Dealing with Disappointment | Part 1

We all have faced disappointment.  Whether you were innocent or at fault, you know the pain and sadness of disappointment. Maybe you overcame it quickly or maybe you are still dealing with it years later.
 
This month, I want to give you a new perspective on dealing with disappointments in your life so you can use them as stepping stones instead of a grave stone.
 
The first thing I hope you will recognize is that disappointment is internal. In other words, disappointment is something that exists inside of you rather than outside of you. Disappointment does not exist in the physical world. It only exists in your mind. The good news is that you can change your mind.
 
Let’s define Disappointment. “The feeling of sadness or displeasure caused by the nonfulfillment of one’s hopes or expectations.”
 
The main component in disappointment is unmet expectations. Disappointment is the distance between your expectations and your experience. Disappointment is simply the meaning or the interpretation that you add to a situation.
 
Before David became King of Israel, he was still in the wilderness with his band of men waiting for the time when God would place him on the throne to replace King Saul. One day, David and his men returned home from one of their military exploits only to find that their enemies had burned their town and kidnapped their wives and children.
 
1 Samuel 30:1-2, “When David and his men arrived home at their town of Ziklag, they found that the Amalekites had made a raid and crushed Ziklag and burned it to the ground. They had carried off the women and children and everyone else but without killing anyone.”  
 
They came home expecting to see their homes and families; but what they found was devastation and only the hope that their families were still alive.
 
1 Samuel 30:3-4, “When David and his men saw the ruins and realized what had happened to their families, 4 they wept until they could weep no more.”
 
Your disappointment might have broken your spirit, or it could have been the wind beneath your wings to make you soar to a new level in life.
 
The old saying goes, “It’s not what happens to you in life that matters as much as how you respond to it.” God loves you and feels your pain. He knows how bad your heart hurts and he is there to comfort you.
 
Psalm 56:8, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.”

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This blog post was written by Pastor John Raymond of New Horizon Church in Slidell, Louisiana.