Winning and Losing, Failing and Succeeding: How to Overcome Life's Challenges and Accomplish Your Goals

Life is about the journey. It's about winning and losing, failing and succeeding. It's about learning, facing obstacles, overcoming, and accomplishment. It's about doing what God has called you to do.

Life is full of challenges and opportunities. As a disciple of Christ, you have a great advantage. You might experience some setbacks but they won't stop you from accomplishing your goals. Scripture says a righteous man might fall seven times but he will rise up every time (Proverbs 24:16). In other words, the righteous don't quit. They regroup. When they fall they back get up, shake themselves off and go at it again.

Failure is not about lack of success, it's about getting back up. Failure is a tailored opportunity to learn from your mistakes. The wise man makes mistakes but turns those mistakes into opportunities to learn what not to do. This means that failure is temporary. In this life, you will have many opportunities to overcome. Don't be like those that never try to succeed or those that are lazy and use failure as an excuse not to try.

The Bible has many nuggets of wisdom that will help you accomplish the desires of your heart. For example, the Bible says, “All things are possible to those that believe” (Mark 9:23). Another Scripture declares, “This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

Both success and failure are teachers. When you fail, get up, focus, learn, and go again. Remember that failure does more to strengthen you than success. The problem is not falling off your horse but not getting back on the horse.

Two of my flight instructors were killed in a plane crash at the same time. They were both friends and exceptional pilots. After their deaths, I remember fear imparting all kinds of negative thoughts in my mind. I knew it was important to face the fear and go flying. I felt uneasy but went to the airport, fired up the plane, and called the tower for clearance to take off. In the air, the fear disappeared.

You probably heard the story of Thomas Edison the inventor of the light bulb. It was reported that it took him over 1,000 tries before he developed a successful prototype. A reporter asked him how it felt to fail 1,000 times. He responded by saying he didn't fail 1,000 times but the light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps. Edison had a different mindset. He wasn't giving up. He learned from every experiment and we benefit today from his resiliency. Aren't you glad he didn't quit?

Let failure be your teacher. Learn from your mistakes. When you fail to accomplish your goal, when you fall off your horse, get back up and ride again.

 © Your partner,
Apostle Jonas Clark
www.jonasclark.com