Have you ever gotten your hopes up, only to be disappointed? Finding hope after disappointment is difficult. Maybe you want to have hope but are afraid of getting hurt, or you just don’t know how to have faith again.
I listened to a podcast recently, and something the host said stood out to me: pretending like we don’t care doesn’t make disappointment hurt any less.
WOW! I was not ready for that. As someone who often tries to brush off disappointment like it never happened, this statement stuck with me.
You see, I had my hopes up REALLY high last year. I’m a big dreamer, and just about every day, I am hopeful that something incredible is going to happen. But I’ve also experienced a lot of disappointment (probably because I have such high hopes). So, when a lot of things I was hoping for, believing for, and praying for didn’t happen last year, I got really disappointed.
Disappointment vs. Discouragement
In my experience, disappointment is an emotional and natural reaction. But it’s not a feeling I like. I’m a pretty positive person, so I try to shake things off and move on. Yet, the more I try to ignore disappointments, the less hopeful I feel.
Because I didn’t want to process through my disappointments and grieve those things, I became discouraged. Discouragement is what happens when we hold on to our disappointments and begin to lose hope. Why even bother getting excited if it might not happen? I guess I shouldn’t even try because that will probably just fail too.
As Christians, I believe while we experience disappointments, God’s heart is for us to never live in discouragement! Why? Because we are called to have HOPE.
Verses About Hope
Throughout Scripture, we see this same message of hoping in the Lord and trusting in the promises of God.
“I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.” – Ephesians 1:18
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23
“I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word, I put my hope.” Psalm 130:5
My Hope is in Christ
Why is hope such an essential part of the Christian walk? Because Christ died for us to have hope! We have an enemy who knows if he can get us discouraged that we will be less likely to go after the things God has promised us. I have heard it put this way by my pastor, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for. So, if you don’t have hope, you are not walking in Faith!”
There will be times when I get disappointed. I will have my hopes up for that open door, the job promotion, meeting the right person… and it won’t work out. But, when I face disappointments, I still have the choice to hope again.
I can find hope after disappointment because, ultimately, my hope is in the Lord. I have faith that His heart is for me to be safe, loved, and provided for. I trust that every disappointment I face, He will be with me in the grief and the tears. For every door slammed in my face, I believe He has the RIGHT opportunity for me.
I don’t want to live my life too afraid to hope. I want to be expectant for every good thing God has for me! If you feel hopeless, looking at the year ahead, I want to encourage you to invite the Lord into your places of grief and disappointment. Ask Him to give you faith and courage to have hope! I promise the Lord is working on your behalf and has good plans for you. Even though it is difficult, you can keep finding hope even after disappointment.
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