Recently, I experienced a huge, and I mean huge, disappointment. I missed the championship game of my grandson’s soccer team. All because I got confused on the date. My disappointment was intensified by the fact that his team won, 3 to 1. And he was instrumental in the 3 points his team scored. It was a glory moment for him, and I had missed it, unnecessarily!

   But allow me to back up to the day prior to the game. I had two important appointments on my day’s schedule. But then a chance conversation with a relative resulted in my cancelling those appointments. Therefore, I was able to attend an event of even greater importance.

    I remember commenting to my close friend, how grateful I was to God for intervening and redirecting my plans for that day. It gave me such a secure feeling to know that God was overseeing my plans. That God redirected when necessary. I also remember talking to my friend about my grandson’s championship soccer game. How proud I was of him and how I looked forward to that game. 

   Then after taking care of those appointments I had cancelled the day before, I get a call from my daughter. She called to ask me if I was coming to the game! A game that was already 30 minutes into play. We live 40 minutes away. There was no way I could make it. I was devastated (and that’s putting it mildly)! No thoughts of gratitude toward God for redirecting my plans this time!

   All it would have taken was a chance conversation earlier in the day. Or a glimpse at my phone calendar to check the date. It would have required no miracle to alert me to my misunderstanding about the date. God could have easily intervened, just like He has done the day before to reveal my mistake. But He didn’t!!!!

   My temperament has a hard time letting go of such disappointments. Negative thoughts feed on disappointments like this. I was struggling to know joy and peace in the midst of my despondency. 

  Yet, empathetic words from my friend and a phone call from my grandson helped me over the initial hurdle. Then the following Truth Thoughts 

A devotion on

Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill  you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him.” NIV

And,

Psalm 94:19, “When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.”  NIV

worked to disrupt the enemy’s manipulative scheme.  

   Finally, a fiery dart that I’m overreacting to all of this discouraged me from writing this blog post. But the Truth Thought found in

2 Corinthians 1:4, “He comfort us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” HCSB,

extinguished that fiery dart.

   My readers may not be suffering disappointment exactly as I have posted here. But the steps to prevent the enemy’s manipulation and deception in the event of disappointments are the same.

Recognize, Reject, and Replace

And that’s worth posting about!