One Step Closer to a Yes by James Ryle

“Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick, but a sudden good break can turn life around.” (Proverbs 13:12, The Message)

go awayA friend in the promotion business says, “Every time someone tells me “NO!” I get happier — because I’m one step closer to that person who will say “YES!”

Some people cannot bear to be told “NO” even once; let alone repeatedly. And then there are others who stop just one person too soon. All they needed was to ask one more time. But they didn’t. Disappointment can do that to you if you let it. Especially if it seems to be unrelenting — one blow after the next.

Years ago I discovered a splendid little poem that has anchored my life in those times when everything seems to be going wrong — times when your hopes are dashed, your dreams have faded, your deepest desires thwarted, and when so many great expectations become inexplicably disappointed. Maybe you will find it helpful, too.

    “Disappointment. HIS appointment.
    Change one letter, then I see
    that the thwarting of my purpose
    is God’s better choice for me!”

It is true, as the proverb says, that unrelenting disappointment can leave you heartsick. But the rest of the proverb is also true — “a sudden good break can turn life around.” One doesn’t come without the other.

Draw yet another breath, my fellow traveler; though you have paused alongside the road — you have not stopped. Your journey is not finished. There’s a bend in the road up ahead. And the bend in the road is not the end of the road — unless you fail to make the turn.

Tip your hat respectfully to old man Disappointment, and then be on your way; for God has something better in mind for you. And though you have heard “NO” perhaps a thousand times — you are actually one step closer to a “YES!”

And that single “Yes” can turn your life around!