“Allowing us to fail is not a punishment from God, but a part of God's process for shaping who we are.”

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus from his book, Chasing Daylight: Seize the Power of Every Moment (Kindle Location 1500). Kindle Edition.

That thought can be a tough one to deal with. I mean in the America way, failure is failure. It means you failed at what you were doing and there is no good in that but from a God perspective failure is a tool.

Now to be honest, this is a hard one for me. I still have some failures that hit me at my self-worth and that can be a problem, the focus on self, on self-worth. Now God is interested in my worth but He is more interested in my character. He wants my worth to come from Him and what He has done for me and through me but this self-stuff can get in the way. That’s where His working on my character comes in and His using of failure.

Now that puts failure on a positive plain instead of a negative one. And that is a choice. Do I get better or bitter? If I think it is a punishment I don’t learn the lessons and grow but I get defeated and discouraged. But if I choose to see it as a part of God’s process to shape me then it will have a positive impact on me not negative. But that is not a natural response and that take God’s strengthening our mind and emotions. That is living life to its fullest.

So how do you handle failure?

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