It's funny how things in life disappoint us. Friends cancel plans, parents bum us out, relationships fail; the number of heavy sighs and whiney thoughts we have in a given day are countless. The common phrase and Hannah Montana song "nobody's perfect" is often used but rarely fully processed. We know life has its bummers and heartbreaks, but we forget the only One who is, in fact, perfect and can transcend all those disappointments.

When life changes or tragedies occur, our first question is "WHY?" We always require a reason for every circumstance. I often plead with the Lord to reveal a reason or confirmation when plans change in my own life, but what if His intention is for me to never know the answer? How can I be sure everything is going to be ok?

It is a scary thing to be vulnerable. I suppose fear is amongst one of the first emotions Adam and Eve experienced when their sin exposed them in the Garden of Eden and they realized how vulnerable they were to shame and God's punishment. Life-altering decisions and changes can leave us vulnerable and broken sometimes, but there is definitely good news.

I am learning that sometimes the Lord's purpose for life's disappointments is simply to know Him more. He may not ever reveal the actual behind-the-scenes backstage tour of what happened and why, but because He loves us SO much, He longs for us to be in as deep, dependent, and focused a relationship with Him as we can possibly be. He is jealous for us. No matter how many times we try to fill the disappointment with our own strategies and thoughts of "what if?," He takes us back and longs for us to seek Him even more. In the midst of the constant changes of life, it is important to remember to watch expectantly for the Lord to move. (Colossians 4:2) To wait in quiet, alert stillness for His overwhelming power to break forth and fill that void of disappointment in a way that only He can. (Philippians 1:6)

Through the sorrow of unplanned changes and unpleasant circumstances the Lord allows us to experience thanksgiving in a way we never could have before! He doesn't expect us to not be sad about bummer situations. Our Creator made us with emotions! But thanks to His son Jesus Christ, we have a reason to be joyful and in every season and situation to expect greatness out of hardship.

What an opportunity to take ahold of; the invitation to grow infinitely deeper in a hand-in-hand relationship with the One who created everything in existence! It is ok to be bummed, sad, even devastated at times. But because the Lord draws ever closer and He clears a path for better things, life's disappointments do not always disappoint. (Psalm 34:18, Psalm 145:18)

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.

Habakkuk 3:17-19 (Emphasis added)