{"id":35594,"date":"2023-07-28T03:30:46","date_gmt":"2023-07-28T10:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=35594"},"modified":"2023-07-25T21:12:21","modified_gmt":"2023-07-26T04:12:21","slug":"july-28-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2023\/07\/28\/july-28-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"July 28, 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Failures<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u00a0<\/em>“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.\u00a0 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”<\/em>\u00a0Isaiah 55:8,9<\/p>\n

A couple months ago I mentioned to you the passing of George Verwer, the founder of Operation Mobilization.\u00a0George was a friend, and had often written encouraging messages to me during Floyd’s illness.\u00a0He actually wrote me a letter a couple weeks before he passed away.\u00a0Mail is slow here (if we get it at all), and I only got his letter this past week. It blessed me that he was thinking of me in his last days\u2014and, as always, it was a letter of encouragement.<\/p>\n

He enclosed a booklet entitled “Failure, the Back Door to Success.”* In it he shared very vulnerably of how some failures in his life taught him lessons that went on to lead to successes.\u00a0I could completely relate to what he shared. I thought back to some difficult times in our lives, some “failures,”\u00a0and how God used them to shape our character and mature us in our leadership.\u00a0There were definitely successes that came in the years ahead from those painful lessons.<\/p>\n

In fact, I thought about how some lessons I learned during difficult times prepared me for the last nine years.\u00a0I don’t know if I’d have made it through this time if I hadn’t learned those lessons.\u00a0I didn’t particularly like it when I was going through the difficult times and learning the lessons, but I am so, so grateful that I had those lessons “under my belt” to help me in the challenges of these recent years.\u00a0God knew I would need those lessons and graciously took me through the hard times to learn them.<\/p>\n

None of us like going through hard times! We feel the pain and disappointment of our “failures.”\u00a0We want God to “fix” the problem, not teach us lessons.\u00a0But we don’t see how God is using those hard times to stretch us, teach us, and build new foundations in our lives. All these years later I am so grateful that God prepared me for what Floyd and I have gone through in these recent years.<\/p>\n

I’ve mentioned it before, but Paul Billheimer’s book Don’t Waste Your Sorrows<\/em>\u00a0is a profound teaching on this topic. It’s a godly perspective on going through difficulties. I highly recommend it.<\/p>\n

I don’t like failures, whether it’s when I’m cooking or in leadership.\u00a0Failure is disappointing and hard.\u00a0But I’m grateful that God can take the failures, teach us lessons, and use it to bring success in the future.\u00a0He has done that time and time again for us.<\/p>\n

I’d appreciate your prayers. I have a list of things I’m dealing with\u2014home repairs, banking, internet, and insurance issues, and various other things.\u00a0Some are small, but most are big issues. Please pray for wisdom and a few miracles thrown in!\u00a0So grateful for your prayer.<\/p>\n

Lord, You use our failures to make us ready for the next thing that\u2019s coming along. Thank You for Your times of preparation as You look ahead and see what we will need. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n

*”Failure, the Back Door to Success” is taken from:\u00a0Verwer, George. Drops From a Leaking Tap<\/em>. Authentic UK Publishing. 15 August 2009.<\/h6>\n<\/div>
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