Unequally Yoked and Disappointment
November 25, 2018
Last Tuesday as I zipped my travel bag closed and was about to drive to the airport, my iPhone buzzed.
Your flight has been delayed. Your new departure time is……
My mind screamed… We will miss our connection.
I scrambled about on the internet. There were no other flights available. Reality came crashing in. Tomorrow was one of the busiest travel days of the year. Nothing available tomorrow either. Everything was booked.
I sat in the chair in my bedroom and a reluctant memory of 30 years prior came rolling back into my mind. This same scenario was playing out all over again. A much-anticipated trip home, to Colorado, for the holidays. Cancelled and my joy ruined, and gloom overtook my heart. I truly didn’t know how to process the deep grief of my unmet expectations, dreams and hopes.
I realized that thirty years ago, I was visited by a wicked marauder…. Disappointment. And it has been a steady tormentor for years.
I know the cancellation of a trip is trivial when compared to a cancer diagnosis, world hunger, or lost souls. But for me, this demon has rendered great destruction upon my heart.
Disappointment has met me in turn, throughout my married life. Most of us SUMites walk this road of disenchantment. Our dreams of attending church with our spouse dissolve sometime early on in marriage. Unity in faith, raising kids as believers, tithing, praying together, these are only a few of battlefields where we’ve fought then were left bloodied and bereft of spirit. This demon, when left to propagate, invites in other invaders such as disillusionment, regret, unforgiveness and finally bitterness.
The only hope for us as Christians is to cut the head off the snake with truth.
Surrender…. I give the Lord my broken hopes and dreams. I cry. I sometimes pout. I’m often angry.
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. —James 4:7
Repent….. Oh, this humanity thing is really hard at times. I really, really, really don’t want to give up what I want… But because of Christ… I CAN DO ALL THINGS! I rid my mind of the anger and lost hopes and broken expectations.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. — 1 John 1:9
Thanks….. Giving thanks and appreciating what I DO have already realigns my heart and then my emotions and head will follow.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. —Psalm 100:4
Restore….. I ask the Lord to show me in the situation where I could have done better and what was wrong or what occurred by the enemy’s hand.
And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. —1 Peter 5:10
Wisdom…. Lord, let me see all of this through your eyes. This is when the GLORY comes. I see my disappointment, the people involved and the circumstances through lenses of grace, mercy, glory and revelation. WHOA! This is when I can see the broken people. I see my husband and his fears when he turns down my invitation to church. I view those who are nasty in line at the store as fallen children of God who are crying inside. I behold those situations that were caused by demonic forces such as Chaos, lawlessness, pride, selfish ambition.
I choose to believe God will provide in every situation, even in the circumstances which He doesn’t provide a way through in the moment. When He says NO. He has a reason and I know that He will gladly explain in time.
I don’t know what demon holds you back but for me, disappointment rears its head often. Determined to make me recant my declarations of faith.
BUT IT WILL NOT HAPPEN! Even in the disappointment…. I remain faithful for God has been faithful to me. All of my life.
Interestingly, thirty years later as I sat in the chair dreading calling my mom and my daughter who was already on an airplane headed to Colorado, God showed up.
He whispered into my ear, “Not this time.”
My husband, a medallion frequent flyer, called the airline. A small miracle ensued. They booked us a departing flight on a different airline, on the second busiest flying day of the year. There was space and not only that, we were able to sit together on both segments out of California and into Colorado.
Whatever you are facing, God is in it with you. The answer may be yes. It may be no. It may be not now. But…… GOD IS IN IT!
My goal is that they (believers) may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. —Colossians 2:2-3
Some pics from our visit to Colorado: