“EVEN IF GOOD PEOPLE FALL SEVEN TIMES, THEY WILL GET BACK UP”! (Proverbs 24:16 CEV)
Listen: In school, Napoleon was FORTY-SECOND in a class of FORTY-THREE, YET he went on to build an army that Conquered Much of the World!
George Washington Lost TWO-THIRDS of His Military Battles, YET against Overwhelming Odds He Won the Revolutionary War and Changed American History!
Albert Einstein was such a SLOW LEARNER that it was suggested he Switch Studies from Physics to Some Other Topic, YET He’s Considered the Father of the Atomic Age!
Funny thing is, when you recall these names, You Don’t Remember Their Failures, BUT Their Successful Contributions to the World!
Keep This In Mind: “Only When You Consider Your Failure to be Final, Are You Finally a Failure!” (Dr.SYS) Failure is Not an Event, Only an Opinion, and as long as it’s NOT Your Opinion, You Can Always Make a Come-Back and Succeed! “Even if good people fall seven times, They WILL Get Back Up”! (Proverbs 24:16 CEV).
In his inaugural address Franklin Roosevelt told the nation: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” Understand that Failure is Not Fatal; You Can Begin Again! However, the Fear of Failure Could Prove Fatal to Your Goals By Keeping You From Ever Trying Again!
After cataloging every possible scenario that could come against us, such as tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, and sword, Paul writes: “Yet In All These Things We Are More Than Conquerors Through Him Who Loved Us” (Romans 8:37 NKJV). Another translation says it like this: “No, DESPITE all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us” (NLT). That word “Despite” means “In Spite Of”! So the Word for You Today Is—DON’T BE AFRAID OF FAILURE! Why? Because IN SPITE OF Your Frustrations, Mistakes, Wrong Turns, And Huge Failures, God’s Word Still Holds True: “…DESPITE ALL THESE THINGS, OVERWHELMING VICTORY IS OURS THROUGH CHRIST…”!
Did you know that star baseball players Only hit the ball about three out of every ten times! Which makes you wonder how do they live with such a high failure rate? I’ll tell you…By Focusing On the Law of Averages! They know that If They Keeping Swinging the Bat, They’ll Get On Base! Today, that’s all I’m challenging you to do, “Keeping Swinging”! You’ll Hit the Ball Out the Park Sooner or Later!
In 1952 Roger Bannister ran in the Olympics and finished in fourth place, failing to win any kind of medal. BUT He Refused To Quit! Up until this time many experts considered it humanly impossible to run the mile in under four minutes. YET that was Bannister’s goal! And on May 6, 1954, He Became the First Man to Do It! Today, runners do it regularly! So, what’s the point? If You Refuse to Quit When You Fail, You’ll Ultimately Succeed! You Just Have to Be Willing to Get Back Up and Keep Moving Forward! So, No Matter How Many Times You Trip and Fall, Get Back Up, Keep Running and Stay In the Race! You May Very Well Be the Next History Maker!
In 1832 Abraham Lincoln was Defeated for the State Legislature. In 1833 he Failed in business. In 1835 his sweetheart Died. In 1836 he had a Nervous Breakdown. In 1838 he was Defeated for Illinois House Speaker. In 1843 he was Defeated for nomination to Congress. In 1854 he was Defeated for the U.S. Senate. In 1856 he was Defeated for nomination for Vice President. In 1858 he was Defeated Again in a U.S. Senate race. BUT TODAY HE IS CONSIDERED ONE OF AMERICA’S GREATEST PRESIDENTS! A Wise Man Concluded: “It’s a mistake to suppose that people succeed only through success; they often succeed through failures!” And You’re Not Defeated Until the Past Takes Your Focus Off the Future! SO DON’T BE AFRAID OF FAILURE! Whether you become the President of the United States, the President of a Company, the President of a Church Auxiliary, the President of your Neighborhood Watch or the President of your Book Club, You Can Still Become It, Even After Multiple Failures! Just ask Honest Abe! He’ll tell you the Truth!
Multiple Failures Often Lead To Multiple Successes!
The Psalmist wrote: “BEFORE I WAS AFFLICTED I went astray, BUT NOW I keep Your Word” (Psalm 119:67 NKJV). By doing it the Wrong Way, the Psalmist Eventually Learned To Do It The Right Way! The Truth Is, When You Fail In One Area, It Can Drive You To Explore Other Areas! You see, Most of Life’s Successes are Based On the Principle of Trial and Error! Often Failure Is Not Falling Short of Your Goal, It’s Simply Not Making the Effort! Failure Can Actually Help You Discover Your Area of Success! For example, when you hate your job you will likely fail in it! Yet it’s in losing that hated position that you may be pressed to pursue what you really like to do, and even better, what you are actually called to do! Think about it: The Psalmist Got It Right Only AFTER Getting It Wrong! Likewise, Your Failure May Be the U-Turn You Needed To Drive You Straight to Success!
