The car was my tipping point. Seven years ago, I stood glaring at our used—but newly purchased—Honda Fit. I eyed the paint fading from its purple hood, the inside ceiling strewn with gray markings, and its dented fender. The seller had deceived us into buying a lemon. Unbeknownst to us, the car had also been in an accident—before we purchased it—and would require a costly repair.
The Honda Fit represented the turn our life had taken. Walking alongside my husband through medical school in our 30s with two kids was not the original plan. I struggled to be thankful for much of anything; contentment seemed like a faraway land depicted in a novel. But God used this jalopy-of-a-car to teach me three truths about walking through disappointment.
First, we can trust God when we face the unexpected.
That car forced me to rely on God’s provision. Twice, I was stranded on the side of the road hundreds of miles from home. On a separate occasion, I was a victim of a hit-and-run. Numerous times we had to scrounge up funds for additional repairs, and I learned to navigate various modes of public transport across the city to my workplace with two kids and a stroller. But whether it was the roadside assistance company included with our car insurance or someone offering to help carry the stroller up the mountain of stairs when the train’s elevator was broken, I could rely on my heavenly Father to meet my needs.
The book of Ruth casts light onto the provision of God. Ruth may not have articulated that her life had warped into a bad dream, but she certainly wasn’t living a life any woman would have hoped for. She didn’t expect to accompany her mother-in-law, Naomi, as a young widow into a foreign land to live (Ruth 1:22).
While my life differed from Ruth’s in many ways, I did, like her, have to choose to trust the Lord to meet my needs in a life I never expected to have. Through this new season of life, God cultivated my trust in Him even when I didn’t fully understand where this road was leading. I learned to move forward in the life I was living, rather than the one I had expected.
Second, we can pursue contentment right where we are.
In the new and often frustrating season of life that I found myself in, I had to choose to pursue contentment in many areas. The car, and everything it represented, was my reminder to cease grumbling and instead look to how God was meeting my transportation needs.
Ruth models this choice of contentment well; in the midst of her life’s multiplying twists, how she faced her circumstances shines as beautifully as a field full of fireflies on a midwestern summer night. The first thing Ruth does when they reach Bethlehem is to secure food for Naomi and herself (2:2). Ruth doesn’t recite all the reasons she could be disappointed, but embraces where she finds herself.
When I emulated Ruth’s example of doing what needed to be done each day, I began to marvel at what God was doing in my heart. When I stepped into overseeing the children’s ministry at my church, God solidified the importance of discipling children diligently in the gospel—something I knew was vital but could easily minimize. Rather than wishing to be where I was 10 years ago or where I would be in seven years, God cultivated gratefulness for the ways I could serve Him where I was.
Contentment isn’t found in the past or future, but in walking with God in the life we have today. As I am still learning, contentment sprouts when we care more about God’s glory than the specific details of our lives. When we cease struggling against what we don’t have, then we can pursue contentment in the present moment.
Third, we can look beyond disappointment and praise God for His provision.
Three years ago, my husband and I sat nervously in an auditorium with other medical students on residency match day. My husband clutched an envelope that would reveal where we would spend his three years of residency. Hope had brewed like a good cup of tea for the chance to return to our roots and family out West. When the clock struck 10 a.m., the sound of ripped envelopes filled the room. Our hearts thumped wildly as my husband pulled out the paper and we scanned the page for his name. Disappointment descended like fog upon us; we had matched in the Midwest.
Once again we were faced with the decision to trust God with an unexpected turn. What we couldn’t see at the time was that this residency match was a good gift. The location proved a wonderful place to raise a family. When one of our sons needed surgery, the residency program willingly shifted my husband’s schedule at the last minute to accommodate our needs. The program director even reached out to me to make sure our family was settling in well. While we hadn’t wanted to stay in the Midwest, three years later—still with that same Honda Fit as our only car—our hearts rejoice in God’s faithful provision.
How the Lord worked in Ruth’s life led others to praise God (Ruth 4:14, 15)—especially as her biblical story ends with the ultimate praise of inclusion in the lineage of Jesus (Matt. 1:5), pointing to how God can bring about good in our lives from unplanned detours. No matter what disappointments arise in our lives, we can trust God to walk with us as we learn to cultivate contentment with how God’s unexpected provisions lead us to praise Him.
Jenny Marcelene
About the Writer: Jenny Marcelene spent six years living in conservative Muslim countries and desires to help parents and children catch a glimpse of how God is at work among the nations. Her publishing credits include online articles in The Gospel Coalition, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, Momma Theologians, and Gospel-Centered Family. You can drop by her blog for ways to pursue God’s glory across the street and around the globe.
