Many of us go through life with certain expectations—about relationships, about blessings, about what it means to live a faithful life. But life often doesn’t play out the way we planned. People we love make choices we wouldn’t choose. Pain enters in ways we didn’t anticipate. And we may start to wonder: If God loves us, why does such opposition exist? 

In her new book, But If Not: Finding God in Unmet Expectations and Unwanted Detours, Camille Fronk Olson explores this tension between agency and expectation. This episode features chapter 5, "Agency vs. Expectations," where she offers a deeply compassionate look at how respecting others' agency doesn't mean surrendering our own—and how God's respect for our agency is a sign of His love, not His absence. 

Listen to the entire audiobook by downloading Deseret Bookshelf+ in the app store today!