The Weight of Glory

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory...-II Corinthians 4:17

I leaf through the pages, and my heart stops. I look into her eyes and feel like I have been punched in the gut. Staring back at me is a lifetime of pain. Pain inflicted by one who should have loved me. I throw the papers away in hopes of getting rid of the hurt aching inside, but there is no easy way to escape the heavy burden I carry. I hold it always hidden under the surface of my heart. Twenty-four hours later I fall apart. I would like to say, "I am strong" and after all these years it doesn't bother me, but I would be lying. The heaviness is still there.

So I sit down to read His Word and come across these words, "For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory..." It then hits me. The heaviness I carry from the pain I can't seem to escape is light. In the end it carries no weight no matter how hard it is to handle now. Through the heartache God is working on me, preparing me for an "eternal weight". And this weight is glorious. There is nothing heavier than the glory of a God who aims for my good.

As I head into a new year, I remind myself that no matter what I face it will be light and momentary. Yes, there will be pain. I will struggle. I may never totally escape the heartache of my past here on earth, but there is a bigger picture. God is working through my circumstances to give me "the weight of glory", His glory. Through suffering He reveals Himself. Pain has a way of pushing us. And if we allow it, it can push us into the hands of a loving Father. There is no greater glory than to be safe in the arms of the One that loves us completely and perfectly.

So how about you? Are you carrying a weight? Maybe it feels to hard to bear. Maybe you have desperately tried to drop it and run or throw it in the trash to rid yourself of it. It lingers heavy in your heart. There is hope because God sees the big picture and knows that what you carry now will someday be light and of no consequence. He has better things in store for you.

Need more hope? I have spent this year collecting Verses of Hope. You can find all of them here.

Verses of Hope {Free Printable}

A full year of collecting hope...tucking it away to pull out for the hard days. The days when nothing goes my way. The days when sorrow overwhelms. The days when just moving on to the next activity in life seems insurmountable. Those are the days I need hope.

{Affiliate links used.}

Over the past year I have collected verses of Hope. They have helped me move forward even when life is hurting and the future is something I don't want to think about. You can find all the verse I collected HERE, but I have decided to provide you with a printable of my favorites. So pull out your Bible and highlighters and maybe even a pen to journal. I pray God's Word will give you the hope you need to keep going regardless of what your circumstances are.

Here is a free printable of fifteen verses when you need HOPE.

When God Stoops Down

You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great.

Psalm 18:35 (NIV 1984)

A few weeks ago my youngest son was memorizing a set of verses in Psalm 18. When he got to the last one my heart stopped. God stoops down to make me great?! Who does that? Our normal mode of operation is to make ourselves great. Even when we think we are being self-sacrificing sometimes we are not. Sometimes we sacrifice to make our names great. Not so with Christ.

Christmas, the coming of Christ, is and always has been about God stooping down. The God of glory trading in His status, His position, His comfort so that He can live among us, the wretched. Once again I ask, "Who does that?!" We were the ones who messed ourselves up. We are the ones who can't hold ourselves or anything together. We are the ones that need Someone to stoop down and lift us from our pits. So God quietly slips out of heaven and enters our world...not as a person of wealth, power, or prestige. He comes as a helpless infant to help the helpless. He leverages all that He is and has to prop us up. The thought of it humbles me.

Hope is the reach of our hearts for the cure. -Cornelius Plantinga 

This season is one of hope. In a world gone horribly wrong where hurt and heartache reign God knew we needed hope and healing. He also knew we couldn't provide it for ourselves. Hope finds it home only in Him. He is the only One who can heal our broken pieces. He is the One who can put us back together no matter how shattered we are. The Baby bends down to pick up our pieces and make us beautiful again. We can have hope because we have Him.

If this season you are feeling broken go to the One that made Himself little to make you great. He loves you and would do anything for you. He is your hope!

Need more hope? See all the Verses of Hope I have collected this year. Also, if you are needing hope may I also suggest this devotional, Wait Only Upon God. I read it earlier this year, and it changed the way I look at hope and waiting on Him. Even though I may not know you I am praying that in this Christmas season you find hope...you find Him.

