JUNE 18, 2025

 

“Success involves failing first. Ask any successful person. Ask any experienced person, really. It's all part of the creative process, so sit back and allow the artist within you to sprout, blossom and flourish. You must accept that your first, second, and third attempt at something might suck. It's a necessary step in improving your skill. Failure is your teacher, not your judge.” 
― Connor Franta

NEHEMIAH 7-8

9Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.

10Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”(8:9-10)

ACTS 3

6Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” 7Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. 8He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. 9When all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10they recognized him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

JOURNAL 

“Success involves failing first,” writes Connor Franta. And he’s right, ask anyone who's ever created anything worthwhile. The artist within us is often shaped in failure, not in perfection. Failure teaches. It doesn’t condemn. It refines the edges and tests the foundations. In the spiritual life, the same is true. It’s in our weakness and brokenness that God often speaks most clearly.

Nehemiah reminded a weeping crowd not to mourn over their failings, but to rejoice in the grace of the Lord. “Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). That verse hit me deeply today. God’s joy—not my performance, not my progress, not even my success—is the source of real strength. When I sit with that, I realize how often I’ve made the goal itself the idol. How often I’ve mistaken achievement for purpose, and discipline for identity.

But God's joy spans beyond the boundaries of today. It's not a fleeting feeling tied to circumstances—it's an eternal, anchored joy in what He is doing, has done, and will do. It pulls me out of the isolation of my own striving and places me in the wide, redemptive story of God. His joy is infinite, which means strength is always available, even when the scoreboard says failure.

That truth realigns how I view personal goals. Yesterday, I wrestled with their place in God’s kingdom. Are they meaningful? Yes. And no. Yes, because God can use them, just like Peter used a simple phrase and an outstretched hand to lift a man who had never walked: “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk” (Acts 3:6). And suddenly, the man’s ankles were strengthened, and he began jumping and praising God (Acts 3:7–8). That moment had nothing to do with Peter’s resources or abilities. It was simply faithful action, rooted in divine power.

That’s what our goals can become: faithful action. A framework through which we learn trust, obedience, perseverance, and surrender. They’re not the finish line, they’re the training ground. They’re not essential in eternity, but they are essential in becoming; in how we relate to God and others in the process.

So yes, chase them. Work hard. Dream big. Set goals and go after them. But hold them lightly. Because they are not the source of your strength. They are not the measure of your worth. And they will not complete you.

Only God does that.

“But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

That is the journey. Strength not from striving, but from hoping. Not from arriving, but from abiding.

And in that space, joy is your strength.

31but those who hope in the Lord

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

ISAIAH 40:31