Success and Failure Blog

Life is full of problems. Ask most anyone these days. There are few unique people who have no problems to share. To dwell on the negative, the pain and sorrow, the challenges….can be easy indeed. After all, that is what Satan would have us do. He goes after our weaknesses, prides himself on our downfalls, thrills himself with our misery.

The upside to any problem is the Lord. We can go through our problems and misery alone, or we can hold God’s hand and tread the dread knowing our Savior is with us all the way. There are times when we feel as though we are hanging on by a thin thread, for sure, but the important thing is to not let go. So it’s a thin thread, it’s still a thread and it’s still there.

If life is a dance, would you rather do it alone or with a partner? Even when we feel we are dancing alone physically, God is there holding us up spiritually. I am a clutz when it comes to being led on the dance floor. I step on toes; I trip over my own feet; I get confused as to which way my partner is trying to lead me. But even then when I am embarrassing myself, God is quietly guiding me. He gives me the choice: laugh at myself and have whatever fun I can, or hide in a corner alone and watch everyone else.

To share joy is one of the greatest feelings on earth! God brings us joy even in the bleakest of times. But we must be willing to receive that joy. We want our earthly partners (our husbands and our wives) to help us when we are down. We sometimes practically beg them to give us a reason to smile. We even cause them to walk away disheartened at the efforts made. Then we ask God why He isn’t helping, and the answer is there all along. He might as well shine a big sign in our faces that states, “I am, child, open your eyes, your ears, and your heart.”

Some days it’s as though we have to grab a snow shovel and dig down deep to find the blessings. We don’t even have to do that alone. Grab your Partner, God, and pray while you dig. It’s helpful on days like this to take a pen and paper and sit for just a few minutes. Go over your day from the time you woke up and purposely seek out the blessings you missed. You may be amazed as the list grows. There is always something to be thankful for, even in the worst of times.

Need examples? Think of someone who has a worse situation. Believe me, there IS always someone who has or has had it worse no matter how bad it is for you. Want another angle? Put that Google search partner to work and find people who have suffered tragedies and came out better for it. There are articles online every day about winners who were born with jaw dropping disabilities and learned to conquer their challenges.

Does it mean we are silly and stupid when we get down and out and feel like life isn’t worth the effort? Of course not. God gave us emotions. We’re supposed to experience them. It’s not a sin to be angry, lonely, depressed, or whatever the case may be. It’s how we handle that emotion that’s important. It’s okay to allow the feeling, but to allow it to take over our lives is another matter indeed. Each emotion has a time and a place to be used.

We have probably all read that email that pops up from time to time about people coming into our lives for a reason and a season. So, we have many partners really. God gave us every one of them! He brings people to us when He knows we need that added physical support form. We get teachers, an ever-changing list of friends, parents, children, club members, prayer warriors, pastors, and many more partners along life’s path. Each of these is a gift from the Lord. If the only partner you have at the moment is the Lord, rejoice and remember all the other partners He shared with you over the years! When it’s time, He’ll bring you more.