HOPE: A Word of the Year in Review

For several years now {seven years to be exact} I have been choosing one word for the year to focus on. A Word of the Year makes life so much easier...No more New Year's resolutions that I keep for two weeks {if I am lucky}. I can't seem to deal with a lists of to-do's, but I can handle one word.

This past year I chose HOPE. I have been in desperate need of it. Life changed drastically for me in 2013, and since then I have been fighting to get to a "new normal". There was a tremendous amount of pain and heartache. A breaking. A grieving. I wanted to hold on to the hope that things would get better. I would heal. I could feel joy again. This year filled with hope as time slipped by. The intense grieving ceased. I was able to forgive those that caused such pain. I learned to find joy again. Actually, I would have to say that of the seven years I have chosen a Word of the Year this one has been the best! God has taught me so much about hope. So here is a little review of the journey I took this year and how I found my way to hope...

One of the fruitful exercises I started was to collect "Verses of Hope", words from Scripture that gave me something to hang onto in the rough patches. God's Word is brimming with hope. Here are all the posts of the verses I found that brought me through. There are about forty verses! I was so shocked I had collected so many!

Another group of posts I wrote in October were about my journey towards healing with resources, ideas, and encouragement for those are struggling with brokenness. You can find all the posts to 31 Days of Hope and Healing here.

There were also posts along the way I wrote as God taught me about healing and hope. Here are the lessons I learned this year...

The Only Opinion that Really Matters- One of the struggles I have had of late is with my self-worth. Being confronted with severe rejection from others meant that I had to learn Whose opinion of me really matters.

Lessons Learned from Hurt- Some of the most invaluable lessons I have learned have come from those who have hurt me.

When Jealousy Kills- This past year I re-did two Bible studies, Encountering the Healing Power of Forgiveness and Living with Unmet Desires: Exposing the Many Faces of Jealousy since both jealousy and forgiveness played key roles in my life in the past few years. I was able to get greater understanding and healing from re-doing them. 

Praying for your enemies- You wouldn't think praying for your enemies would give you hope, but it DOES! I have been able to overcome the hurt by praying blessings over those who hurt me. Please check out this post as I provide a link to 31 verses I collected to pray for those who cause us emotional damage.

When once is not enough- A lesson on forgiveness.

Journaling to Remember God's Love- One of the best practices I did this year...reminding myself of how much He loves me.

Also, if you are looking for a devotional that deals with hope, check out Candace Crabtree's Wait Only Upon God: 40 Days of Praying the Scriptures in the Waiting. I came to realize HOPE is really waiting on God in your circumstances. When we put our hope in anything or anyone besides Christ we will be disappointed! You can also find a downloadable version of her devotional here. 

I am linking up at the Faith Barista.

Verses of Hope

When you are hurting you are in need of hope. This year my Word of the Year is HOPE. I have been collecting verses all this year that have been giving me hope. Here are links to several of them...

We all need hope in order to wade through life. There are seasons when we may need it even more. I am in one of those seasons. A few weeks back I went and bought a stack of pretty index cards ringed together. My goal was to collect verses of hope that I could read each morning. 

Life has been a series of losses for so long now that I need an extra dose of hope almost daily. My lifelong fight with depression and anxiety don't make the grieving any easier. I literally have to battle myself to re-frame my negative thinking. Maybe you do, too? Are you suffering? Feeling like life is too hard to be happy? Grieving? Wishing that whatever has become of life was not your reality? I have been there. I AM there on many days. On the tough ones I have to constantly realign my thinking with His. Not easy, but worth it if I am going to make it through.

I would love to share with you the verses of hope tucked away in my stack of index cards plus a short devotional on each of them.  My prayer is that you will find hope in His Word even if life is less than perfect, less than good. I am praying for you...even if I don't know your name or your situation...praying that God will give you hope.

Here is a list of the posts. More will be added as time goes on and I search for hope.