Another Benefit of Failure is that It Makes You Less Judgmental of Others! When You’ve Experienced Failure You Become More Sympathetic! Instead of Pointing an Accusing Finger, You See the Need to Extend a Helping Hand! Instead of saying Foolish things like, “I can’t believe you did that,” You Remember the Pit God Dug You Out of and Say With Gratitude and Humility, “Been there, done that, got the t-shirt to prove it”! You Know How it Hurts to Fail, and You Feel Their Pain Because of What You’ve Been Through Yourself! This Makes You a Better Friend, a Better Worker, a Better Mentor, a Better Spouse, a Better Parent, a Better Leader, a Better Believer, and a Better Example of Grace!
Jesus told Peter: “…Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:31-32 NKJV). An even better translation says: “…WHEN YOU HAVE COME THROUGH THE TIME OF TESTING, TURN TO YOUR COMPANIONS AND GIVE THEM A FRESH START” (MSG). Point: Don’t Think It’s Over Just Because You’ve Come Out! It’s Not Over Until You’ve Went Back For Your Brethren To Bring Them Out Too! Remember Your Hurt, Then Remember To Help!
Solomon writes: “Without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest” (Proverbs 14:4 NLT). If You Insist On Always Having a Nice Neat Stall, You’ll Have An Empty Stall! However, If You Want a Big Harvest, You’ll Need a Big Ox With a Big Appetite Who Creates Big Messes!
For example, if you decide to have children you’ll have lots of joy, and Lots of Messes to Clean Up! Within minutes, children can take a house that looks like it belongs in Better Homes and Gardens and make it look like a trial run for the Battle of Armageddon! So you’ve an option: Live By Yourself and Enjoy a Less Complicated Life, or Accept the Problems that Come With Having a Handful of Messy Loved Ones! Because like it or not, life comes with good times and bad; some pretty neat times, and without question some very messy times! And more often than not, the fun is found during the messy times! So don’t complain when life isn’t perfect, this side of Heaven, it never will be! Perspective is Key! You want the “large harvest”, you’ll have to deal with the messy oxen and his stable! You want the wonderful spouse and children, you have to accept that sometimes they will be more stressful than wonderful, and that’s okay! You want success, than you’ll have to deal with the struggles of failure!
Remember: Even in the Dictionary, the words STRIVING and STRUGGLE Come Before the word SUCCESS!
With that said, bear in mind: The People In Your Life Are Not Perfect, And Neither Are You! They’ve Made Some Foolish Decisions that have Caused Them Some Huge Failures! However, It’s Not Over! As Bad As Their Failures May Have Been, Their Failures Are Not Final or Fatal! So Don’t Distance Yourself From Loved Ones Who May Not Be “Getting It” Just Yet! Be Patient, Remember What It Was Like When You Were Walking In Their Shoes! And In Time, When They Finally “Get It” (And They Will) You Will Enjoy Being Surrounded By a “Stable Full of Messy Oxen Folks Who Will Bring a Huge Harvest To Your Life”! Even Family Battles Failures! Before the word “SUCCESS”, Words Like “Family, Failure, & Foolishness” All Come First! And It Will Often Be That Way With You and Yours Too! However, You Cannot Change DNA or Flush Out Blood Lines! Those “Nuts” Will Not “Fall Off Your Family Tree” No Matter How Hard You Try to Shake ‘Em! Believe Me…I’ve Tried! :-) They Will Stay There, Remain There and There’s Absolutely Nothing You Can Do About It! So You Might As Well, Help Them Get Better! :-)
Dr. John Maxwell says, “At some point you have to make a transition from believer of the dream, to buyer of the dream. No dream comes true without somebody paying for it. And part of the price you will have to pay is learning from the mistakes you make. You can attend every success seminar, read every success manual and follow every success mentor, but the price must always be paid in messes and mistakes. There isn’t a single person in the world who has achieved anything without paying a price for it. Some pay with their lives or their freedom. Others pay by giving up options or finances or relationships. But one way or another, everybody pays!”
It’s Gonna Cost You, But It Will Be Worth It In The End! So Get Back Up and Begin Again!
