There are times when I just totally blow it… and for days, months or even years I keep replaying the moment of failure over and over in my mind. Like my brain has made some sort of sick recording of my worst moments. Some days it can be hard to break free from those thoughts.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of identifying myself with those mistakes.
To believe that those moments of failure somehow define who I am.
But I’ve learned that I have a choice in the matter. I can continue to allow those thoughts to haunt me, or I can choose to face them head on and learn from them. Every failure or mistake is an opportunity to grow.
God does not want you to live in a place where you feel defined by the mistakes of your past or limited by your failures. His mission is to help you break free from that negative self talk and move forward into freedom. Sure, you’ve made mistakes… we all have. Failure is part of the journey. It’s going to happen… we can’t avoid it. What matters is what you do with it.
That failure doesn’t have to define you if you allow it to refine you.
God can take anything you surrender to him… even your greatest failures and turn them into the greatest catalysts for success in your future and ministry to others. But you have to allow him to do the deep work in your life. To heal those broken areas and bring his truth and love into your heart and mind.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 The Message
“Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first, I didn’t think of it as a gift and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,
My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.”