Fortress of Hope

A Spacious Place

My Times

When What Happens is Deliverance

Held Together

Sufferings Worth the Glory

The Grief God Sees

When God Sings

The Things That Are Not

Everything We Need

Feathers of Hope

A God Not Afraid of the Dark

When You Need to Stand Again

When Healing is on your to-do List

This I Call to Mind

When You Feel Rejected

Doors of Hope 

When Your Heart Takes a Beating

Dealing with Disappointment

How to Hope

"But God" Verses

When You Don't Understand Your Story

Trials and Training Grounds

Here is another great 31 Days series from my friend, Wendy. 31 Scriptures to Encourage the Broken-hearted.

Check out my other posts from 31 Days of Hope and Healing.

When You Don't Understand Your Story

Let's face it. God doesn't always make sense. His ways are confusing, and because He is the author of our story we don't always see where our plot is taking us. I have been in a season of "senselessness" in that much of what is happening in life doesn't match up with my idea of order and meaning. Why has He allowed those events and people to come into my life? What is He up to? Does the pain have a purpose? How will He finish my story? For me, some of these questions have been YEARS in the making? No resolution. No neat package tied in a bow. No puzzle finally finished. Just a bunch of loose ends.

God is teaching me in these confusing moments how to trust Him with the pieces of life. To place in His hands my story and let Him finish the writing. Sure, I would rather write my own ending. Having control of an outcome feels safe. I think I know how the ending should go in a perfect world. In the world according to Debbie. Yet, it isn't my world and it isn't my story. So the ending is not mine to write...It is His.

Of the grace that is greater than all my sin
Of when justice was served and where mercy wins
Of the kindness of Jesus that draws me in
To tell you my story is to tell of HIM.

-Big Daddy Weave

I don't understand now, but maybe someday I will. For now, it is a challenge enough to hand over the details of my life and trust Him to continue creating a story line. How about you? Can you hand over the pen and let Him write your story? Can you trust Him even if you don't understand in the here and now? Can you have peace that He is using the pain to create a beautiful ending? You may not understand now, but someday you will.

Need more Verses of Hope?

Trials and Training Ground

"See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc; no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This the heritage of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me," declares the Lord. Isaiah 54:16-17

There are times when we need to be reassured that God is in totally control because life is out of control. There is a peace that comes from seeing how He fits the pieces of our lives together especially when we have fallen to pieces. We also need to know that whatever or whoever rises up against us in the end won't win.

A few weeks ago I was finishing up doing a Bible study when I came across the above verses. I was shocked to read "I who have created the destroyer to work havoc". It hit me that the grief I have dealt with in regards to relational angst God had a part in. He created the people who would reject and condemn me. He allowed the relational "climate" around me to become a perfect storm. He allowed all of it to happen in His sovereignty only to show me...

it would not prevail!

What hope can be found in knowing that He is in control even in the "ick" of life. Yes, He allows situations to arise that we call trials. Trials to God are only the training ground to strengthen a soul. He knows we need hardship to grow. So in His love He allows the grief to come and the pain to press into us all in the hope of changing who we are. The weapons won't win if we become more like Him.

Are you struggling in life right now? Do you feel like life's circumstances are weapons being used against you? Or maybe there are people around you that are welding those weapons? Know that in the end if you stay the course those weapons will only serve to make you stronger.

Need more Verses of Hope?

But God... {Verses of Hope}

{Affiliate links used.}

Life can be like tumbling down a waterfall. One plunge after another with no time to catch your breath. Hardships can suck you under and make you lose hope. Sometimes there are seasons in life when you stand up after one disappointment only to tumble again into another. If you are in one of those seasons like I have been you know what I am talking about. You begin to question what in the world is going on. You wonder if there is something wrong with you. You ask yourself if you can really hold onto hope.

