God Kept Me Smiling

I don't want to lose this second not sharing this to you.
Today was been a pale day for me but the the moment I have read the book written by Maxwell, I've smiled a lot. God reminds me to smile and to have a break while I'm too busy with my assignments. I thank you Lord for giving me the strength that I do need to finish all those things.

Successful Failure
by John C. Maxwell

In our lifetime most of us have had a variety of experiences that would be classified as failures. The frustration, hurt, or disappointment that we sense when our goals are not met is a feeling common to all of us. Perhaps it's the feelings about failure that cause many to begin to fear failure. Maybe our dread of failure is final. There are times when apparent failure is not failure at all if we remember the principles that turn failure into success.

1. An experience is not a failure it it prods us to keep on trying.
The line between failure and success is so fine that we scarcely know when we pass it. In fact, we're often on that line and don't realize it. Many a person has thrown us his or her hands at a time when, with a little more effort and patience, he or she would have achieved success. As the tide goes clear out--so it comes clear in. There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no failure except from within. There is no insurmountable barrier until we give up on our purpose.

Booker T. Washington said, "Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed." Each person in life lives in one of two worlds. There is the crowded world of the defeated, who quit--and the roomy world of the succeeders, who persist.

One of the basic principle of the Christian faith is that God doesn't get discouraged, and therefore neither should we. Many of the setbacks originally designed to finish lus off can, if properly used, be the very things that bring us out on the top.

I love the story of the mule who fell into an old dry well many feet deep. All efforts to rescue him were fruitless. Finally, the owner of the mule, supposing that the poor creature was severely injured by the fall, decided it would be more merciful to kill him than allow him to starve to death. Unable to think of a better way of dispatching him, he had a truckload of dirt thrown in onto him. Instead of allowing himself to be buried alive, the mule quickly shook off the dirt and pressed it down with his feet, thus raising himself a few inches above his original position. Another load was thrown into the well with the same result.

Slowly but surely, inch by inch, the mule ascended until the well was filled within a few feet of the top. Then as complacently as if nothing strange had happened to him, the mule stepped out on firm, safe ground. It may offend a few people to look at a mule for a lesson in living. But some people have never learned what that mule already knew--that the very setback originally designed to finish a person off, when properly used, can become the thing that brings him or her out on top.

2. An experience is not a failure if through it we discover how we failed and we put that knowledge to good use. The greatest mistake we ever make is not learning from and correcting the first one.

3. An experience is not a failure if through it we discover our own true selves.
... and if because of failure a person finally discovers where and how his or her talents can best be used for God, the failure must surely be regarded a success.

4. An experience is not a failure if through it we become better-disciplined individuals.
... great men have had failure struggle, and discipline woven into their lives. If our experiences in life, however bitter or unfortunate, mellow our hearts, humble our spirits, purify our motives, cleanse our soul, and make us more sensitive to proper values and more sympathetic toward the unfortunate, then we will have succeeded.

In summary, if we use our so-called failures as instruments to discipline our inner spirits, they are not really failures, but successes!


Think On These Things
Copyright© John C. Maxwell

I'm recharged again. Thank you dear Lord for providing the strength and wisdom to me. May you always be glorified in everything that I will do.

“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

--Colossians 3:17

I love you so much Lord ^_^