Oh how disappointments have such a not so funny way of intruding in our lives.  It’s that undesired instance that can so easily wreck our day and even our dreams.  I’ve been there a few times and boy is it something so unwelcoming and sometimes not so easy to shake off.  Disappointments are life’s most unsavory events that leave that bad taste in our mouths if we allow it to.  It can leave us with feelings of just wanting to give up.

This is where emotions come in.  The moment plans don’t go our way.  The moment that relationship falls apart.  The moment the vehicle breaks down right before that important meeting, or the minute that promotion goes to someone else, not you.  Emotions go array.  Feelings of brokenness begin to find their way into those tiny crevices allowing the hurt to just seep right in.  Anger, hurt, frustration and of course our patience just depletes to an empty tank.  Even feelings that God let us down will come into play.

I’ve heard the questions time and time again.  And I at times have even felt this way.  Why would God allow this?  If I am doing everything I am supposed to be doing, why didn’t God give me that promotion…that job?  Why won’t God just give me a break already?  And the questions go on and on.  Emotional questions reflecting our pain and hurt…our disappointment.

One thing we fail to realize is that patience, or lack of, is one of the roots of our disappointments.  We set this time frame and expect that God will do as we believe He has promised when WE FEEL it’s time.  We begin to believe that God let us down when in essence it is us.  We let ourselves down when we begin expecting God to work on our time frame.  We fail to see that the time we spend in our suffering serves a purpose.  But we can’t see that at the moment.  We lose sight that we are in a season and this season won’t last a lifetime.  It’s a season.  It will pass.  Painful as it may be, it will pass with time.

I think of Moses when he was leading the Israelites out of Egypt.  They were instructed by God to move ONLY when the cloud over them moved.  And when the cloud sat still, they too had to stay in place.  If this meant days, weeks, months in the wilderness…then they sat and waited.  This cloud represented God’s presence above them.  When the cloud moved, it was God that moved with them protecting them.  But they couldn’t see this. They simply saw their own hardships.  They would get impatient and frustrated.  They found things to complain about.  They began to complain of not being able to eat meat anymore like they once did in Egypt, and all they did was complain.  They weren’t satisfied with what God had already provided them because all they saw was a simple plain boring meal as mana.  They felt they would have been better off suffering as slaves in Egypt just to eat good food.  And Moses asked the Lord in Numbers 11:11, “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant?  What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of these people on me?”  Even Moses began to complain.

Aren’t we this very same way.  Just because we aren’t savoring in the goodness of what we desire, we lose sight of God’s blessings.  We begin to complain of our burdens.  We feel as though God has abandoned us or better yet, we feel maybe He is not pleased with us.  We feel He is no longer protecting us.  Because if God was, we wouldn’t be going through this.  We would get what we have been praying for.  God would bless us.  Give us our greatest desires.

So how do we get past allowing those disappointments to overcome us and instead overcome our disappointments.

STEPS TO OVERCOME DISAPPOINTMENTS

1. First thing is we must remember and hold tight to this.   Disappointments will occur in our lives.  Unplanned, unwanted circumstances.  Whether we pray daily and serve God.  It’s part of life. It’s not that God doesn’t want the very best for you and not see you suffer.  God gives us free will.  He allows life to happen but it’s up to us on how we handle those disappointments.  As Christians, followers of Christ, we lean on God during these trying moments.  Matthew 5:45 says, “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”  God doesn’t just single you out and allows those storms to poor down on you.  It happens to everyone.  But God is there giving you the strength during these storms.
2. His plans aren’t always the plans we set out for our lives.  Maybe that promotion isn’t the best for you.  God has something greater in store.  Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
3. Keep trusting in God and believing that He will get you through this time of disappointment.  Anchor yourself in His promises to sustain you and give you that life of abundance.  Jeremiah 17:7 says, “But blessed is the one who trust in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.”  See, be confident in knowing that God has something greater for your life. Verse 8 goes on to say, “They will be like a tree planted by the water, that sends out its roots by the stream.  It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.  It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”  I love this scripture.  We must be planted in our faith, rooted deep down with trust.  Not fearing of our circumstance.  But knowing we will overcome and we will reap our reward in due season.
4. Know that this season is temporary.   1 Peter 5:10 says, “after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”  This season is temporary.  Your heartache is temporary.  Your circumstance will not define you.  Through your faith you will be able to withstand the storms that come your way.

You see, when I go through a difficult season.  When I suffer a hardship, because trust me I am not exempt from any of this, I feel hurt.  I suffer those same disappointments and my spirit will break in that moment of emotional weakness.  But I know what I need to do.  I grab hold of my bible and I will google if needed, scriptures to look up.  I write them down and hold them dear to my heart.  God reminds me that He didn’t let me down and He hasn’t abandoned me.  I have to reaffirm myself of God’s promises.  He did not get me this far to just watch me fall on my face.  And God didn’t get you where you are now to walk away from you.  Life is challenging.  But through our faith we can overcome.  Our faith is what we hold on to When Disappointments Happen.

XOXO…Ileen

psst…God Loves You