Six months ago when we were sharing our “One Word”, a thoughtful friend sent me these. Tangible reminders of my word.
Whether this is your word for the year or not, a fear most people struggle with is the fear of failure. The other day I listened to a phenomenal message by Craig Groeschel on this topic and I wanted to pass it along to you. I hope you’ll be able to listen here because it’s great and has some delightful illustrations, but if you can’t, here are his main points:
Big Idea: The path to your greatest potential is often through your greatest fear.
1. Failure is often the first step towards success. We learn more through failing than succeeding. Never waste a good failure. Example: Peter (who failed a lot!) – who better to preach on repentance and forgiveness?
2. Your team (family, spouse…) needs permission to fail. Create a culture of experimentation. The antidote to failure isn’t success, it’s small failures you learn from.
3. A Failure is an event, never a person. Don’t internalize failure, learn from it. Don’t blame yourself for the declines, or one day you’ll credit yourself for the increase.
4. Step out to find out. Feel the fear and do it anyway. If you want to walk on water you have to get out of the boat.
Happy Fearless Friday!
So true Laura. I am reminded that when I first begin to feel the sting of fear that I am not trusting Him enough. Thank you for this reminder!
The day after July 4th is a GREAT time to be reminded how inextricably failure connects to growth; far more lost battles than won in the war; failure of Continental Congress; leaders as contentious as they were frail; lack of will to bring ‘freedom for all’ into new country, that leads to Civil War and legacy of slavery… and this was one of the BEST movements! Just ask Egypt today. But they ‘got out of the boat’, and we must do the same or face mediocrity in the face, and answer why we did so little when given so much. Press on!