Day 48 - Life's Disappointments might be God's appointments

     Hello to all. Sunday afternoon here, sky is full of gray, rain looking clouds. Trying to enjoy what's left of the weekend. This morning in my devotions, the theme was based on making sure our projects are in line with what God wants for our lives. If you've followed my blogs, you know I've started many things that I thought were God's will for me and then struggled with the success or non-success of the venture.

     Increasingly, I am becoming aware that there are some "givens" in life that are almost always the right thing to so. Love your family, take care of yourself, try to be kind to others.  Universally, those values seem to be common to what people over time have esteemed.  Today, in this generation we have the luxury of having "free" time; time where we don't have to work at a job, or in a field just to eat and exist. Most of us have a 40 plus work week and then whatever time is left, we can choose how we want to fill it.

     Discernment and wisdom to make the best choices about how to use that "free" time are rare commodities that must be pursued.  Understanding what to do, when to do it, and where to do it (whatever it is) can prove to be a whole lot more difficult then one might think.  Add in the concept of wanting to do "God's will" and things can be really puzzling.

     When I was little, one of my favorite toys at the City Park was the teeter-totter.  One person would sit on one end, another at the other end. Up and down you'd go.  You had to work together and develop a cooperative up-down motion.  Some children were too impatient to be good teeter-totterers. They would push too hard sending the other person down rather unpleasantly. Or they would tire of being on the teeter-totter and leap off without warning leaving the other person to go smack, hitting the ground with a thud!

     Developing an awareness to become flexible to change requires an over-riding belief that what may appear as a frustration, or disappointment, God can use for our good if our heart is right. When people let you down accepting that disappointment as something that God allowed to come your way takes a lot of the sting out of it.  Developing a servants heart is something I don't find east to do. That's because I have feelings and what I've learned is that when you work with people, often they want what they want, and other people's feelings, including mine, aren't a factor to be considered.

     God understood that we are feeling creatures.  His plan was that as He fills us with His Holy Spirit, increasingly we will learn how to be a person who loves, experiences suffering, and is still kind. It's important to note, that without His Spirit this kind of behavior is not something anyone does naturally.  As followers of Jesus, we become, (as we submit) super- natural because we develop a new nature, one that is a gift from God.

      Initially when challenges come to make me feel hurt, angry or over-looked my "natural" response is to withdraw and nurse my wounds.  As I pray, agree to accept the circumstances and wait to see how God will turn my spirit of heaviness into a garment of praise, change occurs that can only be attributed to the power of God at work.  This increases my faith, and strengthens my spirit with an understanding that the more I allow situations out of my control to just remain there, I find peace that even in my disappointments, I can wait and allow God to make them His divine appointments.

I love this passage Isaiah 61: 1-3

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me  because the Lord has anointed Me, To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison of those who are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. To comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness."

     The Me referred to in this passage is Jesus Christ. When you ask Him into your heart and ask Him to forgive you of all your sins, you receive a new heart, a new mind and a new spirit. And you gain the free gift of eternal life.  All the promises in the Bible become yours. To comfort, cheer and encourage you. To instruct, to teach, to guide and to help you grow into a new life where you can find joy. Freedom from the past, freedom from bondage, and freedom to discover His plan for your life.
I encourage you today to make that decision for your life. And if you're already a Christian to renew your commitment to live every moment for Him.

So in your life if you keep bumping into disappointments that throw you for a loop, turn to God.  Allow Him to turn your disappointments into His appointments.  Weeping may endure for a night but joy, WILL come in the morning.