Wednesday, March 30, 2011

When We Get Disappointed


But, I want to be in the talent show, mom,” my 1st grader whimpered. She wanted to sing in the talent show with a friend who suddenly developed cold feet.

As the cold air began singing around her, a solitary tear of grief welled up in the corner of her eye. All of the sudden, the dam broke and a flood of disappointment coursed down her six year old face. As I watched her, my eyes screamed out for justice. Then a soft voice echoed through the hallway of my mind, “You remember what it’s like to be disappointed, don’t you?”

Disappointment is a feeling of sadness or frustration because something was not as good, attractive, or satisfactory as expected.

God designed us to live in anticipation and expectation of Him. He created us to be goal-seekers and plan-makers. When we project a specific outcome, we live in expectation of seeing it come to fruition. Seeing our hopes and dreams realized.

“Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick, but a sudden good break can turn life around,” Proverbs 13:12, (MSG).

Has your heart ever been sick with disappointment?

My casserole tasted like rubber at the dinner party.

That relationship didn’t work out the way I thought it would.

The sting of disappointment hurts. We long for God to apply the healing salve that will take the pain away forever.

Just because we are followers of Jesus doesn’t mean we are immune to disappointment.

When things don’t go our way, we have a tendency to gripe and complain to anyone who will listen. We say with finger-snapping punctuation, “Oh, unh-unh, it wasn’t supposed to be this way.” Seemingly, this only stirs the pot and keeps a steady boil bubbling in our hearts.

God listens.

God’s a good listener. He doesn’t mind hearing all about our complaints. He prefers we go to him first, not our best girlfriend or even our mama. Why not go straight to the One who can actually do something about our circumstances.

God doesn’t turn his back.

God didn’t turn his back or roll his eyes as the Psalmist sang in frustration over their disappointments. He listened to each poetic account of hurt and heartbreak. This resulted in God’s glorification even in the midst of their personal turmoil. In the end, they were the recipients of God’s best and greatest blessings.

When expectation and disappointment collide, there is only one thing to do.

Get to Jesus.

Get there without delay.

Don’t pause to look around.

Get to Him.

He will dislodge the hurt and bitterness that threatens divine intimacy with him. He will prune away limbs of disappointment before they overshadow God’s Fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

So what do we do the next time our soul dips low from aches of disappointment?

High-tail-it to Jesus and abide in the truth of Psalm 22:5 that says: when we get to Jesus we will “NOT be disappointed.”

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13 comments:

  1. God showed me a few months ago that in these times I was calling out to everyone but Him. That is something I am working on. I want to "high-tail-it to Jesus" and let Him be my source of strength and comfort. Great post Kelli!

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  2. Thanks Kelli! I needed to hear that today!

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  3. I'm learning to go to Jesus first before anyone else thank you for this great post!

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  4. Good reminder Kelli. Disappointment is inevitable. But we can choose where to place it. I want to remember to lay it down at His feet!

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  5. I can think of my own disappointments in life, many years ago because of it I had a hard time trusting anyone. I put up walls and wouldn't allow anyone in all to avoid being disappointed. Little did I know I was only killing myself. I had a long process to go through because I even fought with God on it. But as you know He does win and He did, He opened those wounds oh it hurt so much I saw so much ugliness I could not believe that was me. But it was and now I can deal with disappointments a little better now I don't hide anymore I don't shut down. I pray for strength when I get disappointed and I move on. I never could of done this had it not been for Jesus.

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  6. Amen! Great point, Kelli. Jesus should be our first response, not our last resort. Only He can truly satisfy.

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  7. I baked a cake for some special guests. I didn't use enough non-stick spray and when I dumped the cake out to cool a part of it stayed in the pan. I was going to make it pretty with just a sprinkling of powdered sugar. But what do you do when life hands you a broken cake? There's no time to make another and this one is very edible. So I whipped up some thick frosting and poured it over the cooled cake garnishing it with dried fruit. In the end, it tasted good and still looked pretty. It wasn't what I originally set out to do, but God knew better.

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  8. Very well said. Disappointment is something I really struggle with. Esp when someone fails to follow through on a promise. It takes me back to childhood issues of promises broken over and over. It's caused me to want to overprotect my kids from disappointment. Something I need to work on! :)

    Blessings,
    Mel
    Please feel free to stop by: Trailing After God

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  9. I love that verse from the Message! One good break can turn it all around!! I am praying we are going get a good break at our foster son's next hearing :) Thanks!

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  10. "He will dislodge the hurt and bitterness that threatens divine intimacy with him. He will prune away limbs of disappointment before they overshadow God’s Fruit of the Spirit in our lives." Amen! LOVE the truth of this!

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  11. Our lives are filled with disappointments. I'm so glad that we can run to Him for comfort and guidance when we are in the midst of them. I try to remember that it's a disappointment for me, but whatever it was was not His plan, so somehow that helps me to accept it for what it is and look for what He has for me instead. Encouraging post :)

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  12. Expectation and anticipation...my two new favorite words! I just heard them Monday night at bible study! He is the only thing that we can trust will not disappoint us!

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  13. Amen Kelli! This really spoke to me today... Thank you so much! Sometimes disappointment can seem so overwhelming, but if we take our refuge in His Embrace we always end up where He wanted us to be all along! :-)

    Have a Blessed Day!

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