It is easy to give up when we don't see what we want happen in our lives. We just want to chuck the whole business and crawl in a hole somewhere. I have had this happen to me at times. It is much easier to give up than it is to get up one more time and keep going despite what you are feeling.
Moses, in the book of Exodus in the Bible, had this problem. God wanted Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and confront Pharoah about what was going to happen. Moses tried several excuses to get out of doing it, but God had his mind made up about who he wanted to accomplish this feat.
We miss out on a blessing when this happens. We think up an excuse and say we can't go on, and we miss out on the blessing of doing something worthwhile that would really enrich our life:
"Failure is not fatal.
Failure should be our teacher, nor our undertaker.
It should challenge us to new heights of accomplishments,
not pull us to new depths of despair.
From honest failure can come valuable experience".
~William Arthur Ward~
Think of all the inventors in history who probably wanted to give up when their inventions didn't work when they should have. We would not have a lot of the conveniences we enjoy today if failure had its way with these people. Think back in your own life at what you might have missed if you had not kept going when circumstances and maybe people around you were telling you to quit in your tracks? Here is another way to think about failure:
The Barrier
by Dan Langerock
A mountain stream in frothy frenzy
Will not allow a stone to block its way;
Instead will seek to go around the wall,
And carve another path on which to play.
What kind of example will we be if we give in to failure? Will those who are watching our lives, grandchildren, children and others, say we were overcomers or its opposite? Is there a pattern of giving up when things get tough in your life? I had this problem in the mid-nineties as well as before my epilepsy was subdued. I had to set my mind to keep going no matter what others said or did, or would never have what I do today--a good life, a wife and daughter and blessings galore. But I had to change my mind about myself and let God work in my life to make these things happen.
Are you afraid of failure? Have you suffered a stroke or other illness? Are you comparing yourself to others, and thereby choosing not to use the gifts God has given into your life? Sometimes it hurts to keep going despite the odds, but the alternative is even worse. If we allow failure to get the best of us, we can slip deeper and deeper into depression and pain of many kinds. There are other kinds of pain besides physical pain. And failure can become a pain in our life if we allow it to monopolize our thinking and keep us from attempting anything worthwhile. Don't let failure rob your life of meaning. It will if you let it.
Remember that God loves you deeply and wants you to come to Him with your problems and failures so he can make a beautiful life for you from the shards of broken pieces. Only He can do this for us with our consent. He will never force you to come close to Him but He always wants you to be close. God has done this in my life and He will also do it for yours, but you must make the commitment that will let that happen. He loves you!!
If you died today, are you absolutely certain that you would go to heaven? You can be! TRUST JESUS NOW
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