{"id":1372,"date":"2026-02-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/how-to-keep-trusting-god\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T08:45:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T12:45:32","slug":"how-to-keep-trusting-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/how-to-keep-trusting-god\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Keep Trusting God When Life Feels Like A Disappointment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There\u2019s a saying you may have heard: Man plans. God laughs<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first time I heard it, it rang true. I was sitting alone in a new apartment\u2014single, states away from my family, miles from the city I thought I\u2019d live in after college\u2014 starting a job in a field I never imagined for myself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where did all my carefully laid plans go? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did everything \u201cright.\u201d I got the degree\u2014 but there was no ring by spring. By the age of 25, I still wasn\u2019t married with kids. The picture of a \u201csuccessful life\u201d that I planned for myself doesn\u2019t match the one I\u2019m living.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I remember giving my life to God, to do as He wills for it. And as I\u2019ve given each life decision over to Him, Proverbs 16:3<\/a> comes to mind: \u201cCommit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I fully believe each step I took to get to where I am today was out of obedience to the Lord\u2019s plan for my life, but it doesn\u2019t stop this grief inside me, mourning the life I had planned for myself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But acknowledging my obedience didn\u2019t stop that thought that maybe God had some smug satisfaction at turning my idea of success upside down\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enter a daily encouraging text<\/a> from STAR that stopped me in my tracks one day:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 34:18<\/a>: \u201cThe Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spent a lot of time invalidating my sad feelings, telling myself I shouldn\u2019t feel upset over things that never happened and that I needed to be grateful. That psalm felt like God tucking me into His arms, whispering that there is space for feeling the excitement of the life I was living and <\/em>space to walk through sadness of the one I wasn\u2019t. In the sadness, He was with me.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realized that the idea that God\u2019s laughing at me isn\u2019t right; He doesn\u2019t think my disappointment is funny. He doesn\u2019t look at me grieving for a life I thought I\u2019d have and tell me to be grateful. He takes our honesty and heartache and sits in it with us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is not petty. He isn\u2019t laughing at us when we mess up or have big feelings. When we\u2019re vulnerable and honest with the Lord, He meets us where we are.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God is kind. He walks with me<\/a> in my day to day. When I hike a trail, I thank Him for the gift of nature. When I see a beautiful sunset after a hard day, it\u2019s a gentle reminder that He\u2019s with me and sees me. When I chat with a stranger at a coffee shop, I\u2019m reminded that God can use me to brighten someone\u2019s day the same way that He uses that stranger I talked to. When I\u2019m stuck in traffic, and second guessing the route I chose, God reminds me that He is guiding my steps \u2013 big or small.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m finding that every day is an exercise of faith. I trust that God has a plan for my life, and He is with me in my disappointment when His plan doesn\u2019t look like my plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I trust that I am following His will, and He will catch me when I stumble and course-correct me when I wander off the path. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I trust that there is nowhere I can go that He will not meet me there\u2014 whether that\u2019s physically halfway across the world, or metaphorically down a well of despair and broken heartedness. He is a loving God that meets us where we are and guides our steps when we ask.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re anything like me, I often need the reminder that Jeremiah 29:11<\/a> offers:  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cFor I know the plans I have for you,\u201d declares the Lord, \u201cplans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know I am living in answered prayers. I know that God is with me in the excitement and the devastation. And I know that the hope that the Lord offers will never run out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarah Roberts
STAR 99.1 Staff | Listen Now<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

P.S. Text the word UPLIFTING to the number 54214<\/a>, and you can get the encouraging text that I get from STAR every day, too!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Man plans. God laughs. But does he?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":1373,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-13 17:07:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/upliftingstar.com\/star991\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}