I don’t want to speak for others but it seems fair to say that no one enjoys being disappointed. \u00a0I received some disappointing news yesterday. \u00a0The content of the news didn’t affect me directly but I felt sadness for the person it did affect. \u00a0I know my tendency to take on the feelings of others, at times, and I am working to refrain from doing that. \u00a0I am also working to remember all of the pearls of wisdom I have heard over the last forty years: that whatever happens is part of the divine unfolding of one’s life. \u00a0That no door closes without another door opening. \u00a0That we are never out of the range of God’s loving grace. \u00a0I do believe all of these things. \u00a0And I do know that there is a perfect outcome for every experience one walks through. \u00a0I also know that our disappointment need not last long and, in fact, will leave us quickly if we remember that God never gives us more than we can handle. \u00a0He does give us the experiences that will stretch us to be the people we are capable of being.<\/p>\n
Disappointment can be good news, if viewed from this perspective. \u00a0It means we were headed in a direction that was slightly askew. \u00a0And that if we stand back, take a deep breath, and seek to know the right next step to take, we will be shown where to go, what to say and what to do. \u00a0I have been convinced of this from my own personal experience on many occasions. \u00a0One time, in particular, stands out in my mind. \u00a0One of the committee members for my dissertation informed me, with a mere 2 weeks before my final oral, that my 300 page dissertation had to be completely rewritten. \u00a0I was stunned. \u00a0But I sat quietly for a moment, took a very deep breath and asked if he’d be willing to walk me through the document in order to clarify his concerns. \u00a0He said, somewhat reluctantly, okay. \u00a0And then God took over. \u00a0I never heard his questions nor my answers. \u00a0For the next 3 and a half hours “we” were in dialogue and then he said, “Terrific. I am satisfied.” \u00a0I walked out of his office as stunned as when he first said this has to be rewritten. \u00a0But I did know that God had made a critical appearance.<\/p>\n
That experience taught me that in every situation, God is waiting with a pocket full of clues to make our lives easier. \u00a0But we have to be willing to rejoice that the disappointments are part of the journey we need to get to our proper place in the wider scheme of our lives. \u00a0The next time you feel disappointed, trust that your journey is simply experiencing a detour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I don’t want to speak for others but it seems fair to say that no one enjoys being disappointed. \u00a0I received some disappointing news yesterday. \u00a0The content of the news didn’t affect me directly but I felt sadness for the person it did affect. \u00a0I know my tendency to take on the feelings of others, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[126,152],"class_list":["post-312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-what-i-believe-you-and-your-higher-power","tag-journey","tag-no-wrong-turns"],"yoast_head":"\n