I recently finished reading The Bible in 90 Days. One of the types of verses that kept jumping off the page for me were the "But God" verses. Bleak situations turned into hope simply because God intervened. When God shows up the story changes. The bad is used for good. The weak become strong. The lost are redeemed. The more I read the more I was filled with hope...the more I could see that God is a God of intervention who is willing to step into a story to change the ending. We never know how He will use the dismal parts of our lives for His glory and our good. So here's a quick look at just some of the "But God" verses...

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. Gen. 50:20

David stayed in the desert strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands. I Sam. 23:14

But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Ps. 49:15

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Ps. 73:26

To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God. Jonah 2:6

With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Matt. 19:26

The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, "He's dead." But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. Mark 9:26-27

You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. Acts 3:15

Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. Acts 7:9-10

Very rarely  will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Rom. 5:7-8

But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. I Cor. 1:27

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation. Col. 1:21-22

We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. Titus 3:3-5

Need more Verses of Hope?

Linking up at Arabah Joy

When Your Heart Takes a Beating

My little student blurts out at the end of the lesson..."I have a blue book where they beat Jesus." At first, I didn't know what he was talking about. His mom translated for me. "It's the little Bible he takes to church." It all made sense after her interpretation, but then it hit me. This 3-year-old with the energetic smile chose to tell me about Christ's suffering not His resurrection. No sweet retelling of animals on a boat, a baby in a manger, or Jesus feeding the thousands. No, it was about the beating.

Aren't we all like that? We can't move past the beating. The beating of our hurting hearts. It can take many forms. The death of a loved one. The death of a relationship. The unkind word or action. The look of disdain. The lack of money in the bank. It all beats us down, and we struggle to pick ourselves us again. We can't see the end of the story...the resurrection of our circumstances, because we hurt too much. Because our resurrection doesn't take three days, but maybe three decades. Because the beating blinds us to all He has for us.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End." Revelation 21:6

There are days when I have to look past what has happened and realize that the God of Genesis...the God of Beginnings is also the God of Endings. As I read God's Word I am struck that the endings are always better than the beginnings. He is working out what He intended for our lives. We don't need to fret or give into the depression. We need to hold on to the hope of seeing the end. The story of Christ isn't just about the beating He took. It is about the resurrection that brings hope.

Have you taken a beating? Does your heart ache? Wait on Him. He isn't finished with your story until He writes "The End".

Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in your will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

Need more Verses of Hope?

Five Verses to Deal with Disappointment

{Affiliate links used.}

We all feel it at some time or another...the ache of not getting what we want. Our hopes dashed. These past few years I have been learning that life doesn't always turn out the way you hoped it would. Dreams die with no way to recover what is lost. The only option is to move forward on a different path...a path that requires trust...

When disappointment comes how do you handle it? Me? I tend to pout {even if it is internally} and push forward with my original hope even when it isn't wise. God has been teaching me through my Word of the Year {HOPE} that I need to not place my hope in my dreams, other people, or my personal plans. Hope should land in only one place...in God Himself. When our dreams don't turn out as hoped we should put our trust in the One with the perfect plan.

Here are a few "Verses of Hope" I have been camping on lately to help me deal with life's disappointments.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11  I know this verse is used over and over again in Christian circles, but it is a great reminder that when our dreams and plans don't pan out God is still in control. Even if what is happening to us looks like harm, God can use it for a greater purpose.

Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you have planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare. Psalm 40:5  I have camped out on this verse time and again. When it comes right down to it He has a plan for our lives. There have been times when I fought His plan only to come to find out years later that it was exactly what I needed.

These were all commended for their faith, yet not of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect. Hebrews 11:39-40 What a comfort to know that the great men and women in the Hall of Faith faced disappointment. They were even promised certain things which they never were able to experience this side of heaven. God's plan for our lives is bigger than we could ever imagine and may stretch beyond our time here on earth.

For I know that through your prayers and the help given by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. Philippians 1:19 This verse has been an anchor for me since 2013 {a year filled with disappointment}. I have learned to lean in to Christ and trust that whatever goes down can have God's fingerprints all over it. He can take the disappointment and make it a divine appointment in our lives.

