Dealing with Disappointments

Just today a hurt from my past came and slapped me in the face.

I didn’t like the sting, but easily brushed it off …but over the day thoughts of the past hurt kept creeping into my mind. Before I realized it I was driving down the street with tears pouring down my face. Darn! How can something that happened so long ago, still hurt today?

Maybe you know what I mean.

I am reminded of a few months ago when I cut my finger very badly. I should have gotten stitches but I didn’t want to miss my step-daughter’s graduation. So, I bandaged it tightly and made a go for it. In time the cut healed, scared and the finger went back to normal. That is until something bumps it too hard or brushes against it the wrong way….then it zings! A reminder of the injury is always just a bump away. Healed? Yes! Completely gone? No.

I was divorced over 20 years ago and the pain of what happened was intense. I thought I would never get over it. Even after remarriage, the pain of my past clung to me for years. And, just when I thought it was gone for good…BUMP…Zing! Zing! Zing! Tears….

Was I crying tears over my ex-husband? No. But, I was crying tears over  places broken in my heart over the years. I was crying because sometimes life is filled with disappointments. Over the years I have had to learn to focus on God in the middle of all my life dramas and traumas! The focus has saved me and revamped my expectations.

I don’t expect never to experience pain or disappointment again, but I do expect God to teach me through the pain and help me over the hump when the pain resurfaces. I trust Jesus to do in me what I can not do for myself.  He is my healer…inside and out, emotional, spiritual, physical and relational.

Today’s Truth: Psalm 18: 30-35

“As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him. For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God? It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer; he enables me to stand the heights. He gives me victory and his right hand sustains me.”

It is all in how you view things….

I like the story about the guy who went to the pet store to get a singing parakeet. He was a bachelor and his house was quiet. He hoped a singing bird would make it a little more like home. The pet store owner had just the bird for him, so he bought it and took the bird home.

The next day the bachelor came home from work to a house full of music. He went to the cage to feed the bird and noticed for the first time that the parakeet had only one leg. He felt ripped off and called the store complaining of being sold a one legged bird.

“What do you want” the store owner responded, ” a bird who can sing or a bird who can dance?”

A good question for all of us who are disappointed with things in our life right now.

Today’s Prayer:

Lord you are perfect and I put my trust in you. I am learning that my disappointment can be used as your appointment for personal growth, shaping and maturing. May you will be done in the story of my life.