Instead of letting the feelings from this situation label me, I'm going to focus on God and His promises for good things.

You'll live your life making decisions with the Best Yes as your best filter. You'll be a grand display of God's Word lived out. Your undistracted love will make your faith ring true. Your wisdom will help you make decisions that will still be good tomorrow. And you'll be alive and present for all of it.

God, I want to see You. God, I want to hear You. God, I want to know You. God, I want to follow hard after You. And even before I know what I will face today, I say yes to You.

God loves us too much to answer our prayers in any other way than the right way. And He loves us too much to answer our prayers at any other time than the right time.

C. S. Lewis said it best: "We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.

The disappointment that is exhausting and frustrating you? It holds the potential for so much good. But we'll only see it as good if we trust the heart of the Giver.

When we abide, delight, and dwell in Him, He then places within us desires that line up with His best desire for us. Therefore, He can give us whatever we ask, because we will only want what's consistent with His best.

If we don't open up a way to process our disappointments, we'll be tempted to let Satan rewrite God's love story as a negative narrative, leaving us more than slightly suspicious of our Creator.

So, here's the short version of my predetermined biblical procedure manual all in one place: Alarmed, I resolve to remember who I am. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Stay in the flow—my job is obedience; God's job is results. Shift from an attitude to gratitude. My reactions determine my reach.

Oh, dear God, help me trust You beyond what my physical eyes can see. As the winds of all that's uncontrollable whip around me and thrash against me, I need something to ground me. Steady me. Hold me together when circumstances are falling apart. I want to trust You beyond what my eyes can see.

coated with unmet expectations. So, what do I do? Well, I've found it tremendously helpful to list the expectations I have of a relationship in which I'm feeling slighted. Then I prayerfully discern whether or not my expectations are realistic or unrealistic. And if I can't really discern one way or the other, I ask. I ask God. I ask that person. I ask someone wise who knows both of us well.

The children of Israel were led by God, not on the shortest route but rather the ordained route.