I received a disappointing text message today from a good and close friend. The text wasn’t aimed at me or even intended for me.  Nevertheless, disappointment vibrated through the Internet lines piercing my heart.  I could feel the disappointment that emanated from the sender and the disappointment that struck the core-being of the receiver.

All of us experience disappointments in our lives.  Some are big–like a child who doesn’t preform even to minimum standards of etiquette and behaviors.  Of course, there is the initial and life-altering realization that smacks parents when they realize that their child has a disability.  Some are small–such as a bad hair day or every time I reread a blog entry and I find another typo that I didn’t discover until  it was posted.

Yet even as I write this, I’m reminded of so many joy-filled people I know.  There is my new friend, Bill.  He is blind but his sense of humor allows him to play mind-games with others regarding his lack of sight.  There is Matt whose disability keeps him on the outside of most activities that would engage other teenagers.  However, his playfulness with small things like digging in the dirt allows him to entertain himself for hours.  “What a great day” is his response after two or three hours of digging and recovering holes along the shore of the lake.

It is interesting to me that the most miserable people I know aren’t disabled.  They seem to have everything they need, except peace and happiness.  While on the other hand, the most joyful people I know have some type of developmental, physical or emotional condition which limits them in one way or another.

Could it be that God supernaturally gives people with disabilities an extra measure of  joyfulness that fills their hearts?  I don’t think so.  Not everyone with a disability is a happy, joyful person. Some of them are as miserable as others.  But I believe that people who suffer through disappointments most often become the most grateful for what they have.  Their quotient for gratefulness appears to out run and overtake their losses.  The scriptures speak of God’s allowance for suffering to melt, mold and bend hearts into vessels that He can use for eternity.  Five things seem to emerge from the lives of people who have weathered great disappointments and come through joyful.

1. They learn to choose joy rather than misery.
2. They learn to lean heavily on the promises of God contained in the Scriptures.
3. They don’t expect everything to go smooth and perfect in their lives.
4. They expect to grow through the pains of every day life.  Therefore, when big things hit, they are better prepared for that disappointment.
5. They learn to appreciate what they have and not yearn or grieve for what they do not have.

While I weep for the two people who sent and received the text that broke my heart, I also pray that God will somehow turn that pain into the blessing of joyful release.  That they will exchange disappointment into an escape route, allowing the Lord Jesus to wrap his arms around their hurt and despair turning it into joy.