Take Courage with You

It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect. 2 Samuel 22:33

Encouraging ourselves in the Word of God is essential, or it may become an addiction to receive it any and everywhere. Being encouraged is refusing to be discouraged come what may. It is a choice only we can make for ourselves.

I refuse to be discouraged, but rather be filled with courage. I have made a discovery of late. The similarities found in disappointments, and discouragements can be confused to be interchangeable. One can confuse being discouraged, with being disappointed and vice-versa.

The prefix dis will always be the same, to take away from, yet, the definitions of both words are different. Courage means, bravery and valor, whereas appointment means a selection or choice. You will however need courage to make your appointments on every level, in order to deflect discouragement and prolong disappointments.

Disappointments are missed opportunities, and appointments. Why? Because of obstacles, we encounter obstacles, hindrances, problems, complications, hurdles, difficulties, impediments, and stumbling blocks, all of these things are conditions we learn to endure. yet it appears that spiritually obstacles can take us by surprise. An obstacle is something that stands in the way or is opposition in our way. Diligence is the relentless determination regardless of all opposition.

The way not to be disappointed and distracted is to make a daily appointment with God everyday. This is how we find appointment and define our purpose. It takes prioritizing all appointments on our agendas and putting God first. It is also the way to avoid disappointments as well and stay encouraged.

Appointments require scheduling and projection, determining availability, this would require a time and space in the sphere of time. There are calendars to assist us with scheduling and these are appointments we will make every effort to keep. Then there are appointments not on the calendars and are different, these are elections which require a different type of attention.

We have all kinds of help aides to assist us with appointment, but have you ever wondered or noticed that disappointments are never on the calendar, and are not included in the activity for any dates. It is only afterwards and in retrospect, we reflect upon missed appointments.

Disappointments can leave you questioning yourself as to how, when, where did I miss my appointment, with whatever it may have been. Judgment comes into play as to what did I do wrong to miss my appointment, and become disappointed. A disappointment doesn’t have to be emotional, but rather practical. It is the response that matters when we miss them.

What is the general or generic reaction to missing an appointment? Feelings of regret, and sorrow are usually what we experience. Once we get pass these feelings, we address the issue and move into the mode of resolve, to determine how can I re-schedule a missed appointment, if feasible, and avoid disappointment in the future? The struggle to deter disappointments will entail a re-evaluation of the situations and the causes. The battle with the causes of disappointments, and its affects on us are the strategies needed to be successful. The strategies and maneuvers we need in break through the ice of disappointment arm us with new solutions.

I lost my state job in November 2011, and for the last year and a half has been full of disappointments, in succession, yet not full of discouragements. I have found myself maintaining, and fighting discouragements with the Word of God, being of good cheer knowing that Jesus has overcome the world; and counting it all joy. Deterring the sickness that hope deferred can bring. I realize all of these things, and situations were commissioned to take my courage, yet they failed, but still there was a residue of disappointment.

Finally, in my determining factors, and summation of all these occurrences in various circumstances, I have to reluctantly confess and admit, that I was disappointed. Here I was experientially living through several seasons of disappointments, one after another. You will have to take my word on this one, sparing me having to talk the problems. Sometimes you will have to pick yourself up and carry on. (Isn't that photo of the orange simply adorable?)

I have made a discovery about myself that I would like to share with you. I really don’t like talking about problems, but would rather spend that time finding, and determining the solution. One thing I remedy as a solution to every problem, is prayer. I find it hard to talk problems to just anyone, even when it means you can spill the whole can of beans, meaning someone will listen to you vent. As I think of the principles of God, and to know that He has given me sound mind, and the maturity to seek the solutions, without magnifying the problem. I believe God is greater than all problems, and that He holds the solution to them all. Hallelujah!

Can you imagine several consecutive seasons of diminishing progress in having or securing a job and all the thoughts that surround and accompany this dilemma. Surely you would look for discouragement to surface, and joy to diminish. This is when guarding your heart with all diligence is a paved road you must cross, because out of your heart flow the issues of life, and your reaction. Of course you know that discouragement and disappointments are both joy stealers.

Discouragement is a warning, like a cautioning yellow light, that your courage is on the line and battlefield. The American Indians call someone who does not lose courage, a brave. You may not like the situation, nor can you accept it as reality, but you know that you must go through. Taking courage with you, and allowing it to be your companion, and to teach you how to forbear being discouraged. Courage being the antidote for discouragement

Disappointment is really the topic and subject I would like to embark upon. Disappointment is displeasure, dissatisfaction, regret and frustration all in one blow. The prefix dis means apart, away, utterly or privatively negative or reversing force. Take the dis off of the word and you get appointment. An appointment is a selection, choice, position, or employment. It is understanding that without appointment there will inevitably be disappointment, because of being without employment or appointment.

During the preparation of this writing I performed a experiment. I took a glass I was about to wash, and poured some dishwashing liquid in it, symbolizing what the Holy Spirit is doing in me, purging and pruning me of disappointment. I declared over the unwashed glass that it was disappointment, and all the prefixes with dis, and that I was the glass and poured the contents down the drain pronouncing it to be disappointment that I was pouring it out into the pit where it comes from. After I washed and rinsed the glass, I put ice in the glass and poured iced tea which I declared to be appointment I was now drinking. It was soothing my parched mouth and throat and providing the remedy for my dehydration and drought. Now I am looking for the manifestation and materialization of new appointments, because the drought is over.

I also learned in this probe that the word dis in Roman theology refers to the god of the underworld. That would mean that discouragement and disappointment are from beneath and not from above. Pouring the dirty water from the glass is symbolic to pouring discouragement and disappointment back into the pit where it came from. It is where the Word of God deflects the weapons formed against me. Where the Spirit of God is He raises the standard when the enemy comes in like a flood of disappointment.