Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?

Why are you crying the blues?

Fix my eyes on God—

soon I’ll be praising again.

He puts a smile on my face.

He’s my God.

Psalm 42:5 (The Message)

 We are all Apple products around here and I finally have a new iPhone. Mark has had his for a year but I had to wait for my Verizon contract to expire. There a couple of features that my iPod touch didn’t have. Of course, the phone and the camera but I also like the Voice Memo app. Because thoughts come to me at random times, some that are particularly appropriate for blogging with the nudge of the Holy Spirit, this allows me to record it before I forget it. (A common malady at this stage of the game.)

As I was driving home the other day, a speaker on Christian radio caught my attention with his teaching. So I whipped out my phone and recorded, “Expectations minus reality equals disappointment.”

I think if there is one area of my life that trips me up the most, it’s expectations. I show up at my own personal pity party without much provocation if something falls apart, or doesn’t live up to what I thought it  should be, or changes, or fails. I think about it, plot how I’m going to change it, rethink what I did, you name it, I’ve tried it. But when reality hits, I’m disappointed.

I really had a good party going earlier this week and was fretting from the moment my head left the pillow in the early morning hours. There were several things I could do, but I realized what I needed was time with my Lord. I pulled out my devotional and the first line opened with, “Accept each day exactly as it comes to you…Your assignment is to trust Me absolutely, resting in My sovereignty and faithfulness.”

Sometimes, God uses a two by four to get my attention. “Yes, Lord.” I spent several minutes journaling all my frustrations, dashed expectations, and disappointments. Although He already knows my heart, it was good to get it all out and lay it at His feet. He is the only One who never disappoints, who is always there.

The heaviness lifted from my heart and mind and I greeted Mark and Parker with a smile when they appeared at the door of my office. I echoed the Psalmist’s words in my heart as they left for their morning walk, “He’s my God.”