Every person on the planet has experienced failure, but just because you fail doesn’t mean you are a failure. If there is one thing I want you to understand about failure it’s that failure is never final. Failure is delay, not defeat—a detour, not a dead end. You are made to rise above failure and to be successful.
I like the way Paul J. Meyer, a businessman who went on to make millions, says this: “Ninety percent of all those who fail are not defeated. They simply quit.”
A dear friend of mine, Penny, could not have been happier when she and her husband began to pastor a great church in Texas. In high school, she was the popular cheerleader who everyone loved. She brought the same enthusiasm into their newfound church. In her mind, she was a part of God’s big party every Sunday, and all of her friends were coming. Why not? Life was intended to be celebrated, and life couldn’t have been better.
Then things changed. Longtime friends left the church for no apparent reason. Penny felt rejected and forsaken. She tried reasoning with them, but to no avail. She began to wrestle with thoughts of failure, guilt, and regret: Maybe I did something wrong. Maybe I’m not capable of undertaking such a task.
She resigned herself to negative, untrue thoughts and found herself in bed, so depressed that she was unable to get up in the morning. She went from jumping out of bed on Sundays, excited to encourage and cheer her congregation, to having her mother prod her to dress and then drive her to church.
Symptoms of sickness began to overwhelm Penny’s body, though the doctors could find nothing wrong with her. This went on for a year until one day Penny decided that “enough is enough.” She became intentional to choose that she was not a failure and that just because a few friends walked out on her did not change the original plan God had for her life.
Penny might have stayed in bed, but day after day she chose to believe she was not made to fail but to fly, to soar, toward her destiny. Today Penny and her husband are living in that destiny. They lead a growing church in the middle of two inner-city apartment complexes in Angleton, Texas, and they are making a difference for people who need hope.
I believe that you have that same get-up-and-at-’em spirit as Penny, that you are not a quitter. The very fact that you are reading this book and interested in more in life is a sign that you want to be better tomorrow than you are today. With that spirit, you will never fail and God will get you where he means you to be.
Excerpt from You Are Made For More!
