I’m so excited to be a guest blogger for Braveheart. I love what Vanessa is doing and am so encouraged by her testimony and her life of faith.
We met through a mutual acquaintance and even though we went to the same bible college that is not where we met.
I haven’t forgotten the word she had given me that she felt was from the Lord. She used the specific words, “You’re a diamond in the rough”. This was so significant to me because the name of my dormitory quad was “Diamonds in the Rough”. It was such an encouragement in that season of my life to know that I was not hidden from God.
After becoming born again in my senior year of high school, I became an avid dream collector. I vividly envisioned lives changing by meetings, conferences, events, businesses, and writings. I sought for those encounters. This passion led me to the bible college when I was 20. I continued to envision myself as a world changer. We had one teacher who would warn of the ego that could come once we left bible college. But that’s the thing about egos- they usually keep us from seeing we have one. ?
Upon leaving college, along with my clothes and shoes, I threw my dreams and aspirations in the suitcase and headed back home. I was ill-equipped for the depression that would come.
Disappointment has a power to turn the most colorful dreams to shades of grey and ebb away the pursuit until it’s faded like a sun-bleached photo. It can weigh so heavy that it pushes the life right out of the dream that has put life in you. This is what was happening in the season that Vanessa spoke those words to me.
Our professor warned us, in other words, of disappointment. The thing that can happen to you when things don’t work out on your timeframe or in the way your mind thought they would. It’s the feeling that you made an appointment with destiny and destiny didn’t show up. For me, it was devastating. I became worn down by the small disappointments that happened over time. I replaced encouraging myself in the Lord with thoughts of “What’s the point?”. Cynicism crept in and pretty soon depression joined the party.
Now before you quit reading, thinking, “Wow, this is going down down down.” I wanted to share that part of my journey to be able to share the hope of overcoming disappointments. I thank God for enlightening my understanding that I could push past that season. I’ve learned and have been strengthened for the battles that have come since then. After realizing it was disappointment that threw me off course so bad, I’ve always prayed that God would allow me to encourage people from this. I once heard Bill Johnson of Bethel Church mention disappointment as one of the most destructive things to a believer’s life; after I heard this comment I began to take “this little feeling” more seriously.
Disappointment can cloud your heart and your vision. It can change the way you think and see God. It can turn hope into hopelessness and faith into cynicism.
I’d like to encourage whoever is reading this, to overcome whatever disappointments may be affecting you.
Ecclesiastes 3 talks about a time for everything under heaven. This includes “a time to get and a time to lose” among other times. The reality is that in this life we will have disappointments. We will have things not go our way. We will have things be hard. We will have to work harder and wait longer for dreams to pass (Check out Joseph in Genesis!). We may have dreams answered in ways that go beyond our imagination or possibly our understanding. We may not understand certain things on this side of heaven. But we can know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to his purpose for them (Romans 8:28).
If you feel like you made an appointment for destiny and it didn’t show up, that doesn’t mean it never will. Give Destiny to God and let Him bring you to it. Every step of your journey prepares you for it.
– Janelle Bush