Failure: The Stepping Stone To Greater Things
By Joy Haney

Failure:
•	"But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not" (Luke 22:32). 
•	Jesus knew Peter was going to fail Him, but He was more concerned about his faith than his failure. 
•	Peter did fail and wept bitterly, but he did not give in to self-pity and defeat.
•	Instead he strengthened his faith and became a mighty apostle in God's kingdom.
•	Failure does not mean that all is lost or that life is over. 
•	It just signifies that one part of life's venture is finished, but a whole new future is waiting for those who just get up and start over. 
•	It is now time for new plans and schemes or even a polishing of old dreams. 
•	Failure can be the best thing that ever happened, for it is through tears and hardship that one can see further that’s when the bright lights dim his vision. 
•	There is always tomorrow, always a fresh start, always a new day in which to look forward.
•	When all else is lost, the future still remains. - Christian Nestell Bovee (1820-1904) American writer
•	The end many times is just the beginning of something better. 
•	Most successful people fail more than once, sometimes many times before they succeed.

David Livingstone:
•	The first attempt of David Livingstone to preach ended in failure. 
•	“Friends, I have forgotten all I had to say,” he gasped and in shame stepped from the pulpit. 
•	At that moment Robert Moffat advised David not to give up. 
•	He suggested perhaps he could be a doctor instead of a preacher. 
•	Livingstone decided to be both. 
•	When the years of medical study were done, he went to Africa.
•	He became a successful medical missionary and explorer in South Africa. 
•	Even if it seems like life’s opportunity is over, just have patience, for patience in any venture will bear fruit. 
•	It just takes time for things to come to fruition. 
•	To dry one’s eyes and laugh at a fall, and baffled, get up and begin again. – Robert Browning (1812-1889) English Poet

Phillips Brooks:
•	After graduating from Harvard College, he taught school but could not seem to make a go of it and in time was forced to resign his position. 
•	Charles Francis Adams wrote that the young man was “humiliated, discouraged, utterly broken down, indeed, by his complete failure at the threshold of his life.” 
•	Fortunately he was able to rouse himself. 
•	Six months after his resignation he entered the theological seminary, and three years later he began his career in the pulpit that made him famous.” 
•	What if he had succeeded as a schoolmaster? 
•	What if those who called themselves his friends had succeeded in their thoughtless campaign to brand him a failure for life?

Defeat:
•	Defeat is never the end but is just the beginning of success. 
•	How can we know what works and what doesn't if we never fail? 
•	Defeat can cause one to become stronger, giving him a greater resolution to win and making him more disciplined in his quest. 
•	It is not about losing; it is about learning, becoming resilient and fearless. 
•	It is the strong who have failed but refused to let failure be their soul mate. 
•	Look upon failure as the material to build upon an edifice of success. 
•	Sift through the pile of broken dreams, failed plans, or disappointments, and look for something that is salvageable. 
•	Pick it up, brush it off, look at it long and hard, and begin again.

Signals:
•	We all receive signals from within and from without. 
•	Listen to the signals that call you to attention to move forward. 
•	Disregard signals that send you spiraling back into the abyss of failure. 
•	Defeat can be a signal to press forward and not opt out of life prematurely, for it is a time for reflection. 
•	Learn to reflect positively concerning all things that bother you and to push away the things that are defeating you. 
•	To which signals do you allow yourself to listen?
•	Defeat is simply a signal to press onward – Helen Keller (1889-1968)  Deaf and blind speaker and author

Helen Keller:
•	Although Helen was deaf and blind, Anne Sullivan taught her a language she could speak. 
•	She went to college and learned not only the English language but also spoke in German and French. 
•	She became a speaker, author, and crusader for the deaf.
•	(The following is a portion of Helen’s address at the fifth meeting of the American Association to promote the teaching of speech to the deaf, at Mt. Airy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 8, 1896:) 

“…it seemed to me sometimes that I could never use my speech wings as God intended I should use them; there were so many difficulties in the way, so many discouragements; but I kept on trying, knowing that patience and perseverance would win in the end. And while I worked, I built the most beautiful air-castles, and dreamed dreams, the pleasantest of which was of the time when I should talk like other people; and the though of pleasure it would give my mother to hear my voice once more, sweetened every effort and made every failure an incentive to try harder next time.

