Overcoming Disappointments

Everyone knows disappointment sooner or later. Friends break their word, marriages end in divorce, our children move away, colleagues betray us, the company lays us off, doctors, can’t cure us, our investments disappear, our dreams are shattered, the best-laid plans go astray, other Christians disappoint us, and very often, we disappoint ourselves. We live in a world of disappointment, and if we don’t come to grips with this truth, we are doomed to be unhappier tomorrow than we are today. John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the U.S. wrote in his diary: “My life has been spent in vain and idle aspirations”. We all want to do something, we all make certain assumptions and have expectations about life. But if those expectations are not met, we are disappointed. There is a strong correlation between good mental health and having assumptions that match reality. And there is a high correlation between misplaced assumptions and having a variety of emotional problems, including depression. Put simply, we are disappointed when things don’t go the way we thought they were going to go. Wrong expectations lead to disappointment, and disappointment leads to despair.

Now, with all that said. Don’t let your discouragement keep you from doing what you know you have to do in life. If you can’t follow the big plan, follow the small one. If you can’t see ten steps into the future, then take two or three steps. Or just take the next step in front of you. I posted on facebook last week this quote from John Maxwell. “The smallest act of obedience is better than the greatest intention” You know, he is right. Better to do a little than sit around dreaming about doing a lot. If you cannot obey God in some grand gesture, then obey Him in the small things of life. Do what you know needs to be done and do it for the glory of God.

God's Will

God’s will usually guides us into areas of life where we are gifted, have strengths, passions, and desires. If you are trying to figure God’s will out, start with these questions:

What am I gifted to do? What am I passionate about? What stresses me out? What breaks my heart? What motivates me to action? Where do I fit in? Where do I excel? What doesn’t feel like work to me? What does feel like work to me? What brings me peace? What do others see in me (strengths/weaknesses)? What do I think needs to be changed?

Imitators of God

God has blessed me with 5 grandchildren. I love watching them grow up and learn new things even if it is at times from afar. And the more I watch them I realize they are becoming more like their parents. I see little things they do that is just like their mother and father. The more they grow, the more they will imitate them  – as my children did with me and I with my parents.

Now my prayer as a Grandfather is that my sons and daughter and their spouses will live in such a way that my grandchildren will want to imitate those God like things they see in them. And, I might add, the godly qualities they see in their grandparents as well.

It has been said that people become like the people whom they admirer and spend time with. So if we are spending time with our children and they admire us, then they will become like us…so that means we better be spending time with the Lord and becoming more like Him-so that they ultimately become like Jesus.

One of the ways we can become imitators of God is to let the Lord Jesus live His life through us in the power of His Spirit. And, when you live by the power of the Holy Spirit He will open your eyes so that you can see yourself more clearly. The more your eyes are opened to yourself, you will become aware of the things in your life that are so not like Him.

Have you ever looked at a pond out in a field? You walk by it one day and the water seems clear, you walk by a day or so later and the pond is muddied or filled with debris. What happened? Well it started months before when leaves and twigs fell to the surface, floated for awhile then sank to the bottom and out of sight. Then something stirred the waters and all the debris rose to the surface once again reminding you just how unclean the pond really was. Well this is what happens in our life. We allow things to fall in on our life, hang around for awhile then settle to the bottom. Then we wonder what is wrong with us, why are we acting like we do? Well if we will allow the Holy Spirit to do His work, He will stir our hearts and brings to the surface of our life those areas that should not be there. We may not like what comes up and what we see. But if we will deal with them by confessing, repenting and turning from those things, we will begin to walk in such away where we ourselves are becoming imitators of God.