Failure Is Your New Asset

Failure is not fun. I have experienced disappointment and sometimes embarrassment when I have failed. If you read my biography, you will see that I am a daring person that will try most anything I believe that I can accomplish. Many of these goals have been successful. But there are those that somehow alluded me and I failed.

Women often deal with different types of failure. Here are some:

Failure to meet their parents’ expectations
Failure to obtain a job a man typically has
Failure in marriage
Failure to have children when they want them
Failure in parenting when you do have them
Failure as an entrepreneur
Failure to make a good apple pie
Failure to keep a budget

I know many women who deal with more than one of the failures above. Some failures are due to what others do or don’t do, halting any success. Other times we make mistakes, or kill our success at the start by taking on something that God has not ordained for us.

Whatever your failure, you can find important lessons in the process or in the results. God is redemptive. That means He always (yes, always) provides good for you out of every situation you face, positive or negative. Failing can put you into a position to receive wisdom, instruction, and counsel from God on High. That means as you learn and grow, you can win!

Here are three examples of women in the Bible who failed and then won.

Miriam publicly criticized and accused Moses, but then repented, and was healed. She went on to continue to help lead Israel. God didn’t shut down her leadership because of her short-sighted rebellion. In fact she was buried in honor!

Rahab was a prostitute and ended up helping Israel defeat Jericho. A whore became a hero…only God could do that!

The Samaritan woman had failed at marriage multiple times but ended up saving a city, introducing the citizens to Jesus. They normally would not have listened to a harlot like her, but they saw a difference in her. Out of curiosity, they followed her lead and met their Messiah!

Why didn’t God condemn these three women and look away? Why didn’t Rahab turn the spies into the Jericho officials? Why didn’t God strike Miriam down? Why did the Samaritan woman give Jesus water when he was a Jew, an enemy of Samaria? God saw potential in the women before Him – those He could redeem, creating newness of life for His glory! They were teachable. They didn’t wallow in guilt from their past failings, but rose to meet new challenges and receive a new destiny.

If you still wonder if you can find ultimate success after feeling like a complete failure, these verses should eradicate your misgivings.

Proverbs 24:16 lets us know the difference between a believer’s failure and a non-believer’s failure: “For the righteous falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.”

If you have any doubts about the never getting completely rid of past failure, 2 Corinthians 5:17 promises, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Philippians 3:13 declares, “…But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.” We need to quit focusing on our failure and look to what God wants to do in our life.

Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have for you…plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” This verse should provide more hope than you can ever muster for yourself!

Psalm 73:26 states, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart. and my portion forever.” Put that verse in your back pocket!

Psalm 145:14 says, “The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.” Yes, Almighty God has your back!

Finally, here it comes…the Great Promise! Romans 8:28: “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

God is inviting you, as His beloved daughter, to redeem any failure you have experienced and change your limited perspective. Instead, He wants you to see it from His perspective. He consistently offered redemption to every Bible “hero,” including murderers, thieves, political liars, adulterers, and cheaters. He is limitless with what is available to any woman who says, “My failure is not going to define me forever. My missteps will not control me. My God is the strength of my life, and has redeemed me to be His witness. May it be so, Lord Jesus!”