Dealing with Disappointment

It seems to me one of the hardest things to deal with in life is disappointment. There are three kinds, disappointment in ourselves, in other or in God. The definition of disappointment is loosing a expectation of hope. We do not realize how powerful hope is in our lives until someone or something takes it from us. Today I want to look at how Jesus faced disappointment in others. We go to the Garden in Matthew 26: 38-46 he is accompanied by his three best friends and is in a battle for his life. He tells them, "my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow, come and pray with me". As they are praying they fall asleep, not once but twice Jesus comes back to find them asleep on the job, a job that they have been told is a matter of life and death. Now put that in our terms, as we live this life there are times that we take a few best friends and say to them, "I can not handle anymore, I am done, finished, you need to pray for me." Then you find that they are asleep the gravity of your situation has not affected their lives and they are your best friends, if they are not going to pray and support you who is???? That is where we find Jesus, in relating to our own lives today. Well when we look at this passage we find that he respond in three very powerful ways:

• He Forgave them
• He never quit
• He prayed

Jesus did not stop the journey to the cross because his friends disappointed him, matter of fact we will see as the story continues in the gospels that Jesus forgave them on the cross. Forgiveness is a powerful, healing way to handle disappointment. And we need to understand we can forgive because God is the only one that will never let us down. Humans will fail each other it is in that knowledge that we can forgive.

Jesus didn't quit. He could have come back and said, "fine if you are going to sleep to hell with you all I quit". His reaction was sorrow, but not a anger that drives one to give up. Disappoint if we are not careful can turn into a excuse to quit.

Lastly, he went back to pray. The role of prayer through times of our lives is essential if we are going to be able to do the first two things. Only through the power of prayer will we be able to forgive and to press on where others have quit or disappointed us.

So today be challenged to handle disappointment with others the Jesus way. Forgive, Perservere, and Pray.

I would love to hear from you:
www.lisapricewarrior@yahoo.com