felt stuck with a suffocating sense of wanting to feel better but not knowing how. My brain has such a hard time overriding my heart sometimes. One rejection after another did quite a number on my heart. And each new rejection didn't just add hurt; it multiplied the pain that was already there. That accumulation created a dark feeling of hopeless defeat.

The space between our expectations and our reality is a fertile field, and it's the perfect place to grow a bumper crop of disappointment.

And let's be honest, if we weren't ever disappointed, we'd settle for the shallow pleasures of this world rather than addressing the spiritual desperation of our souls.

Whether we are at the beginning of our journey, in the middle, or in the danger zone of having just reached our weight-loss goals, focusing only on what we're giving up will make us feel constantly deprived. And deprivation leads to desperation, frustration, and failure. Instead, we have to focus on everything we're gaining through this process. And see the gains as more valuable than the losses.

One rejection after another did quite a number on my heart. And each new rejection didn't just add hurt; it multiplied the pain that was already there. That accumulation created a dark feeling of hopeless defeat.

Brokenness is what must happen before God can put the pieces back together in the way He can shine through the best.

The enemy uses disappointments to cause so much trouble in an unsettled heart. A heart hungry for something to ease the ache of disappointment is especially susceptible to the most dangerous forms of desire.

There is purpose to this process. Yes, the process will be so messy, so full of slime and mud and mire and cries for help that you can't help but wonder whether they are being heard or not. They are. As I said before, God isn't far off. He's just far more interested in your being prepared than in your being comfortable.

What if we could actually get to the place where we thanked God for letting us face this battle because of the rich treasures we discovered on the battlefield?

We'll tell you all about our broken places of yesterday but don't dare admit the limitations of our today.

Without challenges and changes people tend to grow increasingly distant from God and resistant to His ways.

This is the time for a young man to stop saying, "Why is life so hard?" He takes the hardness as the call to fight, to rise up, take it on.