“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” Robert F. Kennedy, US Politician
It turns out that I’m a bigger risk-taker than I’ve realized. I’d like to think that I’m practical and think things through before making a decision. But the reality is that once I’ve made a decision, I’m all in. I never realized that before, but something about this Bible plan I’m reading is turning the wheels.
The Bible plan is about overcoming fear and this day is about the fear of failure, from which the above quote is from. I’m reading this plan with some friends and one of them made a comment about this quote – how we always look at our mistakes to see where we went wrong, but this quote changes the perspective to empower us because now we know what not to do.
That had me thinking about my failures, but to see it through the lens of this quote. Maybe, as I grow and try to heal from my past mistakes and failures, God will open doors of opportunity that I will be scared to pursue because of those past failures. But maybe God allowed my failures to happen to strengthen me in different ways. Just like I sometimes have to let my kids make mistakes for themselves so they can learn a particular lesson, maybe God is preparing me for the challenges that are yet to come. Or maybe now I can realize that I’ve already done that or been there and seen God build me back up. I don’t have to be scared anymore because I know I will never go through anything without my God by my side. Can past failures make me bold (instead of holding me back) because I have seen and experienced the goodness of God?
Throughout my life, I have misunderstood the Bible and ultimately failed many times in my attempts to honor God. But God knew my heart, was always with me and was teaching me along the way. As a child, God had pulled me out of the valley of depression. Even that was a walk in the park compared to when I was struggling so much to make my marriage work to the point that it affected my health. However, that “walk in the park” with depression helped me to hold on to faith that God was with me even when nothing else made sense. At some point God instilled in me a persistence that even if I go down, I will go down trying. I kept trying to find new ways to apply what I did know, even if it didn’t work the last hundred times. At the time, I thought I was “desperate” enough to make some crazy moves, like moving to Texas to save our family life. Looking back, I can readjust my perspective to see that I had a determined faith that God is good and that God is with me and I trusted that completely.
No matter how scary things seem, we can remember that we can choose to trust God and follow Him. Hold fast to your faith, especially when it doesn’t make sense. It’s easy to say “Dare to dream big! Step out in faith” and not mean it because your insides are churning for fear of the unknown. But it’s another thing to recognize that trusting your gut has only resulted in increased anxiety. You can acknowledge that nothing you’ve tried has worked, but at least to be trying is better than to give up. When there is no one to support or understand you, you need to stand on your faith and hype yourself up like David did:
“I will life up my eyes to the hills – from whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth (Psalms 121: 1-2 NKJV).”
“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me (Psalms 23: 1,2,4 NKJV).”
When there are so many promises in the Bible about how Jesus-followers are more than conquerors, I dare you to put up a fight and not settle for barely making it. Don’t get used to bad just because you know how to predict it and how to deal with it! Surrender yourself to God and allow the Holy Spirit to start teaching you. Sometimes God will speak to you through a friend, podcast, YouTube sermon, song or blog. Sometimes God will speak to you in your own voice and yes, you do feel like you’re going crazy! I thought I was crazy for arguing with myself until I finally realized it was God the whole time! It will take some trial-and-error to learn which is God and which is you. That’s ok, keep trying. It doesn’t matter how many times you fail, keep trying. When you feel discouraged, work harder on your pep talks! If you keep trying and keep seeking God honestly, God will show up. And He will show up in whatever way is BIG for you. For me, He put people strategically in my life to get me back to New York. Once I was back in New York, He planted people into my life who would speak life and wisdom into me and confirm His message and promises to me. He has blessed me with friendships deeper and more honest than I have ever had in my entire life.
How will God show up for you? In Matthew 7: 7 (ERV), Jesus teaches us to “Continue to ask, and God will give to you. Continue to search, and you will find. Continue to knock, and the door will open for you.” My past failures showed me that I had nothing more to lose and everything to potentially gain by trying again. They showed me that if God caught me every time I fell, then of course He would help me climb out of the pit of despair – He wouldn’t catch me just to leave me there!
Regardless of what people in your life tell you or say about you, regardless of how many times you fail or are misunderstood, keep seeking God and trying and He will achieve something great inside of you.