Today’s test is tomorrow’s testimony.
Disappointment. It comes around frequently, doesn’t it? Disappointment in self, in others, maybe even in God if we are honest with ourselves. When things don’t go our way, when people behave badly, when we are robbed of our possessions, our health, our time, and our joy, we face disappointment.
Yet, if you change just one letter, you might be able to see your disappointment as His Appointment. What might HIS appointment look like? It might draw our attention away from the temporary problem to the long-term solutions He intends for you. It might cause you to reverse some steps and take a different, less stressful path. His appointment always is ready to bring you peace in the middle of a storm and discernment when you need real wisdom. His appointment causes us to look at the broad strokes of the picture, not just the detailed brush marks. Most disappointments, when taken in perspective are not nearly as large as they first seem. Yet other disappointments seem to color our whole life. How do we respond to those overarching hurts?
Do you remember the moving line from the Facing the Giants film? Filled with repeated disappointment in not being pregnant, the coach’s wife stopped in the parking lot and with tears in her eyes looked to the heavens, saying, “And still I will praise you.” To me it was more powerful than any of the advertising lines they included in the promos. While her level of disappointment might not match your looming disappointments, it reminds me of the power of a testimony of faithfulness and praise in the midst of pain and sorrow . . . An honest expression of faith that endures even when it doesn’t feel like enduring. It speaks to others.
“Only God can turn a MESS into a MESSAGE, a TEST into a TESTIMONY, a TRIAL into a TRIUMPH, and a VICTIM into a VICTORY.” Why not let HIM take charge of your disappointment and show you His Appointment for you today?!
“…in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Romans 8:37
