At one time or another we all go through difficult, disappointing, and challenging times. Times that try our faith and patience. None of us are immune to the tough times life brings our way.
We shouldn't be surprised when adversity knocks on our door, but I can honestly say (with conviction) when trouble shows up in my life I usually am caught off guard and surprised by it. I shouldn't be but most of the time I am. After all, Jesus taught us, "In this world you shall have tribulation (another word for trouble and adversity) but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world."
Yes, we but all face difficult, unexpected, tough, and disappointing times in life, however, I have learned (and am still learning) that it's not what happens that matters, it's how we respond.
How do you respond when facing adversity? Do you become bitter or better? Do you become soft or hard? Do you tuck tail and run? Do you give up or keep trying? Or, do you use your faith and positive action to change the circumstances?
You Are Not a Failure...Unless You Believe You Are
Motivational speaker and author Van Crouch says, “You’re not finished when you’re defeated, you’re finished when you quit.” Winners in life understand that failing is part of success. You can’t know victory if you don’t have a battle. There is nothing like the joy of something good happening for you like you do after you've experienced something negative.
The truth is “Bad things happen to good people.” Jesus once said, “In this world you shall have tribulation.” (John 16:33) In other words, you are going to have some bumps on the road to success. Things aren't always going to be rosy. People that see themselves as winners simply pick themselves up after a setback and move on. If you have a dream, and you are actively pursuing it, you are going to fall short from time to time. It’s not what happens to you that is most important; it’s what happens in you!
Failure is not an event, it is an opinion. You are not a failure until you say you are. Every time you fail you simply learn how not to do something! We learn a lot from trial and error. Jay Leno, host of the Tonight Show, spends his Sunday evenings going to comedy clubs and practicing his jokes for upcoming monologues. Some go over well and some bomb. But he is not deterred. Just because a joke fails doesn't mean he is a failure. He learns from his mistakes and continues to hone his craft. The result is success when he performs his monologue on a nightly basis.
Winners are not people that never get knocked down; they are people who refuse to stay down. There is something in the heart of a champion that won’t let them give up regardless of what they are going through. We've all witnessed it watching sporting events. Just when you think there is no way a team or an individual has a chance to win, they find a way to win anyways. They understand that they aren't finished as long as they don’t quit. Failure is not in the falling down but in the giving up!
Two of my favorite people from history are Thomas Edison and Abraham Lincoln. It is reported that Thomas Edison did 10,000 experiments before he found a filament for the light bulb. Someone once said to him, “so you've failed 10,000 times.” His response, “No I found 10,000 things that didn't work!” Abraham Lincoln failed at business and numerous forays into the political arena before he was elected the sixteenth President of the United States of America. He goes down as perhaps the greatest or at least one of the greatest Presidents of all time. The common denominator between both of these great men of history is they never viewed themselves as failures.
Here are some questions to ponder in your pursuit of accomplishment.
- How do you see yourself?
- Do you see yourself as a success or a failure?
- What do you do when what you are attempting doesn't seem to be working?
- Do you give up and quit?
- Or, do you get up and find a way to do it anyways?
You are not a failure!
10 Things I've Learned About Turning Pain Into Power for Purpose
Life isn't always easy. One of the biggest lies we tell ourselves, when faced with the uncertainties and difficulties of life, is there must be something wrong with me.
Think about this:
Jesus said, "It rains on the just and the unjust alike." (Matthew 5:45)
King David wrote, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous."(Psalm 34:19)
Job declared, "Man's days are short and full of trouble." (Job 14:11)
Short of heaven, there is no such thing as a life without challenges and problems.
However, that doesn't mean we are supposed to give up on life and not pursue turnarounds and breakthroughs and accomplishments in our lives.
Like everyone else I have ever met, my story is one of much sorrow, pain, brokenness, setbacks, and struggle. While our challenges may be different, the fact is we all struggle.
I heard something years ago that has really helped me during times when it seems as though everything in my world has fallen apart. "Struggle is the sign you haven't yet been conquored." (Mike Murdock) This has been one of the biggest reasons I have never quit.
