Today, I was told that an application I had been diligently working on for six months, was rejected. Awash with disappointment, I went directly into a bathroom stall at the office to cry. My frustration overflowed through my tears, as I tried to settle my thoughts and as I mourned the death of the expectation I had for my application.
What do you do with disappointment?

All I could think to do at that moment as I heard women waiting to enter the stall, was to pray for a word, any word that would bring comfort. I quickly opened my Bible app and came across Isaiah 59:21. The words “My Spirit will not depart from you,” spoke to me.

Riding my bicycle as fast as I could back home, I was glad to physically be able to release the tension. On one street, I rode through steam that was coming out of a building pipe. The sun shining brightly on the steam one moment and then it disappearing the next, reminded me of James 4:14, “…you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” I decided
to go about my day as planned and headed to lunch at El Domingo, a small Mexican cafe. I sat by the open window so I couldn’t really hear the lyrics of the Coco soundtrack that was playing in the café. However, there was one moment when everything seemed to quiet down and I heard these lyrics clearly, ‘Do you know that feeling, like there’s a song in the air, and it’s playing just for you?’

Arriving home,
I lit my candle and prepared some Chai to decompress as I listened to my regular podcasts. One of them really hit home and seemed to be waiting just for me. It was all about the fact that we are still loved despite our disappointments. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and opened them to the verse I had read this morning before leaving my apartment. “Every morning tell him, ‘Thank you for your kindness,’ and every evening rejoice in all his faithfulness.”

My prayer
earlier in that stall was just for one word at that moment but instead I received a constant flow of comforting words throughout the day.
What do you do
with disappointment?
Be still and know. Surrender it. Give thanks. Rejoice