Failure Is Not Fatal

There is not one person who has a life of only success. Failure is inevitable and there is no way to avoid it unless you don’t take a chance to succeed.

With the release of my new devotional I have been thinking a lot about success and failure. What if people read it and don’t like it? What if only 5 people purchase it? Those are thoughts have crossed my mind and have come out of my mouth. But, like Winston Churchill said “Failure is not fatal.”

What if people read it and they end up really liking it?
What if more people than I could imagine purchase it?
What if I hear testimonies from people who start to see God move in their life?

While all of that is wonderful- it does not define who I am. If one person reads it and their walk with Jesus is changed for the better- then it is all worth it.

Why do we let fear of failure stop us? You will never be able to live the deepest dreams of your heart unless you stop fearing failure.

You apply for a job promotion, three times, and all three times you were passed up.
You find a dream job but the pay is different and the location requires a move, and you don’t like change.
You have an idea and everyone you tell laughs in your face and says your idea is silly.

If you don’t get the job promotion, what in your life has changed? Nothing.
If you move for the new job, end up hating it and you move back home, what has changed? Nothing.
If you have an idea and everyone laughs at it, what has changed? Nothing.

But,

What if the fourth time you do get the job promotion?
What if you do make the move and end up loving your new life?
What if you keep telling your idea to everyone then, someone finally gets it?

What changes? EVERYTHING

We are so worried about the nothing that we miss the possibility of everything.

At the end of the day, if you try really hard and fail… who cares? No one cares about your failure more than you. Eventually, you will walk in success. It may look different than you originally pictured, the path to it was a whole lot bumpier and longer than you imagined, but it will all be worth it.

If you want to open your own business- do it.
If you feel you are too old to go back to school for your dream job- do it anyways.
If you want to move across country for a new adventure- just do it.

Do it. Do it. Do it.

Who cares if your business go bankrupt.
Who cares if you are older than all of your classmates by 20 years.
Who cares if you leave everything you have ever known, including family.

You have one life. One life to try whatever you can, and do whatever God calls you to do. So, just do it. Cry when it gets hard and jump up and down on the bed when your “big break” comes. Be obedient to what God calls you to do. Accept the calling, put yourself out there, and walk in obedience.

I am taking a writing course and one of the first lessons we are taught is, “To be a writer you have to do two things: 1. Write and 2. Call yourself a writer.”

So whatever it is that you want to do where the risk seems high, I got two pieces of advice:

1. Do “it”
2. Identify yourself with “it”

What I sold on the first day of my devotional release was more than what I thought I would sell period. But, even if I do not sell one more copy- it doesn’t matter. I am a writer because I write. I am an author because I published a devotional. I am walking in obedience and nothing else matters, even if it “fails.”

Failure is not the end of you. You will not cease to exist just because you failed. Your Success does not define who you are as a person, Jesus does. Because when you do fail- your worth is in Him and when you do succeed- your worth is still in Him. When there is a door of possible opportunities just open it.