Finding Fullness on the Other Side of Failure

By far the most heartbreaking thing for me in trying to help my daughter overcome her anxiety, anorexia, and addiction was the mental anguish I know it caused her. In one statement, it all beat her down. One of the people Lauren could always share her deepest vulnerabilities with is her mom. Her mom was the one she leaned on when everything was failing inside. Lala, would often share with her mom how broken she was because of all her mental health issues and addiction, especially the heroin addiction, had done to her. In trouble with the law, experiencing physical problems as well as emotional. She would often speak regretfully of how all of it affected her appearance. She would complain regretfully to her mom about her complexion and many time say “Even my hair is like straw now”. In those moments Nereida, Lala’s mom, would try to encourage and simply love her. To realize that deep down in her being she felt like a loser, it crushed me. SHE NEVER WAS!

Can I ask you today, no, beg you today, DON’T QUIT, don’t lose hope, there can be a brighter tomorrow.

I want to talk today about five ancient people who found fullness on the other side of miserable failure.

The first is Joseph, Joseph had a dream, don’t we all. I mean don’t we all start out with bright visions and hope of all life can be. When I look at little kids I always see that spark of hope and vision in them, but often life squeezes it out. Joseph’s mistake was that he shared the dream too early, and maybe with the wrong people. In the end, those people, well some of them, did everything they could to crush the dream. He was trafficked and sold into slavery. He found an opportunity to get out of his situation but he was falsely accused of rape and ended up in jail. In jail, he met someone that could help him and promised they would. Once out of jail they forgot their promise. Joseph stayed in jail.

The second person is a guy named Job (Jobb). Job had everything together. He had everything anyone could want. He lived like a modern-day rock star, and one day it all disappeared. Everything came crashing down. He lost his wealth, people he loved died, he even lost his marriage, all he had left was a shred of his own life and that wasn’t good either, because he lost his health too. What Job never knew was there were forces in play causing this that really had nothing to do with him. The world can be like that sometimes, we are hurt because of nothing we did.

Then there is a guy named Moses. Moses had some real identity issues. He felt he could never be what he was supposed to be because he had done some really bad things in his past. In his mind he’d blown it and he deserved to be just where he was.

The fourth person is named Gideon. Gideon felt inadequate, he was afraid, he was hiding from his problems just trying to escape. He felt he just did not have the right stuff to rise to the occasion. A lot of us can feel that way, we think we are just not good enough.

The last person is a failure, he messed up royally. No way to hide it, no excuse to cover it up. He just out and out failed. His name was Peter and he denied the best three years of his life and the person that meant the most to him. He through this trusted and caring friend under the bus. He failed!

Which one are you? Or, are you a bit of all of them like many of us are?

The thing that all these people have in common is they never gave up, they held tightly to what they knew “could be” in spite of their shortcomings. And in the end, they all experienced a life they never thought they could.

Can I beg you again, DON’T QUIT? Please don’t give up – you can get well – you can have a different life. You can make it!

This week’s featured image is by Brooke Shaden. I am not aware of the title but in Brooke’s comments on her Instagram page, she said this. “Darkness may surround you but the key we search for is found within.”

You can read more about the five people I mention, in this article called “5 Bible Characters Who Were Successful After Miserable Failure”

If you want to learn more about the people I mentioned check out these links: