He Lets Me Walk Down Roads of Disappointment...

Roads of disappointment. We all know them. The dreams we had as starry eyed youth, (or older), that come crashing down at our feet one day...the health that leaves us for a time...the parent whose death leaves us reeling and crushed...the friends who disappoint or betray us...the state we want to live in but are called to move away from...the work we think we are fitted for but is given to someone else while we are given work we don't understand or like...the spouse whose unfaithulness leaves you deeply hurt and wondering why...the house that burns to the ground...the job that doesn't turn out to be all that we wanted for our lives...the church that fails...the churchES that fail in your life...

Those are not all scenarios from my life (some of them are), and I've pondered long and hard the meaning of disappointments. Here is what I have learned so far in my short 39 year life span:

1. Disappointments are really God's way of telling us He's got this. He knows what's best for us.
2. Disappointments teach us to rely on God, and not on ourselves.
3. Disappointments don't mean the end of the road, they simply mean a bend in the road we could not see coming, but God knew.
4. Disappointments give us opportunities to hear from God what exactly He would like us to do/speak/hear/see in the situation.
5. Disappointments can give us opportunities to go to the backside of the desert to an oasis we may otherwise not have ever known was there. That oasis is closer communion with Jesus with less distraction and less demands upon our time. That oasis is Living Water, Jesus Christ, the Righteous.

So when we are facing disappointment, we should remember:

*That nothing or no one can pluck us from His hand
*That we are given opportunity to walk by faith and not by sight
*That simple, child-like faith is the way to simply rest in Him and to follow His leading
*That if we are His, and following Him faithfully, then we are exactly where He chose for us to be presently
*That as His children, we can tell Him anything
*That He has promised to perfect that which concerns us; we don't need to push open doors or force our way into the situation to muscle through what we think needs to happen.

Love and blessings to each of you. Life is hard and troubling at times, but He knows the way we take. When He has tried us, (if we yield and follow) we will come forth as gold that shows His reflection beautifully and more clearly with each passing polishing.

~Marcia

Here is a song I knew from my childhood.

It has a great message about 

disappointment.

That's Just His Way