Hey there. I’m glad you’re here to wrap up this week with me.
Confession time: I’ve failed a lot.
I’ve failed at keeping my kitchen clean.
I’ve failed at forgiving people.
I’ve failed at keeping my anxiety under control.
I’ve failed at loving myself.
I’ve failed as a friend.
I’ve failed as a mother.
I have failed. Consistently. Countless times. And this isn’t the end of my list. It’s hardly the beginning. Just looking at the list makes me feel like giving up all over again.
I know in my heart what God has told me about who I am, but sometimes my thoughts remind me of those past mistakes, and I become my own worst enemy. So how do we let truth guide us and get past feeling like a disaster so we can allow God to use us?
First, we remind ourselves of what Wendy Pope says on page 65 of Hidden Potential:
“Our failure is not more powerful than our God.”
We also remember and watch for what Wendy teaches on page 71:
“There is something God wants us to know, and a place He wants us to go, where only a failure can take us.”
We see this played out in the life of Moses. Trying to escape a failure, he ran to Midian, but God had something different in mind. There was something He wanted Moses to know, plans He needed to share. So God met Moses in Midian in the middle of his failure, and that meeting changed everything. (Exodus 2:11-3:4)
God will meet us in our “Midian” too. Wherever our hiding place is (the beach, our front porch, our BFF’s couch or binging on Netflix), God knows and He will find us, because there are things only He can share with us and potential only He can reveal. (Isaiah 55:8)
When God meets us in “our Midian,” we:
- Gain perspective.
- Learn more about Him.
- Feel our hurting hearts being healed.
- Hear from Him about His plans for us, even in our failures.
God’s not finished with us, which means I’m not a failure, and neither are you! No matter how far we fall, or how many times we fail, we can’t ruin God’s plans for our lives.
When we meet God in the midst of failure, our failure is never final. Our faith grows through it and we learn to rely on Him. It might not be comfortable to sort through the mess, but as we allow God to join us, we change. And that’s when we begin to see what He can do through us.
Alicia
Let’s Chat!
How has God grown your faith through a failure?
For Your Weekend:
We have a treat for you! You know the section at the end of this week's Hidden Potential chapter titled "Possibility Profile: Sharon"? Well, author Wendy Pope recorded an audio conversation with Sharon about her story, and we have it for you to listen to! In fact, we'll have an audio conversation for you every Friday (weeks 2-5) that highlights that week's Possibility Profile in the book. You'll want to set aside about 20 minutes to listen to this one. What better way to wrap up our week? (Thank you, Wendy and Sharon!)
LISTEN
Here is the transcript for the audio conversation if you need it!