Disappointment. It’s a heavy word, isn’t it? There’s so much it carries. Hope that once was, now lost. A future or a destination that was expected, never arrived. There’re the little things too – a hurtful comment, a lower score, cloudy days. Disappointment is like a bruise to the soul.

I’ve been going through a season of uncertainty and disappointment. It’s lasted much longer than I would have expected, and it’s gone much deeper than I knew. It really is a challenging thing to move on from the future you thought you’d have. It’s like a row of dominos and one of them down the line got glued to the table and never fell. All that energy and expectation – stopped. Now what?

This experience hits people differently. Some, like me, can see a speed bump resemble something that looks more like a 10-foot wall. Hardship carries with it varying depths to its cuts. And there are some deep places it can get to that stop us in our tracks. Like a train, our expectations take a high intensity moment to stop them where they are and yet another burst of strong energy to get them going once again.

Have you found your life’s train seemingly halted on the tracks? However small or large, this is a sobering experience. I find it so interesting that it’s trials, suffering, and challenges that lead us to feelings of disappointment, yet Paul in Romans has a different take when he says,

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love (Romans 5:3-5).

These same trails that ought to conclude with disappointment can actually serve as a way to build rooted hope. And from that hope, what is deeply produced is that of non-disappointment. We have a choice as to how we respond to trials and difficulties. Our default is to stop and be disappointed, but there is another way, friend.

The difference between disappointment and hope lies behind our response. The one who habituates a posture of faithfully enduring with Jesus through the challenges and disappointments of life will not be left with sadness but with a confident hope of what’s to come. This is all out of a place of being filled with the reality that God loves you. Period. It’s His love for you that both enables you to endure and leads you to a place of confident expectation.

Where’s the practical here? I know hope sounds better than sadness. Let me also preface, this is a lesson I’m in the middle of learning. I have yet to arrive. This all comes through faith, belief that God is who He says He is. Who is He? We find Him in His Word – the Bible. The Bible is the revelation of who God is – both His character and His nature. So, how to begin – know His Word. Commit to even five minutes a day. If you don’t know where to start, start with one of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John). Prayer is a way for us to talk candidly with the Lord – practice being honest with Him. Get to know Him and talk to Him.

Friend, life’s hardships will do one of two things always. They will either push you closer to God or pull you farther away. Let’s, you and I, partner together by stepping into the challenges of life with a collective faith and a self-declaration that God is real, and He loves you and He loves me. It’s from this places that challenges and hardships lead us not into disappointment but into confident hope – a hope, that does not disappoint.