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. I Thessalonians 5:18  Gratitude won't change our circumstances, but it can change our heart about our circumstances. A few years back I started giving thanks even for the grief and ache I was experiencing. The giving of thanks never did change what happened, but it changed me. I could accept the disappointment and not let it ruin my heart.

Earlier this year I went through this devotional on waiting on God which is really all about where we put our hope. Hope in our plans will only disappoint us. Hope in God never does. You can find  Wait Only Upon God: 40 Days of Praying the Scriptures in the Waiting in hard copy form here or you can download it here. If you are dealing with disappointment this is an excellent way to refocus on where to put your hope.

Need more hope that won't disappoint?  See my Verses of Hope.

The God that is on Your Side

Ever had a day, week, or maybe a whole year where you want to ask God the same question Gideon did? "If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?" {Judges 6:13} If the Lord is with me, why is this happening? There are times when what happens to us makes us doubt His love, but our circumstances are not an indicator of His love. Even in the worst God is looking out for our best.

Since 2013, I have been on a mission to grasp how much He loves me. Circumstances told me He wasn't on my side. Pain declared He didn't have me on His heart when He allowed betrayal to enter my life. I got to the point of thinking because others had rejected me maybe He had too. The only problem with those thoughts is as I read God's Word I saw a different picture. Dozens of snapshots of His love for me.

Are you feeling like He left? Maybe He doesn't care like you thought He did? Are you wondering why He saw fit to allow pain into your life? This might be the time to search out how He loves you regardless of what you have been through. Join me over at His Mercy is New today to read ten verses about how God is for you {with a free printable}.

Hope When You Need to Stand Again

Join me this week as I take a look back at what I have learned through picking a Word of the Year. This is a re-post from earlier this year...My Word for 2015? HOPE

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When devastation hits we need to know there is Someone standing by our side. In 2013, things fell apart for me. I fell apart. A huge chunk of my life would never be the same again. I mourned the loss of what was my normal. I mourned that I could never go back. I mourned the fact that when the damage was done I would become someone else. But I did not mourn the loss of the One who stood beside me. In the heartache He was all grace.

I love words. Strange as it sounds, words are my life...I write with them. I teach foreign ones {Spanish} to students. I love and study  the ones God wrote. One of the words I hold dear is "restoration". Silly, I know, but over the past few years that word has taken on a whole new life for me. I want restoration more than ever. I want to be the person who is whole, healed, and restored, but I am slowly realizing that being whole, healed, and restored doesn't look like I thought it would. I wanted life and myself to go back to the way it was. Yet, I know, I will never go back. I can't retrieve the person I was a few years ago. She doesn't exist. So how in the world could I ever be restored?

A few weeks ago,  I did what every word lover does...I looked it up. "Restoration" is not what I thought it was. The root word for "restore" comes from a word that means "to stand". To restore is to make the building, the person, or the work of art "stand" again {or in the case of art..."to stand out again."}. It also has other meanings: repair, renew, rebuild.

I was in need of some repair. I needed a God to stand by my side and help me stand again. I needed Someone to make me strong. When life falls apart God stands. He stands in the gaps of our lives. He stands up for us. He stands and listens to our pleas. Most of all, He stands in order to pick up the pieces of our lives. Like a father beside his young child in the waves, God stands beside us so that when we fall He can stand us back up again. That is restoration...to be able to stand again when life has pulled you under. You may stand up again with a few bruises, but God isn't taken aback by the imperfections. In fact, He uses them for His glory and our benefit.

Are you under the waves right now? Falling to pieces and in need of a bit of restoration? Go to the God of grace who restores those that need to learn to stand again. He's standing...waiting for you.

Need more hope? See all the Verses of Hope.

