Disappointment-

 

Daughters, 

The dreaded “d” word- disappointed. We all feel it. And perhaps I have tried my best to shelter you both from it until the pandemic threw it all in our faces these past two plus years. By the time you read this you may even be experts at what it feels like to be disappointed, but I’m realizing that it’s starting to become more than just canceled plans for you both. And Lysa Terkeurst has the perfect words for that kind, 

“Disappointment isn’t proof that God is withholding good things from us. Sometimes it’s His way of leading us home.” 

She goes on to explain though, 

“But we know even the shiniest of things is headed in the direction of becoming dull. New will always eventually become old. Followers unfollow. People who lift us up will let us down. The most tightly knit aspects of life snag, unravel, and disintegrate before our very eyes. And so we are epically disappointed. But we aren’t talking about it. 

We don’t even feel permission to do so or we just don’t know how to process our disappointments. Because everyone says, “Be grateful and positive, and let your faith boss your feelings around.” And I do believe we need to be grateful and positive and let our faith boss our feelings around. But I also think there’s a dangerous aspect to staying quiet and pretending we don’t get exhausted by our disappointments. 

In the quiet, unexpressed, unwrestled-through disappointments, Satan is handcrafting his most damning weapons against us and those we love. It’s his subtle seduction to get us alone with our thoughts so he can slip in whispers that will develop our disappointments into destructive choices. If the enemy can isolate us, he can influence us. And his favorite entry point of all is through our disappointments.” 

I realize that was a lot. A much larger quote than I normally share with you both, but her words cover so much of what I want to say to you both; what I desperately needed in my childhood and heck, even in these past five years especially! 

You see, we all go through disappointments, but I realize now that un-felt feelings that come along with them can be harmful if not processed. And so I’m really sorry if I have given the impression to power through disappointments with perfectionism and positivity. My brain tends to be hardwired that way, or perhaps it’s from growing up with a mom that thinks that way too. -Im working on letting you both work through what comes along with disappointment rather than just trying to sugar coat it. 

And we’ll keep working on this together, 

Mom