Allowing myself to feel and deal with disappointment means that life can be filled with extreme ups and downs and the ride can get crazy.
As I work on new projects and watch my kids deal with life, one minute I feel totally excited, totally committed and all in. Then the next day I can swing to being discouraged and deflated. I know I need to figure out how to not feel things so intensely and get more balanced and steady so things don’t throw me off center so easily.
But when I’m at the low points, this is where God has sometimes surprised me. It was at my lowest moment, my darkest hour, when the dream of developing a”harbor” for weary leaders came into focus. It was when I felt that I had nothing to offer that God began to show me that, in fact, I had a lot to say.
When my son Dylan was at a low point in dealing with his basketball injury and facing the fact that his dream was at risk, his high school coach shared his own story. A torn ACL during his senior year left him just plain angry and cost him an opportunity to play pro basketball in Europe. Yet, he said, God had a plan. As he looks back now, he sees that the injury caused him to opt into coaching and teaching, which is where he knew he needed to be.
He shared Jeremiah 29:11-13, with Dylan
“For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity, plans to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me, come pray to me, and I will listen to you…”
The depth of that passage still amazes me! I guess sometimes we just need to make the decision to hang on and to trust Him no matter what life throws at us no matter how deep the disappointment.
It will be interesting to see what “plans” God has for me and my kids in the next season. No doubt those plans will include some extreme highs, extreme lows, disappointments and hopes.
Just life playing itself out.
When you read Jeremiah 29 in the context of your own life right now…what comes to mind? Do you believe it?
