No matter what age you are, one fact that hangs over your head constantly is that life is full of disappointments. You may have several days or even a few weeks when there is no disappointment, but then out of nowhere it hits you between the eyes and often pins you down. Its overbearing grip on you, more often than you would like, throws hope out the window and immobilizes you.
How do you overcome such an emotional monster in your life? First, find encouragement in the Lord Jesus through prayer and the Scriptures. Next, find yourself a Barnabas to lean on. From Acts 4:36 you find that the one personality trait that he was now for was his ability to encourage others; his nickname was son of encouragement. Those kinds of people are few and far between, but when you find one that person is a gem to treasure greatly.
Charles Schwab states it this way, “The way to develop the best in a person is by appreciation and encouragement. There is nothing else that so kills the ambition of a person as criticism form his superiors.” That works in the corporate world, but it also words in the relationship world also. When you are encouraged, you can overcome any of life’s darts into your life.
Knowing that encouragement is a gem needed for daily living, the Scriptures command Christians to do it and to continue on doing it— “Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing” (1 Thess. 5:11). Notice, the command, “encourage and build up one another.’ Next, see that that once you do that, you are to keep on keeping on doing it.
To handle life’s disappointments, spend time in prayer with the Lord Jesus and from the Scriptures. Also, follow the Bible’s command to be an encourager to others. Start today!
