POST 56: How What’s Tough Can Transform You
POST 56
How What’s Tough Can Transform You
How can I be a leader on campus without risking an election loss?
That was a driving question for me (Kara) in tenth grade. I hated failure in general. Public failure—through an event like an election—was the worst.
As a sophomore, I applied for and was selected by teachers to serve as class secretary.
In eleventh grade, I interviewed and was chosen by the student senate to be secretary of our school’s student body.
But in twelfth grade, I wanted to be student body president. That meant I had no choice but to run in an election.
My friends and I gave away handfuls of candy, all plastered with creative campaign slogans. While I still feared the humiliation of an election loss, so many underclassmen promised to vote for me that I thought I had a good chance of winning.
That hope disintegrated as soon as the results were posted. Not only did I not win but I came in third—out of three candidates.
This was no flubbed interview behind closed doors. This felt like public shaming. I needed someplace to hide.
So I drove home, ran upstairs to my bedroom, slammed the door, and curled under the covers. I had never tried this hard and failed this big.
How could I ever face my friends, let alone the entire school?
A few hours later, I left the safety of my bed and went downstairs to hugs from my mom, stepdad, and younger brother. That helped. But I still felt discontented and disoriented.
Until Mike and Kristi, my youth pastor and small group leader, came by to talk.
They spent time listening to how I felt and prayed with me. I was especially surprised when Mike predicted, “Someday you’re going to catch a vision for youth ministry. And then watch out.”
A few months later, I started hanging around our church more and even joined the student leadership team. (To my relief, no election was required.)
By the end of my senior year, I was pretty much running that team.
During my college summers, I served in the youth ministry as a volunteer and then as a paid intern.
Mike was right. During college and seminary, God gave me a vision for young people. And thirty years later, I’m still in youth ministry. If I had won that election, I’m not sure I would be serving with teenagers and getting to know you through this devotional. God’s plans were different than I expected but so much better.
The Best Plans
During the era when the Jews were living in captivity first under the Egyptians, then the Babylonians, and finally the Persians, they understandably wondered where God was and if God was listening. To encourage the Israelites with God’s ability to transform what is tough, the prophet Jeremiah said to them: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV).
There’s a lot of good news in verses 11–13!
God has plans for us.
Those plans are the best.
When we call on God, God listens to us.
When we look for God, we can find God. God isn’t playing hide-and-seek with us.
READING GOD’S WORD
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:11–13 NIV)
REFLECT AND RESPOND
Journaling Questions
What’s your current top struggle or loss?
How might God be using that struggle to prepare you for the next step on God’s path? How might what is tough be used to transform you?
What would it look like for you to trust in God’s plan for your life right now?
God, while a big part of me wishes that life was easy all the time, I’m grateful for how you use challenges to change us. Please use the tough times I face to grow my trust in you. May I learn all that you want me to learn, and become all that you want me to become, through the difficulties I face. Thank you that you are with me in all times—both good and bad. In Jesus’ name, amen.
SOMETHING TO TRY
Whatever you’re facing, is there a wise friend or caring adult with whom you could discuss it? Just as I felt a whole lot better when I talked over my election loss with Mike and Kristi, you likely will too.
THE TAKEAWAY
Loss can feel like the end sometimes, but God can turn loss around for our ultimate good.