I’ve always had a special place in my heart for Charlie Brown.  He is the ultimate failure – according to Lucy, who of course knows everything.  The reason I like Charlie so much is that he reminds me of me.  There were days in my childhood when I simply wasn’t good enough. I was always the last one to be picked for a team.  I never felt I could live up to my father’s expectations.

Actually, I had no idea what failure was until much later in my life.  My husband had worked in the advertising industry for a number of years and was creating quite a name for himself,  when he decided to branch out on his own.  The business did great for about 12 years until a recession hit and the first thing to be cut from major corporate spending was advertising.

The business he’d built included a number of talented creative people, whom he paid excellent salaries and benefits.  One by one he had the unfortunate duty of having to let them go.  Our son was amongst them.

When the bank called in the loan, we were left with nothing.  The business closed its doors.  Our home went into foreclosure and we lost our vehicles.  We also lost our pride, which most likely was a brief chapter in God’s plan for us at the time.  One thing we hung onto with all our might was our hope  We knew that God had something in store that would fill our lives with purpose once more.

As time went by, we did whatever types of jobs we could just to have food to eat.  There were times we would pass a homeless person on the street and wonder if we’d be right there next to him in a day or two.

We all are faced with difficulties in life, but that doesn’t mean we’re failures.  It means, we simply are on the road to something better.  On top of that, we have God’s promise of His faithfulness.  Maybe we wouldn’t have great wealth, or property, or status, but we had each other and God was with us.

Failure doesn’t have to mean defeat, especially for those just starting out.  You will learn over many years of ups and downs, that these hiccups in life are just temporary and something is waiting beyond the tears.  However, if you wallow in defeat and don’t use your God given talents, You’re selling yourself short and you’re not giving God enough credit.

He has washed that failure right off our faces and given us a second, third or more chances.  The point is, to depend on His plan for you and let Him do the hard stuff.