Sound of Surviving Blog

Success. It’s only a word, but we often define ourselves by it. It’s not a bad thing to want and to try to be successful, but chances are, no matter how hard we try, we’ll come up short, at least sometimes. I often look back at the goals I’ve set for myself in the past, and while many I have succeeded in, a lot of them I haven’t. I find myself struggling sometimes to come to grips with the fact that, due to circumstances beyond my control, I might never attain those goals. Not only does thinking about those impossible goals frustrate me to no end, but it also often makes me feel bad about myself, in terms of comparing with others.

I recently read a quote from Mother Teresa, that shifted my perspective: “God does not call me to be successful. He called me to be faithful.” To God, our success is being faithful to him; he’ll work everything out for us, if only we continue to put our hope and our trust in him. God is constantly at work in us, using us to bring others to him, and to spread his love and his word. If we can just keep reminding ourselves, like David in Psalm 43, to “Hope in God, I shall again praise him”. Keep in mind, when David wrote this, his life was far from perfect. In fact, the second verse of this same chapter is David crying out, “For you are the God in whom I take refuge; Why have you rejected me?”

As Christians, it is hard to be so upbeat all of the time, especially when the world seems to constantly remind us of all of the ways we’re not successful. And we find ourselves questioning God, “Where are you? Why are you allowing this to happen?” But I’ve found that if I can just keep pushing forward one step, even one baby step, at a time, that God can do miraculous things, through me. After all, in Philippians 1:6, Paul states, “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Even if we can’t always see how, God is working miracles through us. We don’t have to be successful for God to work in us. We just have to be faithful.

 Another quote I love is from Douglas McKelvey, who said, “For it is not you that will do any great thing for God, but God laboring in you and through you will greatly accomplish his own good purposes according to the workings of his sovereignty and love. Be liberated now, from the burden of believing that anything depends upon you.” So, you see, if we just keep hoping in and trusting in God, we will always be successful to him. And his view of and on our lives is far more important than the world’s view.

So, when you’re so lost and far from home, and you feel as though you’re hanging on only by a thread, make sure it’s to the hem of his garment.