Failure

Have you ever failed at something?

That is a silly question...I know.

But think back to a time when you have tried something and failed miserably...

For instance...the Birthday cake.  Or trying out for a music scholarship at KU (I couldn't read a LINE of music, but I tried anyway...eeek!)  Volleyball...not my best sport.  Softball...even worse. 

Has anyone ever said to you..."it must not be God's will."?

Well...I fully and truly believe that cake making and co-ed softball were NOT in God's will for me.  He has a plan for my life...of that I am sure.  But it has absolutely nothing to do with beautiful cakes and tripping over first base only to end up with a chalk line all down the front of my body.  (I shudder when I think about just how embarrassing that was...and laugh a little.)

But...Music is my passion.  Singing has always been something I LOVE to do.  And even though I am a "misfit" in the music world...only singing and playing by ear...it is something that I know I am called to do.  I worship through music.  I can give the gift of that music at Weddings, Funerals and church services.  I LOVE music.  And I always have.  I have been singing for as long as I can remember. 

That day...as I stood in front of the panel of judges at Kansas University and said..."I can't read this", I was completely and totally defeated.  They said..."thank you for your time" and I left.  I remember crying my eyes out.  I was humiliated.  I didn't prepare.  I assumed I was a shoe in because I had been in choir at school since the 5th grade and I had been singing in church since I was 8.  Everyone always told me that I had a good voice...so I just thought I was the perfect candidate for a full ride music scholarship at one of the biggest colleges in Kansas.  (sheesh)

I failed. 

BUT...God didn't want me to stop there.  And I knew that.  I ended up going to college at Emporia State University and one of the first courses I took was choir.  I sang with hundreds of people and we put on a concert at Christmas that was just amazing.  I had no idea that my voice amongst hundreds of others would be the most beautiful thing I had ever been a part of.  From there...I found myself singing in more Weddings...I eventually joined the Praise Band at our church and have done countless songs...for the Lord.  I have even had the privilege of singing at a few people's funerals.  Which is an awfully hard thing to do...but such a privilege to sing comfort for the family of a lost loved one. 

God did not want me to stop just because I failed.  It wasn't his will for me to be at KU on a music scholarship, but it was very much his will that I continue to use my voice to do good in His name.  I failed.  And then I learned through that failure a lot about what I wanted to use my voice for.  I learned a lot about myself in those times. 

THAT was His will.  For me to figure out what it was that I was to be doing...in His plan...not my own.

So if you fall down in life...and fail miserably...don't think just because you do...it isn't His will.   We have to become closer to God so we can hear what He is saying to us and learn to know the difference between failing because we aren't to go down that path(Softball)...and failing to learn something that makes that path all the more worthwhile(Music to glorify God...instead of myself).

Very interesting.  Loving this devotional...simply loving it. 

Have a blessed day!
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