Just because you are struggling it doesn't mean you are finished. Failure and struggle are events not a person. You are not defeated and you are not a failure until you say you are.
If any one understood this truth, it was the Apostle Paul. When you read his story you find that it was one filled with much adversity, trouble and struggles. Yet he demonstrated the attitude that carried him through all these things, when he penned the words, "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." (Romans 8:37)
King David wrote, "Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning!"
A few days ago I was reflecting on my life and the thought went through my mind, "I am really a broken person." Followed by a laundry list of supporting facts. Such as:
Divorce
Financial setbacks
Broken and unfulfilled dreams
Health issues
A ministry on the shelf
Loss of friendships
The death of my son
To be honest, as I sat thinking about these things, I started having a pity party. I said things like, "No body cares about what I've been through, No one understands my pain, I am a failure, and so on." And then something happened in my mind. I began to remind myself of all the victories, breakthroughs, and accomplisments I have experienced. When I did my whole attitude changed. I went from pity to praise.
Sometimes, when everything is going wrong, and you feel as though you are finished, you have to do what David did before he faced Goliath. He recounted and remembered all of the times when he had faced seeminly impossible situations and God had given him the victory. This gave him the inspiration and courage to face the biggest challenge of his young life. When he did God showed himself strong on his behalf and the giant was defeated.
If we aren't careful we tend to focus so much on our trials that we forget all of our triumphs.
Yes you will have difficulties in life, but always remember, regardless of what you are facing, God always causes us to triumph! (2 Corinthians 2:14)
Just because you are going through difficult times it doesn't mean there is something wrong with you. It simply means that you are alive.
So what do you do when you are facing difficulties? You keep on keeping on. You keep on believing. You keep on fighting. You refuse to quit and give up.
I really believe that God can and wants to your turn your pain into power for purpose.
You can take what you've been through, the lessons you've learned, and how you have survived and overcame them, and use it as a message of hope and encouragement to others faced with seemingly impossible situations. Like the old preacher said, "God will turn your tests into testimonies, and your messes into messages!
My wife taught me something several years ago that I have never forgotten. She said that everything I had been through was nothing more than a classroom. She taught me how to reframe my setbacks and see them from a new perspective. I learned how to draw out the lessons I had learned, because of the difficulties I had faced in life, and apply them to my life and share them with others facing similar things.
We are able to comfort, encourage, and help others going through difficulties because we ourselves have been comforted, encouraged, and helped when facing the difficulties of life.
Most people are hiding behind a mask. Apprearing to others as though they have it all together. Yet on the inside they are frustrated, tormented, and discouraged. Their fear of rejection and not being accepted by others has led them to a life of faking it instead of being authentic.
I have learned, faking it doesn't work, at least not long-term. But, when you learn to let your guard down, get real with yourself, and stop trying to be perfect, you find the faith, power, and wisdom, needed to not just survive the struggles of life but to thrive in the midst of them.
Here are 10 things I've learned about turning your pain into power for purpose:
1. I am not the only one that has gone through or is going through the difficulties I am going through. (1 Corinthians 10:13)
2. Others have faced similar circumstances, and by faith, have overcome them, so I can as well. (Read Hebrews 11)
3. My attitude and mindset when facing painful circumstances determines my outcome. (Proverbs 23:7,Mark 9:23)
4. What I make happen for others, by helping them in their times of struggle, God will make happen for me. (Ephesians 6:8)
5. This too shall pass, I will get through this. (Psalm 30:5)
6. God is for me not against me. (Romans 8:31)
7. God bring others into my life in my darkest moments to assist or minister to me.
8. If I learn the lessons struggle teaches me I can teach those lessons to others and either help them avoid the same struggles or how to overcome them. (2 Corinthians 1:3,4)
9. My pain has become power for fulfilling mu life purpose as I have shared my story and the lessons I have learned with others facing similar situations as I faced.
10. God always turns every situation into triumph if I keep my faith strong and my attitude right. (2 Corinthians 2:14)
Questions for today: What are you doing today to turn your pain into power for purpose? or What personal pain have your turned into power for purpose? Comment below!
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