Adventures in Faith: Dealing with Disappointment

I have a loooooooong list of weaknesses. 

On that list is dealing with disappointment. 

Truth time: Dealing with disappointment = BIG weakness for me.

 I am a total mountain maker out of mole hills. I'm talking Mt. Everest sized mountains sometimes. Without God's grace and power, I am completely unable to deal with disappointment in a Christ like manner. This past weekend, God gave me an opportunity to let His grace and power work in my heart as I was dealing with a disappointment. I say work in my heart, because my brain knows what to do. 

My brain knows that the disappointing situation was:

1) out of our control

2) not the end of the world

3) just the way things turned out.

But my heart was still hurt. I was still disappointed.
In situations like this weekend I have a choice to make.

 I have a choice as to how I deal with the disappointment. 

I can either: 

A) Accept God's grace and power to calm my heart, heal my hurt, take away my bad attitude, not letting this disappointment leak into other areas of my life. Show understanding in the situation. To let God's sufficient grace to overflow from my life into the life of the person/situation that caused the disappointment. Look for a blessing in the disappointment. 

B) Do the exact opposite of A. Toss grace aside. Let the disappointment and hurt leak from this one situation into other relationships, conversations, and experiences. Place blame. Make others feel guilty. Pout. Feel sorry for myself. 

I wish I could say that I chose A right away this weekend. 

My brain knows to choose A. 

But I can't choose A on my own. 

Disappointment is a weakness for me.

Only by God's power and grace can A be a reality for me. 

My default is B. 

Thankfully, God knew this was going to be a weakness for me.

And He laid this verse on my heart

And every word of this Scripture is God's truth and grace whispering to my heart! His grace IS sufficient ~ if I let it in to do it's work. God's power IS made perfect in my weakness. You see, I like to think I can do things myself. That I can handle things on my own. (Cue God chuckling and shaking His head at me ~ Oh, when will I learn it is only by His power!) This is yet another example of my human weakness, and God's all powerfulness.

 Lord, I realize that my weakness in an opportunity for Your strength to be revealed. Through You alone can I have peace, understanding and grace when disappointments arise. Help me to rely on Your strength and grace when disappointment arises this week. 

Happy Monday!