Life doesn't always work out the way you want it to. You don't get the job you want, friends fall away, marriage and children are not the fairy-tale you imagined they would be. Life is tough, and filled with disappointments. That's reality.

It is how you react to the disappointments in life that matters.

When things don't work out, and disappointment sets in, it is easy to let fear and even anger start to bubble up inside of us. These are powerful emotions and if left unchecked, they can afflict us with the "woe is me" syndrome, and turn to self-pity.

This a dangerous emotional place to be.

Self-pity gives rise to thoughts like: "I need a little pleasure in life to make me feel better," or "I deserve to be happy." These thoughts make all those temptations of the world start looking pretty good. And the desires of the flesh start tugging really hard on your will-power. It’s a recipe for disaster in the making.

Buckling to the pressure adds to the disappointment and guilt, and you feel even more hopeless.

But you don't have to let self-pity take you there.

Even when life isn't working out the way you want it to, you have everything you need or desire in Jesus, the one who loves you and gave himself for you. The writer of Hebrews encourages you:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:1-3).