Disappointments...

There once was a girl who lived in a rural town and was invited to go to the “big city” with her cousin and her aunt. The little girl could hardly contain her excitement as she thought about all the shops that she would visit and all the “big city” people she would see. It wasn’t often that this girl was able to experience life outside of her little community and she longed for the day to arrive when she would set out on this “adventure.”

When the day finally came, the little girl awoke to find things not as she had expected. Instead of being excited for her; and helping her get ready for her big day; the little girl’s mom looked very worried. The little girl brushed it off and began picking out the perfect outfit for the occasion.

Often the little girl would glance out into the living room where she could see her mom sitting in her chair looking incredibly solemn. She wasn’t used to her mother acting this way, but she wasn’t about to let her mom’s grumpy mood spoil her big day.

As the morning went on, the little girl could tell that something was really wrong. Finally, her mother said;

“Sweetie, come over here and sit down with me for a moment.”

The little girl sat by her mother as her mother explained that she had a very unsettled feeling about this trip.

“I can’t put my finger on it Sweetie, but something is not right about this. I’ve thought it through; over and over again; but my job is to protect you, and I think that right now I need to keep you home in order to do that. I’m so sorry honey, but I can’t let you go to the city today…I just can’t.”

The little girl was furious! Who was her mother to take away such a special trip from her! Of all the people in the world, her mother knew how badly she wanted to go on this adventure and how exciting a trip like this was for her! Who did she think she was?

The little girl begged and pleaded. She cried many tears. But the mother was relentless and the little girl finally ran up to her bedroom where she stayed all day, fuming at how irrational her mother was and how unfair her life was.
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I think that as believers we often feel the way that this little girl felt. We trick ourselves into thinking that because we believe in Jesus Christ, we are promised a life free from difficulty and free from disappointment. But, as believers, we need to remember daily that we cannot see all that God can see. We see just one brush stroke of the masterpiece that God is weaving together in our lives. We get disappointed if that brush stroke bends the wrong way, or drips improperly onto the canvas.

‘It wasn’t supposed to look that way! It wasn’t the way I had it planned…it’s just not right God!’

What we often overlook is that, as the Master Painter, it looks perfect in God’s eyes. It’s just what He had planned all along. It may not make sense to us, but it fits perfectly into His perfect plan for our lives.

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The next morning when the little girl awoke, she went downstairs to find her Mother in tears. The mother ran to her daughter and pulled her tight…

“Thank you Lord, thank you Lord…You are so good.” The mother cried as she held her daughter.

The mother then explained that she had just received word that the little girl’s aunt and cousin were seriously injured after some scaffolding gave way and fell down upon them as they were shopping in the city. She then told the daughter that another woman who had been walking beside her aunt and cousin was killed in the accident.

Never before in her life had the little girl seen so clearly the Hand of God protecting her. What began as disappointment, turned into rejoicing.


That little girl was my grandmother. She and her mother are the Spiritual legacy of my entire family that now includes over 30 people who put their trust in the Lord. We praise God often for the disappointment that He brought to Nana’s life on that day….He always has a reason for every “disappointment” in life, even though we often can’t see the masterpiece that He is painting.
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I am writing this story today because I have a Sister in Christ who is dealing with life’s disappointments right now. Tomorrow, when it is my turn to deal with disappointments, I hope that my Sisters in Christ will also remind me of our Master’s plan.