While thinking deeply, and on multiple levels from planes of intellectualism to spiritualism, I found profound thoughts buried there within my heart. This truth is evidenced best and most wholly by my life’s resume, which is a resume that represents more than one aspect of a person’s life. It is a resume that actually represents every aspect of one’s life.
I realized that the qualifications that seem the most impressive to peers, employers, and people in high places, mean very little to the Most High God. For instance, I am sure that God truly does care about every aspect of our lives, including our education and work history; however I believe He cares more about how we act on and articulate every innate, expressive and unique ability, talent and skill that He has given to us. So often the gifts that God so graciously bestows upon us are misused, abused and taken for granted. Because of this fact, I have a rather distressing admission to make!
Sadly, I must openly and embarrassedly admit my severe failure in this life. I am blessed with so many talents and skills, yet I allow most of these to lie dormant within me. All too often, I have ignored my abilities instead of yielding great fruits from them. I have also, many times in this life misused my talents for all the wrong reasons. I have wanted to gain attention, riches, and even power. I am guilty of this and much more. I am sometimes so displaced by this world that I have failed to my job as a human being. I have let God down many, many times, by not promoting Him and His greatness above my own desires. Miserably, via greed and selfishness I have fallen far short of God’s Glory. I have not always sought first to edify the kingdom of God in everything that I do. I have declined to proclaim God’s goodness and faithfulness when and where it matters most-everywhere.
What I realized today and wish to share with you is that we cannot beef up our Life’s resume before God. God knows everything about us and there is no way to fudge it, pad it, tell little white lies or make up euphemisms about ourselves in order to make our lives more appealing to God. All we can hope to do is prepare ourselves rightfully for the day of our great and final interview, by allowing God to be the center of all we do. We must strive past the usual criteria and onward toward true greatness. To do this we must first realize that it will not matter how much money we have earned. It will be pointless to brag about our careers, and our great knowledge. For compared to God’s Greatness it will be nothing more than fools’ gold.
We each have the ability to do more than simply realize our own dreams and goals. True, honest to goodness success in this life is achieved by realizing God’s dreams and goals for us. Instead of searching for ways to uplift ourselves and make ourselves great among men, we must allow God to be uplifted before all men, through us! We must ask God to utilize and promote our talents according to His will. We must permit God access to every part of us including and especially our finances. We must be willing to give up anything and everything for Him, even our hearts’ desires and the dreams we have for ourselves. When we do this it will becomes obvious that we can each do far more by touching others and becoming great inspirations, motivators, and the deliverers of the truth. Every person has within them the raw and instinctive capability to physically, spiritually and emotionally reach others, and actually help transform lives, soften hard hearts, and move literal mountains!
The day of our greatest interview that shall determine our ultimate position for all of eternity approaches closer with each day. Where will you choose now to spend all of eternity? What will God place you in authority of based upon your life’s resume. It is particularly comforting to know that God searches our hearts and minds and knows all that they contain. This means if we turn everything over to Him we cannot fail.
Matthew 25:23 (Amplified Bible)
23His master said to him, Well done, you upright (honorable, [a]admirable) and faithful servant! You have been faithful and trustworthy over a little; I will put you in charge of much. Enter into and share the joy (the delight, the [b]blessedness) which your master enjoys.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
Pam Shekailo

Mary was the Mother of Jesus. She was a virgin and conceived Him miraculously by way of the Holy Spirit of God. She carried Him inside of her. She felt Him Move and kick as He grew and formed within her womb. She labored and went through the pain of child birth. She brought forth Jesus, her LORD and Savior. Jesus is the Messiah and the LORD and Savior of all mankind. She raised Him in the ways of God and taught Him according to the great wisdom of God. She changed His soiled clothes; she bathed Him, nurtured Him, and loved Him with all her heart.
I know that our Heavenly Father prepared Mary to be the Mother Jesus needed. God chose her from all women to be the Mother of God. Yet, I am certain Mary wondered if she would truly be a good enough Mother for Jesus. After all, she might have said to herself, “how could an earthly woman ever be good enough to raise the Son of God?” What thoughts went through her mind? What feelings did she have about this most amazing parenthood? Did she fully understand what would come of her son, the Son of God?
She sang to Him, played games with Him Kissed all His boo-boos, helped Him to study and learn, celebrated all His birthdays, and wanted the very best for Him. This is not at all unlike all loving Mothers. She knew His purpose was from our Heavenly Father. She knew Jesus did not belong to just her. He was the Father’s Son and He was to be the Savior of her people and all the people of the world, from the beginning and for all time. How must that have felt? How did Mary cope with all the knowledge she had and all the knowledge that she did not have?
Did the Father in heaven prepare her for what Jesus would do and accomplish in life? What went through her mind as her son performed great miracles and grew up to be free of sin and full of love? How wonderful it must have been to see her son Jesus mature into a wonderful and loving Man. I am sure she didn’t want Jesus to ever grow up; just like most Moms’ wish their precious babies could stay that precious forever. Yet I also think she dreamed of Him living a long and full life and she believed in Him to do great things and change the world! Just as all loving Mothers believe their children are truly gifted and special.
She was the Mother of Jesus! She was with Him when He was born and she was there for Him throughout His whole childhood. She had to let Him go when He reached the age to fulfill His destiny, and all the prophecies that had been foretold. Yet she was His Mother through it all. She was there with Him as He died upon the cross. She witnessed His love for her, and for all of us in everything Jesus ever did or said throughout His life. She then witnessed her dear Son’s death. How horrible it must have been for Mary to watch her son die on that cross for her sins and for all the sins of every person in this world. I don’t know if anything can prepare a Mother for such loss. As a Mother I know I am prepared to go before my children. I cannot even imagine how awful it would be to lose one of my children that way.
She was a great Mother and a great example for all women. It is my prayer that all Mothers will learn by Mary’s exceptional example and raise their children to love and be reverent of God. Remember they are not just your children. All children belong to God. We are all God’s Children. Know that God chose you from all women to be a Mother to your children and will prepare you to be the best Mother you can be.
As a Mother, you will have to let go of your children and allow them to become the great men and women of God they were born to be. You may even have to face tragedy along the way. Know that as a child of God, He will help you to endure all that comes your way. The love and Strength of God is what makes us strong, compassionate and loving Mothers.
It is also my prayer that all of our children come to believe in Jesus and accept them as their personal Savior. I pray our children will be saved.
I also say a special prayer to all the Mothers that have lost a child or had miscarriages. I pray that God will comfort you and fill you with all the joy and hope that Jesus’ life and death brought for all of us.
You see Jesus died but that is not where His story ended. Jesus was buried in the tomb, but His body did not remain there. Jesus was resurrected and now lives in heaven with our Heavenly Father.
If you have sorrows for the loss of a child allow God to comfort you. Know that the story of your child did not end there either. Your child is now in heaven with God and one day you can be reunited with them.
Everyone, please honor your Mothers and show them how much you love them.
Happy Mother’s Day Mary! Happy Mother’s Day to you all!

