HURT AND DISAPPOINTED

As we sat in the quiet church, I asked the hurting young woman beside me: 

“What has been troubling you lately? You have not been yourself.”

Eventually, the tearful words emerged: “I have been so hurt and disappointed by someone.”

Later, recounting our exchange, my thoughts asked:

Is there even one soul who cannot relate to being hurt and disappointed by another person? Haven"t we all known this painful sting?

No doubt about it – disappointment hurts! It sears the soul with hot irons and strangles the heart with deep and penetrating emotions. Oh, how it hurts when people disappoint. 

Further, the wicked enemy of our souls knows how to use disappointment to cripple us and plummet us to defeat.

Here is what can occur within us when left unchecked:

• disappointment
• discouragement.
• disillusionment.
• depression
• defeat.

Disappointment with people can fester in our soul; the pain is that penetrating. 

What can we do to stop disappointment from eventually becoming defeat?

1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us:

"Give thanks in all circumstances."

Like a wounded animal, we may lick our sores for a time. Yet, ultimately – even as we deal with our painful emotions, in order to stop the cancerous progression in our spirits, we must again look up - and hard as it may be, we begin to give thanks. It helps us rise from the dust and ashes of our stricken hearts.

We intentionally remember the One Who will never leave us nor forsake us. (Deuteronomy 31:6)

In those moments when our hurt smarts so severely, we hold on closely to the One Who will never disappoint.

Yet I am always with You;

You hold me by my right hand.

You guide me with Your counsel,

and afterward You will take me into glory.

Whom have I in heaven but You?

And earth has nothing I desire besides You. (Ps. 73:23-26)

~ Amen ~