Losing to Win

In our path of following Christ, we will experience what we think to be failure.  We can become discouraged and even condemn ourselves.  And, yes, we may make sinful mistakes, for which we can receive forgiveness.  Along the way, we can realize that with every failure, we have the opportunity to trust God, to learn more about Him, and grow just a little bit closer to Him. 2nd Corinthians 2 (ESV) relates:
12 When I came to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ, even though a door was opened for me in the Lord,
13 my spirit was not at rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I took leave of them and went on to Macedonia.
14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere.

Paul recognized that a door was open, but he was dejected because Titus was not at Troas - he went on to Macedonia.  He trusted in the supernatural guidance and wisdom of God, leading him in triumph, in victory.

You might say that Andrew East and his wife, Shawn Johnson East, have experienced the heights in their respective athletic endeavors - he is a former NFL player, she is an Olympic Gold Medal-winning gymnast.   But, they've experienced failures, too, which have been used by God to draw them closer to Him.

A recent Movieguide article quoted from Andrew, who said on the Shawn and Andrew Podcast: “I’ve experienced a ton of failure…I am grateful for it. I think one reason I’m thankful for faith is like…one of the benefits [is that it]…shapes the narrative of good things or bad things and it puts them in its proper place,” adding, “And so, like the failures in my mind, the stories I tell myself about them — I think because of the hope that faith brings — …if it wasn’t for X, Y, Z failures, I wouldn’t be where we are today. If it wasn’t for me getting cut by the NFL team, I wouldn’t have been home with our newborn baby girl when we had her as much as I was, you know?”  

He also said, “If wasn’t for me not getting any D1 scholarships to play football, I wouldn’t have ended up at Vandy…it’s like a forging process. It’s refining, you know?”

The article went on to include Shawn's perspective on what we might perceive as failure:

“Every failure that you tie yourself to you — I’m speaking about you specifically, not someone listening — like the ones you just listed off are actually massive successes,” she said. “And it’s an interesting psychological thing as to why the perspective you have on them is negative.”

She explained that just because something doesn’t happen in our timeline doesn’t mean it is failure.

“The pruning process is nothing more than getting rid of things that don’t matter to us because at the end of the day, it’s our family [that matters]” Shawn said.

The Easts are echoing a biblical truth found in John 15:2: “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”

Shawn Johnson East related that before they had children, she was "paralyzed" by fear of failure.  Now that they have three kids, her perspective has changed.  She says: "I stayed in the only thing that I knew I was good at and what I could succeed at. And I felt so handcuffed to like doing things that I didn’t love because I had all these dreams and aspirations to do more, but I was I was paralyzed by it. Post-kids, I don’t care at all, which I think is funny.”

So, before we write ourselves off or believe the enemy's lies of fear and discouragement, we can consider the big picture.  God has a plan for our lives, and even if we feel we have somehow missed His will, we can trust that, as we are surrendered to Him, He is working things for His glory.

Now, sin is failure, certainly - so when we miss it, we have an advocate, to whom we can come and confess our sins and receive forgiveness.  But, there are circumstances that occur, when we make decisions that don't turn out the way we think they should - at the time - yet, there may be something that we don't understand that is going on in the supernatural realm, through which God can accomplish His purposes.  We may want to control the outcome, but we can trust in the One who is ultimately in control.