How to Handle Disappointments

How to Handle Disappointments

How to handle disappointments

Disappointments are part of life. There will always be some sort of disappointments along the way. If we expect no hardships we will always be disappointed and might even become bitter. The trick here is to learn what to do with disappointments.

Do we let the disappointments drag us away from God? Or do we give thanks even in the midst of hardships? Sure, it is hard. But when we praise God when we don’t feel like it, we are truly blessed. When we trust God even when we don’t feel like trusting, we are transformed. When we invite God into our disappointments, they are used as a raw material of our future blessings.

Is anyone crying for help? God is listening,
ready to rescue you.
If your heart is broken, you’ll find God right there;

if you’re kicked in the gut, he’ll help you catch your breath.
(Psalm 34:17-18, MSG)

The only way we can handle life and its hardships are by looking at Jesus. Thomas Brooks has said “He, who leans only upon Christ, lives the highest, choicest, safest, and sweetest life.” And that does not mean that there wouldn’t be disappointments or hardships because they are part of life. But that means that when we lean only upon Jesus we are blessed no matter of what happens in our lives.

Not necessarily the way we would like to be blessed.
God’s thinking is different than ours.
Not necessarily as fast as we would like to be blessed.
God’s timing is different than ours.

He heals the heartbroken
    and bandages their wounds.
He counts the stars
    and assigns each a name.
Our Lord is great, with limitless strength;
    we’ll never comprehend what he knows and does.
God puts the fallen on their feet again
    and pushes the wicked into the ditch.
(Psalm 147: 3-6, MSG)

But if we use disappointments as divine appointments, we will indeed be blessed. Because God works in mysterious ways: Disappointments will be used as fuel for faith, hardships will be used as seeds of possibilities. We can’t fathom it. But God is God and we are not.

Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—
    he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out.
He’ll never let good people
    topple into ruin.
(Psalm 55:22, MSG)

Noni Joy Tari has wisely said “God never simply buries our dead and broken dreams because He’d be burying our hearts along with our dreams. One of two positive things will happen. Either the dream will become fertilizer for something even better, or the Lord will give me the gumption and oomph to bring my dream to fruition. I can’t lose either way!”

With God we can’t lose. We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28, CEB) All things. Not just the happy things and successes. But all things. Our disappointments, our failures, our broken hearts. It’s time to stop harboring our failures and give them to God. Because God who created the whole world is ready to create something as astonishing out of the chaos of your life. Trust Him. You can’t lose with God!

 

Gracious God,
We bring to you our messes.
Enable us to let go of our disappointments.
We give all our hardships to you, Lord.
Make something beautiful out of them,
use them for your glory.
Bless us, Lord, bless us.
Help us, Lord, help us.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: How has God helped you to deal with disappointments?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you learn to praise God in the midst of disappointments!

Image courtesy of Megan Watson & Mari-Anna Stålnacke. Linking up today with Heart & Home, Unite the Bloggersphere, Disappointments Blog Carnival and

7 thoughts on “How to Handle Disappointments

  1. When I am able to stop for a moment and look at my disappointments I am able to let go and trust His design even when I can’t see how things will play out. Great post!

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