended. So if North Carolina waited for the particular candidate, who was a top choice, they would fall significantly behind in building their roster for next season.

The final decision has received mixed reactions. I’m a fan of the hire because he previously coached my favorite NBA team to a championship, but many people are skeptical since he hasn’t coached in college since 2001.

Whether people say it out loud or not, some of the North Carolina fandom is living in the space of “we had hoped.”

Some wish the previous coach had not been fired. Some wish the best player hadn’t been injured and missed the final few games. Some wish a different coach had been hired. Some wish certain players had stayed. Different situations, same feeling. Things didn’t turn out the way we expected.

It reminds me of the disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:21:

“but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place.”

They had left Jerusalem after hearing that the tomb was empty and Jesus’ body had not been found.

Then they were sulking down the road do the “I wish...” dance.

Then a man walks up and asks what they are talking about. That man is the resurrected Jesus.

They weren’t far from Jesus. They were simply misaligned, and because of that, they didn’t recognize Him.

Jesus’ mission was always the cross and the resurrection. But the disciples were expecting something different. They had hoped He would redeem Israel. And He did—just not in the way they expected.

So here’s the question:

Where is your “we had hoped…” moment right now?

We all wrestle with this—trying to make God fit into our plans instead of aligning our lives with His.

Maybe you’re carrying something right now that didn’t turn out the way you expected. Take a moment and name it honestly. Then ask this simple question: where have my expectations been shaping my view more than Scripture has?

God doesn’t just meet you in your disappointment. He uses it to realign you.

And realignment always starts with honesty.

So today, instead of walking past it, pause and name it. Bring it to God as it is. Let Scripture, not assumption, become the lens again.

Because the moment your expectations come back into alignment with Jesus, even your disappointment can become the place where you begin to see Him more clearly.

Anyway, I was just thinking...