When someone who was supposed to love, protect, and comfort us fails to do so, it is only natural for us to be hurt.
But, it may not have been their fault.
It may not have been intentional.
They may have done their best.
They may not have had the ability to give us what we needed.
It may not have been in them to give.
We are all flawed and fragile creatures, after all.
To be angered or saddened by our experience does us no good.
Even if these feelings are entirely justified, they do not change what happened or did not happen.
They do not fulfill our longing.
In fact, anger and sadness over things we could not have changed if we tried actually exacerbate our longing for love, protection, and comfort.
This, however, if we allow it to be, is actually a gift.
It forces us to reach for something greater for what we need in order to satisfy our longing.
When people let us down, disappoint us, or hurt us, and when we can find no love, protection, or comfort in the world around us, this is an opportunity to turn to God for what we need.
This may have been His plan all along.
It is not that He wants us to suffer.
On the contrary, He wants more than anything to end our suffering.
That is why he is waiting for us to reach out to Him once we have suffered enough.
He was always there for us and we could have come to him sooner if we had chosen to.
But, as strange as it may seem, we usually need to know that there is nowhere else to turn, that all other options have been exhausted, before we are willing to sincerely turn inward to seek love, protection, and comfort from its eternal source.