           When the sky meets the earth a miracle happens and man says its science. The eyes of the unseen have not the sight to see that no big bang could ever achieve such greatness. If they were given the eyes to see they would see with a newness of spirit the brilliance of this creation. They wouldn’t be concern with the environment, instead focus their eyes on the creator who made it and will keep renewing it.        

            We are all concern for our future and not on our relationship with our Lord. We have become self-absorb with our needs that we stop focusing on our path to freedom. We forgot that all roads lead to Christ. 

            I have been rereading Matthew 15:1-20 it’s not about washing your hands that make you unclean but what comes out of your mouth from your heart that makes you unclean.  I knew that I had unclean thoughts and I was closed off not just from the Lord but from others. My angry, sickness, and depression were outward signs that not all was well. It is time to stop the deception and ask for forgiveness. 

            I am sorry Lord that I have been consumed with me and my issues that I removed myself from everything around me. I have kept my issues close to me and not giving them to you.  I have walled up my heart so I couldn’t be hurt by anyone, Lord. I was keeping my distance because I was angry with you. I give you my heart that you will take from it the dark places that makes me stumble. In the place of the dark places put peace, joy, perseverance, long suffering, and love.  Encompass about me songs of deliverance that will permeate everything around me like a cocoon of safety that I may grow in your likeness until the day you come. 

            We cannot run far enough away from our Father’s love for us. The signs of HIS love are all around us from the big bright sun to the delicate tiny fingers of a new born baby His love permeates everything around us. 

            We are the Lord’s one small miracle after another. You were created to be loved by the Father. There is nothing you have done that the Lord won’t chase after you like HE did for me. 

            One thing I have learned through my journey is HE NEVER gives up on me.             

            (Your Name) is greatly blessed, highly favored and deeply loved. By Jesus Christ.

A quick lesson on how to continue to be joyful even in the midst of your greatest trials…

HEBREWS 12

Hebrews 12:3 “For consider Him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”

This verse says it all to me.  Consider Him [Jesus]….. lest I be weary [worn and dull of mind] and faint [grow weak in my Faith].
In other words,  I need to keep my mind on Jesus ALL THROUGH THE DAY so that my Faith will be strong to accomplish what needs to be done.  What needs to be done?  I need to live for Christ and through obedience to Him [action Faith] do the work the Father has chosen me to do.  I will know when the time comes what that is in it’s totality.  In the meantime, obedience is the job.  The key I’m seeing with this verse is this:  Keep your mind on Him.

