How to Deal with Disappointment

Does your happiness depend on everything in your life being just right? If you think you can't be happy until all your circumstances are right, you will never be happy!

We all experience times in life when we feel down for various reasons, but we can't allow our circumstances to control our emotions. Satan seeks to fill our minds with negative thoughts that eventually cause us to lose our joy and feel negative. He is a discourager, and he wants to pull us down emotionally, spiritually, financially, and in every way he can.

But Jesus is our Encourager, and He came to lift us up! He came to give us righteousness, peace and joy. He wants us to expect good things for our future and fill us with hope.

Everyone experiences times of frustration and distress over unfulfilled plans or dreams. When things don't go the way we hope, it is normal to feel disappointment. But we must be careful how we deal with that feeling, because if we remain in a state of disappointment for too long, it can turn into discouragement, despair, and even depression.

I’m not talking here about some depression that can be the result of a chemical imbalance in your physical body. I’m talking about situational depression dealing with our circumstances or disappointments.

Psalm 30:5 (AMPC) tells us that ...Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning. Things may make us feel sad temporarily, but we must not stay sad. If we do, Satan takes advantage of the open door and pushes his way further into our lives, bringing more serious problems. However, with God, when we get disappointed, we can always make a decision to get reappointed. We can choose to look to Him for new hope and renewed strength to go forward.

The Way You Respond Makes All the Difference

I’ve often said emotions can be one of our greatest enemies. It’s easy to be led by how we feel, but we must realize that feelings are fickle—they change from day to day! We shouldn’t follow every thought that comes to our mind because they can often contradict the truth of what God says about us.

For many years of my life, I experienced regular depression. I would awake in the morning with a little voice in my head saying, "I feel depressed." I believed this was my own thought, not realizing the enemy was attempting to speak lies to my mind.

Later, when God drew me into a closer walk with Him and I began seriously studying His Word, I learned that I didn't have to follow every feeling and thought that I had. I began to speak aloud and say, "I will not be discouraged or depressed."

Isaiah 61:3 (NKJV) tells us to put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. We may not always feel like praising God, but taking a few moments to talk to the Lord and thank Him for His goodness is one of the most powerful weapons we have to fight discouragement. We literally invite God’s presence into our situation, which brings us His strength, peace and joy.

We’ll never be able to completely avoid disappointments in life, but we can choose how we react to them. The next time you encounter a situation that threatens to pull you down, make a decision to turn to the Holy Spirit and allow Him to fill you with hope. Choose to believe what God says instead of your feelings. As you do, you’ll soon find yourself enjoying life…and looking forward to the good things ahead.