People of God, Stop Allowing Your Mistakes and Failures to Define You! Instead let them Re-Define You! “Re-Define” simply means “to Give a New or Different Definition to” or “to Reexamine and Reevaluate with a View to Change”. You’ve wasted enough years of your precious life letting your mistakes give you your value, or worse, lessen it! Today is your day to Reevaluate Your Failures! Instead, look at them through the eyes of those who have failed greatly (Napoleon, George Washington, Albert Einstein, Roger Bannister, Abraham Lincoln etc…) and Remember that In Spite of Their Great Failures, They Eventually Succeeded Greatly! They Did It, And So Will You! So No Matter How Bad You Fail, NEVER BE AFRAID OF FAILURE! There Is Success Even In Failure!
Lastly, Take Note of This: MICHAEL JORDAN – After being cut from his high school basketball team, went home and locked himself in his room and cried! THE BEATLES – Were rejected by Decca Recording Studios, who said ‘we don’t like their sound…they have no future in show business!' STEVE JOBS – At 30 years old he was left devastated and depressed after being unceremoniously removed from the company he started! WALT DISNEY – Was fired from a newspaper for ‘lacking imagination’ and ‘having no original ideas!’ OPRAH WINFREY – Was demoted from her job as a news anchor because she ‘wasn’t fit for television!’ ALBERT EINSTEIN – He wasn’t able to speak until he was almost 4 years old and his teachers said he would ‘never amount to much!’
Moral of the Story: DON’T YOU DARE ALLOW A PAST OR PRESENT FAILURE TO CAUSE YOU TO FORFEIT YOUR FUTURE SUCCESS!
“Failure is not falling down, but refusing to get up.” (Chinese Proverb)
“Failure is good as long as it doesn’t become a habit.” (Michael Eisner)
“Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently.” (Henry Ford)
“Courage allows the successful woman to fail and learn powerful lessons, from the failure. So that in the end, she didn’t fail at all.” (Dr. Maya Angelou)
“Failure is not opposite of Success, it’s part of Success.” (Pinterest)
“Failures are part of life. If you don’t fail, you don’t learn. If you don’t learn, you’ll never change.” (Pinterest)
“In order to succeed you must fail, so that you know what NOT to do the next time.” (Anthony D’Angelo)
“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again, that is why I succeed.” (Michael Jordan)
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” (Winston Churchill)
“You try, you fail. You try, you fail. The real failure is when you stop trying.” (Pinterest)
“There is no failure except giving up.” (Becka Schoettle)
“Most great people have attained their greatest success just one step beyond their greatest failure.” (Napoleon Hill)
“Embrace failure. Missteps and roadblocks are inevitable, but are ultimately an opportunity to learn, pivot, and go after your goals with new perspective.” (Jenny Fleiss)
“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” (Thomas A. Edison)
“Failure is an event, not a person. Yesterday ended last night.” (Zig Ziglar)
“Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.” (Pinterest)
“Success is not built on success. It’s built on failure. It’s built on frustration. Sometimes it’s built on catastrophe.” (Sumner Redstone)
“Failure is another stepping stone to greatness.” (Oprah Winfrey)
“I’ve not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” (Thomas A. Edison)
“Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.” (Og Mandino)
“Failure is the Tuition you Pay to Earn Success.” (Walter Brunell)
“Failure is nothing more than postponed success!” (Pinterest)
“Failure is a Bruise not a Tattoo!” (Pinterest)
“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” (Truman Capote)
“Those who have failed miserably are often the first ones to see God’s formula for success.” (Erwin Lutzer)
“She was unstoppable. Not because she did not have failures or doubts. But because she continued on despite them.” (Beau Taplin)
“We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse.” (Rudyard Kipling)
“Failure is nature’s plan to prepare you for great responsibilities.” (Napoleon Hill)
“It is not failure itself that holds you back; it is the fear of failure that paralyzes you.” (Brian Tracy)
“You will always pass failure on your way to success.” (Pinterest)
“Failure is Success if we learn from it.” (Malcolm Forbes)
“Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It’s OK to fail. If you’re not failing, you’re not growing.” (H. Stanley Judd)
“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead-end.” (Denis Waitley)
“Success is going from failure to failure without a loss of enthusiasm.” (Winston Churchill)
“In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.” (Bill Cosby)
“After my spectacular failures, I could not be satisfied with an ordinary success.” (Mason Cooley)
“Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” (Nelson Mandela)
“Failure is a great teacher, and if you are open to it, every mistake has a lesson to offer.” (Oprah)
Much Love, Dr.Shermaine #EnjoyTheRead #BeInspired #BeEncouraged #BeEmpowered #BeChallenged
"It's Not Selfish to Love Yourself, Take Care of Yourself and to Make Your Happiness a Priority. It's a Necessity." (Mandy Hale)
"Self-Care is Not Selfish. You Cannot Serve From an Empty Vessel." (Eleanor Brown)
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