So, you tried to get your kid Forest Frank tickets.

This concert reportedly sold out in a record-breaking 30 minutes!

Ten pairs of tickets were available for folks to win through KSBJ—(typically) a reasonable number. That’s 20 tickets for an area of (nearly) 7 million people and everybody wanted them.

Your kids prayed for those tickets and you prayed for those tickets.

The opportunity’s passed, and perhaps with it, any hope of going to the March 8^th concert at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

C’mon, Rachelle, it was painful enough when I didn’t get to tell my kid we’re going!?!

The disappointed faces on our little ones remind me of Puss in Boots (from Shrek) where his eyes are the size of saucers.  To add insult to injury, there’s usually tears brimming in those giant eyes paired with a pronounced and trembling bottom lip.

I met a little girl before the last of our tickets were gone.  She’d been so disappointed that she'd not won yet.  Her heart was set on it.

I was honest, but encouraged her all the same, “God may have a different plan for you that night and it may not be at the concert but keep trying! Don’t give up, you never know. Remember, whatever happens you can trust Him!”  At this her face fell.  It wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

I’m (pretty) sure her family was not among the final few who managed to win tickets.  It had nothing to do with her as a person or her desires.  She wasn’t lazy--quite the contrary! It was her tenacity and drive that pushed the phone’s buttons every morning in hopes of winning…eHerbut she didn’t.

This could be a learning opportunity for all of us.

How do we deal with loss and disappointment?  

NOT dealing with it means that I’m piling it up under some emotional rug where I’ve brushed it.  And we all know what happens when there’s a large bump under a rug!! Eventually I’m gonna trip over it!  That fall often lands me in much worse pain than what it would have been had I taken the time to acknowledge my grief!

Honestly, even if I somehow managed to side-step the rug, stockpiling this stuff (where I avoid confrontation) leads to back-up until something explodes and that impacts others too!

Follow this thread of disappointment:

• Why didn’t I win? 
•  My family deserves those tickets more than that other family!
• Why didn’t my folks do a better job in helping me win?
• Does God see me? 
• Does He exist?
• God hates me!

You can see how easy it is for our thoughts to spiral  into frustration. These are very real thoughts and questions that, when left un-explored in scripture (with the mindset of one who follows Christs), can lead to a greater cost! Sin.

When I’m unaware of that cost, it means I’ve allowed myself to be blinded by pent-up hurt and that hurt doesn’t go anywhere! It remains and starts to change me from the inside out.

It’s like wearing soiled clothing.    We’re functioning people in society but are unpleasant to be around because we refuse to change.  We start slinging mud onto others because that’s easier than owning the muck that (somehow) I’ve created and adjusted to.  Most people don’t like wearing mud, but those who don’t care about the dirt will welcome you into their friend group.  Because they’ve created their own blind spots and fooled themselves into believing they’ve “moved on” when they’ve only dug up ways to numb their pain. 

You may be thinking, “WOW, Rachelle! All of that from not winning some tickets?”

The enemy wanders around looking for ways to devour us (I Peter 5:8).  He’s not some make-believe red guy with horns (like in the cartoons).  He is a real being looking for ways to make you fail.  I personally think most of these “ways” do NOT stand out in a super obvious way. 

Wrongfully displaced thoughts can take over the mind like a rotting apple.  What starts as only a speck can quickly spoil the entire fruit, unless you cut it out.

If you’ve said “yes” to Jesus than you’ve been saved!!  And He that is in you is soooo much greater than the enemy—no contest! (John 4:4)—and God's Spirit gives us good, healthy fruit (Galatians 5:22-23)!  The sword of the spirit, which is God’s Word (Eph. 6:17), can sever that rot from good fruit!

DO NOT WRITE OFF THE PROCESS OF GRIEVING! We can still walk out our faith in that process and impact the world for His good! 

Jesus did. 

Jesus acknowledged His pain, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death (Matt. 26:38);" He did not dismiss it! 

We were not promised an easy life and setting ourselves up with expectations that say otherwise is not in agreement with the words of Jesus (John 16:33)!  We should not be surprised when this life costs us.  It cost the Son of God His life and as Jesus' followers we've chosen to identify ourselves with Him.

It's no longer about me! (Gal. 2:20) 

He taught and modeled for us how to pray--it was the prayer that led Him to the cross, “THY will be done.” (Matthew 6:10; Luke 22:42). It's a daily prayer where we too must humble ourselves: "And being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. (Phil.2:8)"

If He had chosen to speak the words, flights of angels could have been commanded to spare him from death (Matt. 26:53), but God had a plan (John 3:16); it included the pain that Jesus’ very human body would experience.  The scope of God’s eternal plan was greater than this man’s death, but it was through that death and decision for God’s will to reign, that saved us all through His resurrection and by His grace!! (Luke 22:42; Eph. 2:8-9)

God doesn’t ask us to do anything He hasn’t already done.  He can empathize because He chose it.  He chose YOU!

God’s will can align with our desires, but I’m teaching myself that it’s more important for my desires to align with His!  I choose His desires.

Can I trust Him?  Yes!  He used one man’s prayer, His son’s prayer, as a steppingstone in conquering sin and death.  He can utilize that same prayer in my life as a steppingstone for someone else to know the richness of eternal life in Him!

I don’t want to be dismissive of another’s pain nor my own.  That's silly. 

Pain hurts, but it can have purpose.

I choose to pray the prayer that Jesus was not above praying, “Thy Will be done,” and the image of Jesus on a cross, bearing MY guilt, buoys me out from under the crashing waves of sorrow. I am anchored in His arms as He carries me until I’m able to lean into His understanding (Prov. 3:5-6) and  follow Him. “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. (Job 13:15).”