So I want to say to those who are trying learn to speak and those who are teaching them: Be of good cheer. Do not think of today’s failure, but of the success that may come tomorrow. You have set yourselves a difficult task, but you will succeed if you persevere; and you will find a joy in overcoming obstacles a delight in climbing rugged paths, which you would perhaps never know if you did not sometime slip backward if the road was always smooth and pleasant. Remember, no effort that we make to attain something beautiful is ever lost. Sometime, somewhere, somehow we shall find that which we seek. We shall speak, yes, and sing, too, as God intended we should speak and sing.”

Three Kinds of Courage
•	It takes courage to keep fighting, even when everything dictates for you to quit.
•	There's the courage that serves you in starting to climb the mount of success rising sheer; And when you've slipped back there's the courage sublime that keeps you from shedding a tear. These two kinds of courage, I give you my word, Are worthy of courage but then, You'll not reach the summit unless you've the third the courage of try-it-again! -Author Unknown
•	Failure should be a teacher, but oft times it becomes a stumbling block and a heavy stone in the heart. 
•	The stone is so heavy that it is difficult to remove, but just because it is difficult is no reason to give up or to stop reaching toward your dream.

Thomas Edison:
•	He tried over two thousand different ways to make a light bulb burn, and they all failed. 
•	The number of failures did not matter to him; what counted was just the process of finding the right way. 
•	Because he refused to let failure dictate to him, he finally found the formula that worked. 
•	Edison’s failures were not stumbling locks but steppingstones to where he was destined to go.
•	You cannot keep a determined man from success. Place stumbling blocks in his way, and he takes them for steppingstones. - Orison Swett Marden (1848-1924) Founder of the Success magazine
•	During his quest to invent the phonograph, one night a fire ignited inside Edison's plant. 
•	While he helplessly watched it burn, with his costly experiments going up in flames, he called his son Charles. 
•	"Come!" he said. "You'll never see anything like this again!" 
•	Then he called his wife. 
•	As the three stood gazing, Edison said, "There go all our mistakes. Now we can start over afresh." 
•	In two weeks he started rebuilding the plant, and it was not long before he invented the phonograph. 

“Failure teaches success.” 
•	It will teach if we will allow it to do so. 
•	Failure is not fatal. 
•	Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. 
•	It should challenge us to new heights of accomplishments, not pull us to new depths of despair. 
•	From honest failure can come valuable experience. - William Arthur Ward (1921-1994) American author, editor, pastor, and teacher
•	Failure should be a challenge to reach higher heights and to go beyond failed efforts. 
•	In spite of failing at something; just forge ahead, face life head on, and with unswerving determination.
•	Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records. - William Arthur Ward
•	Failure is not falling; it is staying down when one falls. 

A Creed for the Discouraged
I believe that God created me to be happy, to enjoy the blessings of life, to be useful to my fellow-beings, and an honor to my country. I believe that the trials which beset me today are bat the fiery test by which my character is strengthened, ennobled and made worthy to enjoy the higher things of life, which I believe are in store for me…

I believe that my soul is too grand to be crushed by defeat; I will rise above it. I will be master of circumstances and surroundings, not their slave. I will not yield to discouragements. I will trample them under food and make them serve as steppingstones to success. I will conquer my obstacles and turn them into opportunities. My failures of today will help to guide me on to victory tomorrow.

The morrow will bring new strength, new hopes, new opportunities and new beginnings. I will be ready to meet it with a brave heart, a calm mind and an undaunted spirit. In all things I will do my best, and leave the rest to the Infinite. I will not waste my mental energies by useless worry…”– Virginia Opal Myers

This article “Failure: The Stepping Stone to Greater Things” was taken from “Seeds for Success” by Joy Haney and may be used only for study and research purposes only.