"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house." Matthew 5:14-15

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." Matthew 13:45-46

Friday, April 2, 2010

Dealing with Disappointment

"He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him." Psalm 91:15

Isn't it hard when we pray about something and the answer is "No," or "Wait, my precious child." I have experienced some of those responses from God the past day. It isn't exactly a fun place to be in at the moment, but yet I still know that God doesn't love me any less. I know I can trust Him that He knows what is best for me.

Last night and early this morning I had those dark whisperings in my head. "You are a loser. You don't have what it takes. You'll never be good enough..." Then I saw a comment on a blog I read regularly. It said:

I opened my devotional this morning and based on a verse from Exodus, it encouraged me to keep looking up. We cannot yield to discouragement when disappointment strikes. Don't allow the enemy to harass you with doubt. "Search for specific promises of God, saying aloud of each one, 'This promise is mine.'"

I must never lose my skyward look. "I must keep faith, I must keep hope, I must keep courage, I must keep Christ. It would be better to crawl immediately from the battlefield than to not be brave. There is no time for my soul to retreat. Keep your skyward look my soul; keep your skyward look!"

Recognizing that the voice taunting 'loser' is NOT God's, His love for me is independent of my performance. Oh, how I love Him and how I love the way He daily speaks and breathes life into our circumstances when we're looking for Him.

Praying He will breathe His Word of promise and hope into each one today. 

It was just what I needed to hear this morning. I immediately prayed and thanked God for the disappointments. Even though I can't see much good from it at present, I still rely on the fact that my Heavenly Father knows what is best for me. I can trust Him! Then I moved on...and guess what happened. While I was going about my morning preparations, God surprised me with giving me a more detailed synopsis of the story He is calling me to write. I had a very basic sketch in my mind before this, but now He provided so much more. What a blessing from God! How like God to turn my disappointments into opportunities for joy. How ironic that the woman's name who wrote the comments on the blog is Joy. Coincidence? I think not! :)

1 comment:

Marilyn in Mississippi said...

Was just looking at the winners of the She Speaks scholarship and was hoping to see your name there. So sorry you were not a winner there. BUT, so many times what we want is not exactly what God wants for us. And He always wants the BEST! I'm glad that He has given you peace about this and that you have been given further insight for your novel.

God bless,
Marilyn