Failing Forward

In 1978, a 5’10” kid was cut from his high school varsity basketball team in Wilmington, North Carolina. He went home, locked himself in his room, and cried. He picked himself up and joined the junior varsity team. That year, he grew four inches, put up multiple 40-point games and attracted crowds that were unprecedented for junior varsity games. He went on to play in the NBA, and six championships and five MVPs later, Michael Jordan became the greatest basketball player of all time.

He said this: “I have missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions, I have been entrusted to take the game-winning shot and I missed. I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

See, sometimes success looks like failing. On the road to success there will be many times that we fail, but it’s what we do when we fail that determines if ultimately we will succeed. 

We cannot let the fear of failure stop us from pursuing the call of God on our lives and the dreams that He has placed in our hearts. In order to step out and pursue our dreams, there is an element of risk that we must take, but taking risks in the kingdom doesn’t have to be daunting or overwhelming because we know that if we fall, we have a good, good Father that is there to catch us!

We must learn to trust God in every area of our lives and lean upon Him and not our own understanding. Risks are easy to take when you fully trust the outcome to God. Risk and trust go hand in hand.

Proverbs 24:16 in The Passion Translation says: 

“For the lovers of God may suffer adversity and stumble seven times, but they will continue to rise over and over again. But the unrighteous are brought down by just one calamity and will never be able to rise again.”

It even states in the Word that if we love God when we stumble, we will continue to rise over and over again. In the same vein, it says it is the unrighteous who when they stumble do not rise again. We can have hope that as lovers of God He will give us strength to rise time and time again if we fail. 

Fear of failure will never overcome the disappointment of regret.

Failure is meant to propel us forward through lessons learned — not become our destination. We need to learn from our mistakes, pick ourselves back up, and try again. God will give us wisdom in the process and encouragement for the journey. He never intended for failure to be a place where we set up camp and live in. 

I love this quote from Elbert Hubbard: “There is no failing except not trying.”

I want to encourage you to step out and move toward the calling of God on your life and the dreams that He has placed in your heart. Let us trust in our heavenly Father as we continue to take ground for His kingdom to be established here on earth. If you fail, you WILL rise again, better, wiser, and stronger than ever. Don’t let fear overwhelm or paralyze you! You have what it takes to succeed because you have the Holy Spirit on your side!