DISAPPOINTMENT

Disappointment is inevitable….

Closed doors, failed plans and waiting are hard things. Stubbornly, I like to think and plan ahead, then I assume God is on board and I wait for Him to come alongside me and accomplish it. Often though, it doesn’t actually happen this way.

*VULNERABLE MOMENT*
I recently missed out on an internship that I had spent the last year dreaming of. I had already planned out the next few months of my life on the basis that this internship would be mine.  

It wasn’t until this door shut that I discovered I was giving my plans, hopes, and dreams a lot more weight than I realised. They were things the Lord never promised me, but I expected from Him. Then when He said no, it was like my life didn’t really make sense anymore and He was robbing me of something.

It’s been a healing process and a learning process, and in this time of thinking and praying, He’s revealed some things to me.

I once read a quote that said, “waiting is a mindset that serves as a barrier of protection to our motives and desires”. Sometimes God places us in periods for a divine purpose, and these periods of waiting and closed doors are necessary- whether it’s just an issue of timing or even protection from something we wanted that isn’t actually good for us.
I need to believe that when He prevents things from happening in my life it’s because He loves me.  

look at Joseph, for example. He was sold into slavery by his own brothers, later lived with Potiphar, his powerful Egyptian master with whom he found favor, then was wrongly accused of committing adultery with Potiphar’s wife and imprisoned. I’m sure Joseph felt like he was experiencing his fair share of closed doors and disappointments; however, the Lord used that time to prepare him to save Israel from famine, to use him to accomplish His purposes in a major way, and to eventually forgive his brothers for their sin against him. (Genesis 37-46)

I believe those major wins all took time and were worked out in his heart in the waiting through the trials.

Psalm 105:16-22 says, “When he summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread, he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. His feet were hurt with fetters; his neck was put in a cast of iron; until what he said came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him. The king sent and released him; the ruler of the people set him free; he made him lord of his house and ruler of all his possessions, to bind his princes at his pleasure and to teach the elders wisdom.”

Joseph was not a victim of setbacks and tragedies. He was SENT AHEAD to accomplish God’s purpose, and the only way that could be achieved was through trial.

The lord has made it clear to me that I am called to be in a waiting period right now, a time of being still in HIS presence and waiting on Him for my next move.
I believe He’s doing work behind the scenes, honouring my patience and obedience, and working things out in His timing that I could have never accomplished in my own striving.

Instead of being anxious, relentless, and bored waiting, He is teaching me to be faithful in my waiting and diligent in the tasks set before me: to show up at my job, to pour into my relationships, and use the time given to me wisely.  I am in the place I am today for a reason, and I need to be proactive here.

If you’re growing weary from closed doors, disappointments, and waiting, be encouraged.

God IS working. He DOES have a plan.

Be FAITHFUL and diligent where you are now with the resources set before you. None of the time you are given is a waste. Thank God for every day no matter what that day looks like.

He knows what He’s doing. 

Ariella
xx