FFTF Episode 6 - Regroup After Failure: Understand Your Failures: When Your Faith Feels Fragile
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Dr. Andrew L. Blackwood: [00:00:00] Welcome to From Failure to Fulfillment, where failure isn't the end. It's an acronym for Growth, friend, analyze, investigate, learn, understand, regroup, and Execute. I'm your host, Dr. Andrew Blackwood, also known as Coach Drew, and together we'll discover how God transforms our failures into steps toward Christ-like fulfillment.
Let me tell you about a time when my faith felt paper thin. My prayers seemed unanswered, and my doubt and discouragement were louder than my trust. If you've been there, you know how hard it is to regroup emotionally and spiritually. In the therapeutic world, we talk about calming our bodies and grounding ourselves to get a fresh perspective on our situations.
Regrouping, if you will. Now [00:01:00] spiritually regrouping means returning to God's promises, acquiring his perspective. In Mark chapter nine, verse 24, a desperate father says, Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. He was wanting his daughter to be healed, and that verse captures what it feels like when our faith is fragile.
Today I'll share how I regrouped during a season of fragile faith and how failure matured me in the middle of my doubt. 17 years ago, I had just gotten married and Adene and I had moved into our first home. I was pursuing my doctorate in marriage and family. I was blessed to have a job as an addictions counselor supporting parents and teens and a youth mental health agency, but it was a contract position and it was more than an hour away from home.
The traffic heavy winter [00:02:00] drives on icy back roads were not fun. So when I came across a posting for a family counselor position, just 15 minutes from home, it felt perfect. I applied and was offered an interview. One of the supervisors on the panel was my former professor, someone who I had been a teaching assistant for at seminary for two years.
This had to be an answer to prayer, right? Well, the interview went well and I felt confident. I waited expectantly for the call saying I got the job. When my former professor called and finally delivered the disappointing news, I masked how I felt and graciously thanked her when what I really wanted to say was, why didn't I get the job inside?
I [00:03:00] was crushed. What did I do wrong? Was I not good enough? Was someone better than me? Now I had to keep driving that treacherous route for who knows how long. This was not what I wanted at all. On top of that, I was hurt by a former professor, someone I cared about and believed, cared about me, didn't give me an opportunity that would've helped me so much in this new phase of life.
Although she was a faithful woman doing hard things with integrity and was right to hire the best candidate for the agency, it hurt. It hurt deep. You might be wondering where I failed. As far as I was concerned. I did well in the interview. I just didn't get the job, so that's not where I failed. It's understandable to feel [00:04:00] disappointed and saddened when a change you're hoping for doesn't happen.
But my failure wasn't that either my failure wasn't in the interview or how I felt. It was in my belief that God had failed me. I thought I knew what was best for me. This job would've been perfect. Why couldn't God see that? What was obvious to me was my pain, and what was less obvious was my doubt, my inability to see that this painful thing could actually be the best thing for me and for the agency.
I'm reminded as I think of this story. I have another story. Mary and Martha's encounters with Jesus when their brother Lazarus died. You can find that in John chapter 11 from verses one through 44, [00:05:00] both sisters said the same thing to Jesus. Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. That repetition tells me they had been talking about it, wondering why Jesus hadn't come sooner.
They sent word to him knowing where he was, so they must have waited watching their brother grow weaker by the day until it was too late and scripture confirms it. Jesus could have come right away, but he didn't. He waited and showed up four days after Lazarus was dead. If that was me, I'd have been angry and heartbroken, but through their restraint, all Mary and Martha said was, [00:06:00] if you had been here, and this is where the story gets good.
Jesus replied, did I not tell you that? If you believe you will see the glory of God, then what had been an experience of death for four days became a revelation of God's power over death power like no one had ever seen before. Had Jesus shown up on their timeline, they would've witnessed a healing, but because he showed up on his timeline.
They witnessed a resurrection. Do you wanna be comforted and feel comfortable, or do you wanna see the glory of God? Fragile faith is not a damaged faith. It's not a wasted faith. James one. Verses two to four tells us that the testing of our faith produces endurance so that [00:07:00] we may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.
Regrouping means returning to the one who is faithful seeking his perspective, especially when we doubt and falter. So how might God be using your doubts to reveal his glory, to shape your trust, to open your eyes to who he really is. I believe God wants us to know him. To trust him and walk with him, but often our understanding of him falls short.
Regrouping invites us to receive a fresh view, to see from his perspective, to behold his glory and to live for his purposes rather than our own comfort. I'd love to hear your thoughts about how God is helping you regroup and see things from his point of view. [00:08:00] Let's pray together. Father, it's not by our might, our power, our strength, our vision, our wisdom, our patience.
It's by none of that. It is by your spirit that we are made whole, that we are made complete, that we receive a revelation of who you are. But your purpose is what your call is to us. What your glory is that you want to share with us. You are good to us. Help us, Lord, help us to regroup, to see you, to hear you, to know you, so that we can love you more and follow you more closely.
This is our prayer in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you for spending this time with me, and I wanna remind you that failure is never final. When God is forming us. Until next time, keep moving from failure to fulfillment in [00:09:00] Christ. Thanks for listening to From Failure to Fulfillment. If this episode encouraged you, share it with a friend and don't forget to like, follow, or subscribe so you won't miss the next one.
Until then, remember, with God, failure is never final.
