Since I was small, I always have had this incredible sense of destiny, serving the greater good. Because of that, I have spent my life looking for the things that I can do, places where I can serve and truly give to mankind. Many times I thought I knew what this meant and how it would translate in my life, work and calling. But somehow, many of the things that I thought would come to pass have not.
One such time, I entered into what seemed like a great plan to turn a company around and serve all at the same time. So many things came together swiftly and smoothly. I thought that this meant that everything else in this venture would come together in like manner. However, that wasn’t the case. I experienced the biggest failure in my career, and it was costly. I lost my source of income, my reputation, credibility, and an incredible amount of confidence. My head was spinning in the wake of this demise. I couldn’t think straight and felt fragile for the first time in my adult life.
Immediately following this final meeting, I stepped into the shower before flying home. I closed my eyes, and as soon as the water hit me, I saw myself stepping onto the other side of the Red Sea with Jesus, and the walls of water fell and drowned all my enemies. The Lord assured me that to Him, this was my greatest victory. I was stunned and then thought, “Okay, He’s going to make everything right.” And there were all kinds of scenarios swirling through my brain as to how He would do that. Long story short, none of those scenarios came true. What I thought would be a quick turnaround was not. In fact, it has been a long and excruciating road.
Now, I am being called into something new, something that requires an incredible amount of trust in the Lord, vulnerability and a militant tenacity. In other words, the Lord is calling me to something that evokes an incredible amount of uncertainty and fear. Then last night, I was reminded that the real triumph is not about the end result. It is about trusting the Lord and moving forward with boldness, even if in the end, it looks like an incredible failure to the rest of the world. As Teddy Roosevelt once said, the real credit goes to the person “in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again…who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.”
So I am choosing to dare greatly in this pursuit, to be vulnerable and trust the Lord to honor His promises: that He has plans to prosper me, not to harm me, to give me hope and a future. I don’t want to be one of those “timid souls” about whom Teddy Roosevelt warned, those that neither know victory nor defeat. Instead, I want to be the valiant warrior on the field who gives all to see the kingdom of God birthed into the earth, into my life and the lives of those around me, who knows the greatest triumphs, and who, when I fail, at least will have done so daring greatly.
Here’s to all the warriors who leave everything on the field of battle. May you be blessed, emboldened and comforted greatly today, that you may stand tall and see the desires of your heart come to fruition in your life for the betterment of us all.