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Proverbs 13:12 “When hope’s dream seems to drag on and on, the delay can be depressing, but when at last your dream comes true, life’s sweetness will satisfy your soul.” (Passion Translation)

Bill Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding, CA says, how you deal with disappointment is critical to your success in the kingdom. Everyone has gotten their hopes up, only to have something not turn out the way you thought it was going to. Many have heard prophetic words, personal testimonies, or declarations of God’s supernatural provision, only to have your situation not change. Disappointment is a reality that ever person deals with and if we do not navigate the waters of disappointment carefully, we will stop before we breakthrough.

Eric Johnson of Bethel Church in Redding, CA told a story of some gold miners in the southern part of the USA, who dug a mine in search of gold, only to stop 70 ft. short of one of the largest gold mines in America. He tells this story as a reminder to us, that even though we can’t see it, we are closer than we realize to what we have worked our whole life to receive. When it is dark, when all you do is dig, pray, fast, ask, listen, believe, and repeat that over and over again, without obvious rewards for obedience, it is easy for disappointment fatigue to set in.

Kris Vallaton of Bethel Church in Redding, CA says, hope deferred only makes the heart sick when you stop hoping. He goes on to say, if you don’t stop hoping, your heart will not get sick. I love how this church is so encouraging in our reality, that we will get there. I Corinthians 13:13 says, Faith, Hope and Love remain, but the greatest of these is love. There are three things that will remain when you strip everything away, faith, hope and love.

Faith is believing that God will do what He said He will do and that you are who God says you are. Hope is the ability to keep believing, keep dreaming, keep going, even when you are not seeing the breakthroughs you thought you would see by now. Love, well that is deeper and wider than can be expressed here, but it is the greatest of all things and without love you are nothing, so love is still truly the answer for the world today.

So, I am not sure how you are doing, but I wanted to encourage you today that if you are suffering from disappointment fatigue, know others are as well. Also, never forget, hope deferred may make the heart sick, but when at last your dream comes true, life’s sweetness will satisfy your soul. God is not a man that He should lie and you are more than you think you are, so even as disappointment fatigue seeks to steal your faith, rob you of hope and cause your love to grow cold, know that we are literally on the cusp of the greatest breakthrough the world has ever seen and it is closer than any of us realize. I can’t wait to meet all the dreamers, than didn’t stop 70ft. short of the gold mine of God’s presence.