To those facing failure - you've got mail!
Dear friend,
"Humiliated and devastated." You are so right! And wondering whether you will ever make it.
Well, I have good news for you, and it begins when you understand that the failure you face is not the end of the road for you.1 And because that's not obvious, I want you to repeat this whenever you start to despair: "THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE ROAD FOR ME: GOD SAID IT. I BELIEVE IT."
You see if human life had come to an end when our first parents failed, there would have been no human race! And because I have built into the whole life set-up ways to move beyond failure, you can tap into those resources,2 and not be defeated.
But first. Is your failure related to some thing inappropriate you have done? If so who said it was "wrong?" You? Someone else? Or Me? You see, I am the only one who can adjudicate on matters of right and wrong. So ask me first. Consult my Word. Talk to my friends. Then - and here's the good news - when you are willing to admit to me that you got it wrong ("sinned") no matter how big the sin is, I will deal with it for you, and set you free to move on. Have a look here.3
And second. Are you saying to yourself not just "I have failed" but "I am a failure?" As a husband or wife or father or mother or student or sportsman etc etc. Again, who said so? You may not have reached the levels of achievement others have, but that does not make you a failure as a person. BE CAREFUL NOT TO TELL YOURSELF LIES OR HALF TRUTHS. The more you tell yourself you are a failure the more you will become a failure. If however you know that you have not performed overall to your best (and nobody, but nobody has),4 the procedure above will help you break out of your sense of failure. If you are willing to be honest with me about it, and ask for my help to be the person you were created to be, I will do it. Read this story.5 If the results are slow, repeat what I said at the beginning of my letter.
Finally! Get this into your head. I did not give my life for you so that you would end up on life's scrap heap, but so that you could enjoy the greatest success any human being could experience: standing tall as a son or daughter of the Eternal God of the Universe.6
Go on! Believe it.
With all my love,
Jesus