Five Ways God Uses Grief

{Photo Source}

No one signs up willingly for grief. Who wants to volunteer for hurt? Yet, grief has an amazing power God uses to shape us into someone we could never become on our own. Over the past few years grief has overtaken me. A loss that continues to chip away at who I am. Is it painful? Yes. Is it not part of my plan? Definitely. However, I consider it now a friend. Grief has taught me what normal life could not. It has given me a strength that I didn't know I had. God has used this friend, Grief, to completely change me. Keanu Reeves has been quoted as saying, "Grief changes shape, but it never ends." He is right, but I would like to add one thought to it. Not only does grief change shape, it also changes the shape of who we are. It never ends, because those changes we carry with us for the rest of our lives.

To soften us. Grief can tenderize our tough side. It makes us compassionate to those around us that are suffering. We gain deep compassion for those traveling a similar path. For me, a barrage of criticism has produced a deeper sensitivity to those around me. It motivates me to build others up rather than tear them down. And yet, even though grief softens us, it does the exact opposite by helping...

To strengthen us. Going through grief strengthens our fortitude. Loss creates gain in the form of an inner strength we thought we never had. If you can go through such a loss and come out the other side, then you know you have the strength to deal with whatever comes your way. Grief creates muscles to help us push through life.

To redirect us. Two years ago I wouldn't have imagined that grief has a way of redirecting our goals and desires in life. My life has switched focus drastically in the past few years. Because of my loss, I am spending more time with my family, building my in-home business, and giving myself to more writing. Grief can put a halt to what our lives are only to give us something else to do.

To give us purpose. Grief can give us a new mission and new passions. We have a purpose. Maybe it is to help others who have gone through the same circumstances to heal. Maybe it is to champion a cause related to our loss. Maybe it comes in the form of people we can love on once we have had significant healing. Regardless, pain gives purpose to our lives. 

To make us like Him. He is called the Man of Sorrows, and He wants us to be like Him. No, He doesn't give us grief so that we can drown in our pain. He allows grief so that we can become like Him. Only a man of sorrow can comfort others in their pain. Only a man of sorrow can have the strength to act on behalf of others. God is more concerned with making us holy instead of happy, and pain can perfect us in ways happiness cannot.

If you are wading through grief my prayer for you is that you will work toward healing and that you will allow Him to change you. If you are struggling with loss, here are some links that might help...

Praying the Scriptures When You Need Healing

Five Ways to Make Peace with Your Past

Hope and Healing {A book list}

The Power of Brokenness

How to Hope

How I wish life had turned out differently. I didn't want the loss. I didn't want the conflict. I didn't want the awkwardness. Yet, it is exactly what I ended up with. Each day I feel the disappointment of things not turning out the way I had hope. These days I am having to hang on to a different type of hope. A hope that doesn't disappoint...

So many times we put our hope in people, things, and circumstances that leave us lacking. They disappoint. And sometimes they even devastate. Our hearts can't handle the failures of other people and circumstances. And there are times when our hearts can't handle our own failures. So we need to hope in One that will never disappoint. Here is how I am learning to do this daily when the world around me is full of disappointments.

Realize He loves you no matter what. Our circumstances are never indicators of His love. Each day I remind myself that no matter how disappointed I am in a person or event His love remains. It will stay in the good times and the the bad.

Hope in God by spending time with Him. The last few years I have had to spend more time with Him to regain a sense of hope. Life had devastated me so much that I didn't really know where to put myself back together again. I felt hopeless, but the more time I spent with Him the more hopeful I became.

Accept reality. Micah 7 recommends that we don't put our complete trust in friends, neighbors, and even our family. Proverbs 23 talks about money sprouting wings and flying away. The reality of life is that at some point what we hoped for doesn't become a reality. Relationships die. Money really does fly away {or at least it feels that way}. Health fails. The promotion passes us by. Rejection shows up before we know what hit us. The sooner we can realize that this world won't satisfy the better off we will be.

Understand that in the disappointment there is divine appointment. Every disappointment has glimmers of hope. God can use the worst that we experience to bring out some of the best circumstances in our lives. Actually, I have learned that when disappointment hits it is because God has something different and potentially better in mind.  The trick is to go on a "scavenger hunt" looking for how God is working out the details.

Are you in need of some hope? Check out these Verses of Hope.