Chapter 12 of Hebrews starts with the word (KJV)  Wherefore.… that means that the verses leading up to it have led us to a point being made .. and so we need to know what led us up to this point:
Leading up is Heb 11 and a message about people of Faith and their accomplishments.. vs 33-40 in particular, is talking about the early Christian’s who where martyred for their Faith, mostly in the Roman Coliseum.  They were fed to lions, spitted on stakes and set afire, sawn in two, boiled alive in oil, and a hundred other obscenities.   These people, when they where being tortured in the Coliseum sang and Praised God in their martyrdom to the effect that Nero (Emperor of Rome) would plug his ears and cry out “Why are these Christians so eager to die?”

The early Christians were eager to follow Jesus.  They KNEW that with Jesus was the place to be!  I’m not talking suicidal…I’m talking of a total lack of fear of death.  Jesus had just given us power over the fear of death, remember?  These people lived such fear free lives that they went to the Coliseum singing and praising God!  Even some of the soldiers quit their posts and ran to take the place of those being martyred because these people had ‘something’ that others had never seen before.  Jesus!

Listen to this truth and reflect on it —within 30 yrs of this, the most powerful nation that had ever existed in the known world, fell.  It disintegrated  – imploded- because of the Christian Faith.  Oh how we have fallen away!  Today, we are scared to even mention His name in places!

This then all leads into Hebrews 12 and now we need to pay attention, for the point leads us to what we need to do:

1 Wherefore seeing [by the preceding verses] we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, [of bearing any sin] and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Paul is telling me to remember those that have gone before and how their walk with Jesus was.  To lay aside everything I am going through at present and to focus on Jesus.  By doing so, even during these afflictions [persecutions] my Faith will enable me to persevere with patience the trials before me.

How could Jesus, knowing and aware that the torture, brutality, and cruelty of the cross was directly before Him, possibly walk toward it in Joy?  did you ever wonder about that?
Joy?  ???

Jesus had joy because He kept His mind on the Father.  He had Joy because He knew He was doing what the Father wanted Him to do .  The assignment did not matter – obedience was the issue.  The fact that it was going to kill Him and cause him untold pain and undeserved horror and shame-did not steal His Joy!  He did not endure the trek to the cross with a sulky self-pitying attitude.  His mind was fixed on the prize He was to attain over his victory and he was flooded with joy because of it.  Even in the midst of His worst earthly moments, He had joy.

That sure takes away any excuse I have for my next pity party!  This teaches me that JOY is under our control. It is an emotion and so subject to our control.  Your emotions follow upon your actions.  Actions follow your thoughts.  You can stir yourself up to feel any emotion you desire to have. What are you focusing your mind on?  What emotions are your thoughts creating for you?

How then can we possibly allow ourselves to be depressed, discouraged, sad, etc…?  We can stir ourselves up through remembering what Jesus did and by doing the same.  He stayed focused on the joy of serving His Father.

This is an incredible teaching.

Some tremendous messages in these verses.  There are some hard things coming in the near future.  I for one, and keeping my mind on Jesus. Otherwise, I will be too weak to endure my own race.

Having money or making a lot of money by itself without having  joy, peace, good health, a great marriage is a very disappointing success.  There are many examples of great success stories like Elvis, Michael Jackson and many others who have lots of money, and they will tell you that they would all trade it in for having good relationships, good health, a great partner, etc.

Focusing On Money:
Focusing on money will lead to eventual failure.  I’ve done both.  There were times when I focused on just making the big bucks…wanting to make it in the worst way.  I learned that lesson in my twenties.  Coming to America, I wanted desperately to make it in this country.  I was in advertising sales then.  I rose to the top very fast, however, my focus was on how much money I could make…and I did make good money.  However, pretty soon I was consumed with having success.  It was a pretty big disappointment, because I was working 60 to 70 hours per week.  I did not have balance in my life.  I’m not saying that you should not have money goals in your life…you should…just don’t make ”Making Money“ your main focus.  What’s amazing is, that the most money I made when I put God first and having fun doing what I was doing.  The money was just an end result of that.

Even focusing on the lack of money works the same way. It’s hard not to focus on money when the rent is due and you’re short.  I understand…I have been there too.  Regardless, you have to change your thinking…your self talk and your focus.  I challenge you to give away money to your church or to a charity when you don’t have enough money…it’s one way to get the focus off yourself…and it works.