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Speaker 1: Life Audio.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to the Crosswalk devotional. We're glad to have you

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Speaker 2: listening with us. Today's topic is about feeling disappointed and

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Speaker 2: frustrated with God. We'll return with the devotional after a

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Speaker 2: brief message from our sponsors. When you have Nowhere Else

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Speaker 2: to Go? Written and read by Cindy McManamon. So Jesus

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Speaker 2: said to the twelve, you do not want to leave?

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Speaker 2: Also to you Simon. Peter answered him, Lord, to whom

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Speaker 2: shall we go? You have words of eternal Life, John six,

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Speaker 2: sixty seven and sixty eight New American Standard Bible. After

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Speaker 2: Jesus had said some difficult words for his followers to understand,

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Speaker 2: many of them up and left. Some probably realized he

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Speaker 2: wasn't the conquering messiah king they had hoped for. Others

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Speaker 2: perhaps got frustrated with not being able to understand Jesus' words.

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Speaker 2: After many of them left, Jesus asked his remaining twelve

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Speaker 2: disciples if they too wanted to leave. That's when Peter

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Speaker 2: spoke up and boldly proclaimed, to whom shall we go?

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Speaker 2: In other words, we have nowhere else to go? Have

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Speaker 2: you ever felt like that? I remember the day I

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Speaker 2: felt I had nowhere else to go but to him.

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Speaker 2: My parents had just split up, and there was no

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Speaker 2: security in my home, in my plans, or in my heart. Today,

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Speaker 2: I look back on that day as the moment in

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Speaker 2: which I took ownership of my faith, the moment in

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Speaker 2: which my bond with Him was sealed and I realized

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Speaker 2: I had nowhere else to go but to Him. When

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Speaker 2: we grow up learning about Jesus from the time we're young,

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Speaker 2: or if we've walked with Him for a while, we

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Speaker 2: can get complacent and put our lives in cruise control

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Speaker 2: and fail to acknowledge his presence, direction, wisdom, guidance, and

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Speaker 2: love every moment of our day. Faith becomes a compartment

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Speaker 2: that is added to the many elements of our life,

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Speaker 2: instead of becoming our whole life. That's when disappointment can

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Speaker 2: rock us. The apostle Paul opened his letter to the

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Speaker 2: Colossians with instructions for followers if they are truly his Therefore,

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Speaker 2: if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the

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Speaker 2: things that are above, where Christ is seated at the

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Speaker 2: right hand of God. Set your minds on the things

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Speaker 2: that are above, not on the things that are on earth.

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Speaker 2: For you have died and your life is hidden with

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Speaker 2: Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed,

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Speaker 2: then you also will be revealed with Him in glory

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Speaker 2: is one through four. If you have been raised with Christ,

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Speaker 2: it appears to be an if then situation. If we

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Speaker 2: are his and have been transformed by His death and resurrection,

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Speaker 2: we are to keep seeking the things that are above

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Speaker 2: where Christ is. That means we are to keep our

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Speaker 2: minds on our eternal home, have eternal priorities and values,

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Speaker 2: live as if we are here temporarily, and we will

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Speaker 2: soon be in our real home with the lover of

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Speaker 2: our soul. The verse goes on to say we have

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Speaker 2: died and our lives are hidden with Christ in God.

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Speaker 2: Our rights, our sense of entitlement, our preferences have died

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Speaker 2: with Christ, and we are hidden, and He and his

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Speaker 2: character is evident and on display for the world. Then

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Speaker 2: the next line simply assumes that Christ is not just

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Speaker 2: a part of our life, but is our whole life.

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Speaker 2: Intersecting faith in life. When we consider Christ not a

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Speaker 2: partner or spouse, child, or even a job, as our

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Speaker 2: whole life, we safeguard ourselves from misplaced priorities and frequent disappointment.

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Speaker 2: God is the only one who will never disappoint us.

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Speaker 2: And I realize that you may believe that in your

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Speaker 2: heart of hearts, but life still hurts. Being vulnerable enough

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Speaker 2: to tell a loved one what you need from them

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Speaker 2: and then coming up empty because they have no idea

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Speaker 2: how to respond can leave us feeling sore to the core.

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Speaker 1: So where do you and I go?

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Speaker 2: With that?

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Speaker 1: Our answer must be the same as Peter's Lord, there

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Speaker 1: is no one else that we can go to. I

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Speaker 1: have learned to echo Peter's words by making Psalm seventy three,

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Speaker 1: verses twenty five and twenty six my life's motto, as

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Speaker 1: well as the cry of my heart. In the contemporary

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Speaker 1: English version, that passage reads in heaven, I have only you,

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Speaker 1: and on this earth you are all I want. My

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Speaker 1: body and mind may fail, but you are my strength

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Speaker 1: and my choice forever. In other words, Christ, who is

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Speaker 1: my life? Or do you go when others disappoint Be

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Speaker 1: already depending on Him and the disappointments will come less often.

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Speaker 1: What do you do when you begin to lack contentment?

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Speaker 1: Remember who is your life, and that in his presence

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Speaker 1: is fullness of joy? Psalm sixteen eleven. Where do you

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Speaker 1: turn when you feel directionless or lacking in purpose, to

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Speaker 1: the one who is your life, your compass, your purpose. Lord,

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Speaker 1: May you be the object of my heart, I focus,

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Speaker 1: my direction, my life. You gave up your life on

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Speaker 1: this earth so I could belong to you forever. I

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Speaker 1: give you my life and desires and realize I have

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Speaker 1: nowhere else to go but to you. For further readings

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Speaker 1: the Psalm eighty four. For help prioritizing your day with Jesus,

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Speaker 1: see my book The New Loneliness Devotional, Fifty Days to

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Speaker 1: a Closer Connection with God. Thanks for listening to today's devotional.

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Speaker 1: If you liked what you heard today, we want to

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Speaker 1: make sure you know about our sister podcast, your Daily Prayer.

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Speaker 1: looking to grow in prayer or start your day with

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Speaker 1: your heart focused on the right things, search for your

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