{"id":2497,"date":"2020-11-17T23:29:35","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T04:29:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/?p=2497"},"modified":"2025-07-29T15:53:20","modified_gmt":"2025-07-29T19:53:20","slug":"kept-day-and-night-even-when-we-feel-unprotected-2-2-2-2-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/?p=2497","title":{"rendered":"Our Highest Joy (Dealing with Sadness and Disappointment) (Republished in Everlasting Way)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blessed\u00a0be\u00a0the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and\u00a0God of all comfort,\u00a0<\/sup><\/strong>who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in\u00a0any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.<\/em> For just\u00a0as the sufferings of Christ are\u00a0ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ (II Corinthians 1:3-5 <\/strong>NASB).<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Guarded Heart<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I first saw my father drunk when my mother wasn\u2019t at home. I was around ten years old and the oldest child. When I saw him stagger and fall, I couldn\u2019t process the emotions. I felt numb. A few years later his drinking would cost him his job, his marriage and almost his life.<\/p>\n

A trusted counselor once told me the armor I used to guard my heart as a kid served me well, but I\u2019ve outgrown it now. I needed to learn how to explore and process some ancient pain. But I wasn\u2019t really sure how.<\/p>\n

The Difference Between Sadness and Disappointment <\/strong><\/h3>\n

One of the characters in a novel I\u2019m reading mentioned being disappointed with God. I don\u2019t attribute my disappointment with God, but I do recognize the feeling of disappointment and wonder how it differs from sadness.<\/p>\n

Research tells me sadness<\/em> implies grieving something we\u2019ve had and lost. Disappointment deals with the lost of the hope of something. The distinction seems helpful in sorting through some of the feelings of loss I still need to deal with.<\/p>\n

Jesus is our Highest Joy, but Emotional Pain Shouldn\u2019t be Ignored \u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Our Highest Joy (Unmasking the Lie)<\/a><\/p>\n

Though, as children of God, we\u2019re hopefully growing in our heartfelt understanding that He Himself is what gives us lasting fulfillment, satisfaction and happiness, dealing with our emotional pain is very important. Exploring old wounds and freeing captured parts of our hearts can free us to enjoy the presence of the Lord more authentically.<\/p>\n

In a recent journal entry, this is what I sense God was saying to me concerning my emotional pain: Don\u2019t deny the sadness and disappointments in your life. Keep bringing it all to me. The old ones, the new ones. There\u2019s hurt, but like light and salt heal physical wounds, there\u2019s freedom and healing when you call Me near. I\u2019m the God of all comfort. I want to bind every crevice of your broken heart with the Joy of My presence. To the extent you allow My Oil of Gladness in to soften and soothe your pain, true compassion will grow. And as the more hidden places in your heart are brought to My Life and Light, the more you\u2019ll experience the Joy of us being together.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Challenge<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Do you have sadness or disappointment which has caused or is causing great grief? Bring an especially painful one to mind. Have you denied the gravity of how this has affected you? \u00a0Have you minimized the impact to your own detriment and to the harm of others?<\/p>\n

Though accessing this great pain may take your breath away, it may be time to unlock, deep crusted over parts of your heart, long ago abandoned. Ask Jesus to draw near. He is near to the broken hearted.[1]<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Lord, thank you for showing me how important it is to call you near in my sadness and disappointment. Thank you for showing me that denying my deep emotional pain is not what you intend. Some of these losses are extremely hard. My heart and eyes still sting when I embrace the magnitude of hurt and loss. But You are my Life. These feelings are not a surprise to you, Jesus. Isaiah described you as a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.[2]<\/strong> You know my inner most parts. You knit me together.[3]<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n

Epilogue <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Within hours after writing this, as I invited the Lord into deeper layers of my own sadness and disappointment, a sense of undefined discouragement began to creep in. This feeling lasted over a day. I felt zapped of strength, with little motivation to perform life\u2019s normal duties. I\u2019ve been told this mood is common-place for some folks. It\u2019s rare for me and gives me an appreciation for those who battle depression.<\/p>\n

Though I didn\u2019t feel it, I clung desperately to what God says about His love for me. The next day, the cloud began to lift. I\u2019m learning to believe God\u2019s love and hold on to it, even when I don\u2019t understand it or feel it.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/em>Lord<\/em>\u00a0appeared to\u00a0him\u00a0long ago,\u00a0saying, \u201cI have\u00a0loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore I have drawn you out with\u00a0kindness (Jeremiah 31:3 NASB).<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

My father came to saving faith in Jesus Christ later in life. Though he struggled with his alcoholism even after his conversion, his eventual total dependence upon the Lord with his drinking problem led to sober living the last fifteen years of his life. Dad’s story<\/a><\/p>\n

[1] Psalm 34:18<\/p>\n

[2] Isaiah 53:3<\/p>\n

[3] Psalm 139:13<\/p>\n

Joy in the Journey is about the gladness of God’s nearness in the midst of life’s adventures.<\/em><\/p>\n

Subscribe below to get email notifications of new posts. We post a few times a month. Thank you for reading.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/span>Novels by the Author:<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond Time<\/a><\/p>\n

Hope Remains<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Guarded Heart<\/p>\n

I first saw my father drunk when my mother wasn\u2019t at home. I was around ten years old. When I saw him stagger and fall, I couldn\u2019t process the emotions. I felt numb.
\nA few years later his drinking would cost him his job, his marriage and almost his life.<\/p>\n

A trusted counselor once told me the armor I used to guard my heart as a kid served me well, but I\u2019ve outgrown it now. I needed to learn how to explore and process some ancient pain. But I wasn\u2019t really sure how.<\/p>\n

The Difference Between Sadness and Disappointment<\/p>\n

One of the characters in a novel I\u2019m reading mentioned being disappointed with God. I don\u2019t attribute my disappointment with God, but I do recognize the feeling of disappointment and wonder how it differs from sadness.<\/p>\n

Research tells me sadness implies grieving something we\u2019ve had and lost. Disappointment deals with the lost of the hope of something. The distinction seems helpful in sorting through some of the feelings of loss I still need to deal with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2502,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1973],"tags":[1732,556,423,616,873,1977,612,698,1972,1082,21,549,980,1976,1583,1050,510,7,950,1591,419,1934,1978,681,1643,1974,307,1625,1946,736,694,1938,1975],"class_list":["post-2497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-god-of-all-comfort","tag-alcoholism","tag-choose-joy","tag-courage","tag-delight","tag-delight-in-god","tag-depression","tag-disappointment","tag-discouragement","tag-draw-near","tag-drinking","tag-gladness","tag-grief","tag-grief-to-gladness","tag-guarded-heart","tag-isaiah-533","tag-jeremiah-313","tag-jesus-christ","tag-joy","tag-joy-in-his-presence","tag-joy-of-gods-presence","tag-joyful-heart","tag-keep-close","tag-knit-together","tag-light-in-the-midst-of-grief","tag-painful","tag-psalm-13913","tag-psalm-1611","tag-psalm-3418","tag-refreshment-in-god","tag-rejected","tag-sadness","tag-satisfied-with-christ","tag-sorrows"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2497"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7387,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2497\/revisions\/7387"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joy-in-the-journey.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}