The Value of “Losing”

For me the question of trusting God is not so much a question of whether trusting God works but a question of looking at the stark evidence presented by my own experience of living closely with Him that it does every single time—win or lose. Many people treat God like a vending machine. “I want this.” And they expect “this” to fall from the sky, or else. If whatever it is doesn’t fall from the sky or magically appear, they use that as evidence that either God’s not really there, that He doesn’t care, or that He’s not a loving God.

In my experience, nothing can be further from the truth. You see, I have found that it is often precisely those times that I didn’t get what I wanted that have become the very evidence of just how good, gracious, and loving my Father in Heaven really is.

Case in point. I submitted four different manuscripts to a contest for those writers who have never been traditionally published. At the time of submission, I said, “This will tell me what I need to know. Either that my writing is good enough to break through or that those who filter everything will never allow my style to go through the process for traditional publishing.” So I submitted.

I should also tell you that I had not submitted to contests such as this before because I knew the bent toward formula they tend to take with such contests. So it was a bit puzzling to me why God all of a sudden put this on my heart to enter this contest now. But I’ve learned, you do what He says whether it makes sense or not.

Flash forward a couple months. I got my results back, and they gave me the answer I was looking for although it wasn’t the answer I wanted. The score sheets came in, and of the four manuscripts, only one made it into the 80’s out of a hundred. Even though I knew going in that it was a long shot for them to accept my writing, I had still hoped that God would pull off some miracle.

Well, He did. Just not the way I had expected.

After getting my score sheets in, I wrote to a writer’s group I’m part of asking about one of the comments on the sheets, namely can you tell a grateful smile from say a happy smile or a sad smile. I got a couple of replies.

One of those replies was from a very nice guy in Iowa who told me not to put too much stock in what they say because after all these are the same people who say that Shakespeare and Dickens could never get published today. They like to take great pride in telling writers that they are so much better than the true masters of our time whose works have stood for hundreds or thousands of years.

I was grateful for the reminder, but never could have I envisioned what happened next. I wrote the man back. He wrote back. I wrote back, and through this, a friendship was born. Through that friendship his faith was rekindled and then through our friendship another group was born of writers who felt the same way—that too many excellent authors are being sidelined by the filter system in the book industry.

At least that’s the “worldly” thing that happened. The truth is, these writers are not misfits, they are on fire with the Holy Spirit. They are in touch with God and holding out for His best wine in their lives. Together, we encourage each other not just in our writing but in our walk with God. These writers hail from such varied points as Minnesota, Texas, Nevada, Tennessee, and Texas. It is a group of grace, commissioned by God, to encourage us toward His glory and His plan for each of us and for countless others that our lives will touch.

And it all started because I “lost.”

You might want to take a moment to re-evaluate the “losses” in your life. How did those losses redirect your journey? Who did you meet because of them? What things came into your life through them that you would never have found otherwise?

Might it be time to consider thanking God for the “losses”? Might it be time to realize that when God says, “No,” it is out of love and not out of some malicious desire to see you suffer?

God is good. God is infinitely good. Looking at the value of your “losses” is one of the best ways I know to see that.

You can read Staci’s newest book for free at: http://www.spiritlightbooks.com Come read the book Peg Phifer calls “a love story you won’t soon forget.”