Failure, Dependence & Disorientation as Good Things!

From Wild Goose Chase, chapter entitled "Sometimes It Takes a ShipWreck" . . .

"Failure teaches us our most valuable lessons. It takes us from taking the credit for or taking for granted later successes. We make the all-important discovery that even when we fall flat on our faces, God is right there to pick us back up again. And failure also has a way of opening us up to other options." (pg. 118)

"While our failed plans can be incredibly discouraging and disorienting, God often uses the things that seem to be taking us off our course to keep us on His course." (pg. 122)

"Few things are as disorienting as in-between times -- between jobs, between relationships, or between a rock and a hard place. But nothing rattles the cage like a bad diagnosis, a pink slip, or divorce papers. They cause the compass needle to spin. And we feel lost because our plans and our lives fall apart. But the upside is that it causes us to seek God with a raw intensity that cannot be manufactured any other way. Disorientation has a way of driving us to our knees. And that is one reason why the bad things that happen to us can actually turn into the best things that happen to us." (pg. 123)

This is very true. It's usually during those very rough seasons that I seek God's word on matters more. And I seek His reassurance and encouragement as well.

Mark reminded us that while a healthy parent-child relationship moves from dependence to independence, the opposite is true in a godly relationship. Instead of living independently of God (which makes us servants of sin so it's not true independence), God desires to move us to total dependence on Him. Thus disorientation "is natural and healthy... a normal part of chasing the Wild Goose. We won't know exactly where we're going much of the time, but that disorientation develops our dependence upon God. And it is our dependence upon God, not our best-laid plans, that will get us where God wants us to go." (pg. 127)

Can you think of times of failure or disorientation in your life that lead to something you didn't imagine? A new direction in life perhaps? Maybe if you don't have a personal example, you can think of someone you know. I'm going walking now and will think on it.