In trusting Jesus we are always on the winning side

On how disappointments can and will take their toll

ENGLAND’S loss to Italy in the Euro 2020 final was a bitter disappointment for English fans and those from the other home nations who had lent their support.

Gareth Southgate’s management had glued together players who looked well balanced and with an easy rapport with each other. The mix was right, the prospects were good and that first England goal early in the game was a boost that kept them ‘on the ball’.

It was a game full of excitement with England very much controlling the first half. The second half saw a revitalised Italy and, in the end, it was those dreaded penalties that settled the score. Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho who took the penalties should be applauded despite the outcome. That they have since been subjected to the cruellest racial abuse is an indictment on those cowardly non-fans whose evil and anonymity is to be deplored. Thankfully the vast majority of fans, press and media have expressed their admiration and rightly so.

It was not the result hoped for but for the whole game fans shared with their team in the joys, glories, frustrations and even the eventual disappointment. The World Cup now awaits, and on their Euro 2020 record there’s every reason to believe that the best is yet to come for Gareth Southgate’s team.

We can go through every emotion when we face the ups and downs of life.

From anxiety to relief and even elation when we’ve come through some problem or dark time in our lives. Disappointments can and will take their toll – but disappointment is also an emotion that often makes us even more determined and resolved never to give up and not to allow past failures to frustrate our future hopes.

The Bible tells us that God is with us when things are going well and we’re on the highest of the high, but even more so when the pressures and uncertainties of life suddenly descend. Jesus taught us to pray ‘Our Father’ and that’s enough for us to know that in trusting Jesus we are always on the winning side!