When you feel like a failure

Do you feel like a failure?

  • Your house isn’t clean enough.
  • You’re not skinny enough.
  • Your child acts out in public.
  • You failed the test.
  • You drive an old car.
  • Your marriage is falling apart.

The negative messages are endless. Listening to the negative messages is like wearing glasses that aren’t prescribed for you. We need to change our glasses, so to speak, by seeing ourselves the way God sees us.

I used to feel like a failure often; sometimes I still feel that way. However, I’ve learned I don’t have to give in to the feelings of discouragement.

Instead, I can fill my mind with truth. I can refocus my mind with positive messages based on the truth of Scripture.

One of the best things I did as a teenager was memorize Psalm 139. Here are the verses (13-17) that still keep me going when those negative messages end up playing over and over in my mind:

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!

God never sees us as failures!Ziglar Quote

He created us.

He knows our strengths AND our weaknesses

He has GOOD PLANS for us!

Here are some more positive messages to refocus our brains:

  • I am Jesus’ friend (John 15:15)
  • God redeemed me from slavery to sin and I belong to Him (I Corinthians 6:19-20)
  • I am a member of His body (I Corinthians 12:27)
  • God chose me (Ephesians 1:3-8)
  • I am able to approach God with freedom and confidence (Ephesians 3:12)
  • I am able to do ALL things because God strengthens me (Philippians 4:13)

We may never be famous, or win a trophy, or star in a movie, but we will always be important to God and accepted by Him.

As Mother Teresa says, God doesn’t expect us to be successful, but he does expect us to be faithful where He has placed us. God sees our faithfulness in teaching and training our children, wiping up messes, and washing dishes. He smiles when we help a widow. He cheers when we reach out to the homeless.

When we stumble, God is there to pick us up and give us the strength to keep going. And someday, if we are faithful, we will hear, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.” So the next time you feel like a failure, focus on God and His Word and be faithful.

Share your favorite Scripture verse in the comments below so we can focus on God’s Word together.

Ruth L. Snyder has been married to Kendall for 22 years. They are trusting God for wisdom in raising five children ages 6-17. Ruth shares lessons she learns from the adventures of life at http://ruthlsnyder.com

3 responses to “When you feel like a failure

  1. Thank you, Ruth, for your post. It is a timely message in my world.
    When I feel discouraged, especially due to some failure of my own, the Lord has always provided the courage to trust Him with my soul and my circumstances. Isaiah 53 brings a lot of comfort to my heart in those times, because it focuses me on the Cross and renews my mind. There is nothing else that washes and cleanses my heart so thoroughly as the blood of Jesus! Hallelujah! “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” And, I’m learning to trust Him more and rest in His unfailing love.

    Liked by 2 people

  2. Kathryn,
    Thanks for sharing. I just read the first few verses of Isaiah 53 this morning! I was struck again by God’s amazing love - we rejected him, scorned him, turned away from his love - and yet He gave his life blood to pay for our freedom. Hallelujah indeed :)

    Liked by 1 person

  3. oh, glory! I love the simple statement in Psalm 23: even when I walk THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death… and it came to pass, it didn’t come to stay. :)

    Liked by 1 person

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