Encouraging Moms at Home

Tips, Tricks and Tools for the #MomWin

  • Home
  • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Brand Inquiries
    • Full Disclosure
    • Our Writing Team
  • Homemaking
    • Cleaning
    • Essential Oils
    • Recipes
      • Instant Pot
      • Gluten Free Dairy Free
      • Using Produce
      • Cooking with Pumpkin
    • Nutrition
    • Food Preservation
  • Homeschooling
    • Homeschool Resources
    • Homeschool Encouragement
    • Homeschool High School
    • Special Needs
    • Homeschooling Art
    • Homeschool STEM
    • Charlotte Mason
    • Homeschool Technology
    • Teen and Tween Writers
    • Homeschool Notebooking
  • Teaching Ideas
    • Free Printables
    • MInecraft
    • LEGO
    • Fine Motor Skills
  • Family Life
    • Gift Guides
    • Kid’s Activities
    • Summer Fun
    • Hiking
    • Moving
    • Christian Life
      • Christian Family Activities
      • Scripture Memory
      • Poetry
      • Creation
      • Advent and Christmas
      • Thanksgiving
  • Moms
    • Encouragement
    • Budget And Finances
    • Mom Fashion
    • Date Your Spouse
    • Work At Home
  • Shop
    • My Account

When Failure is the Only Path Forward

by Amy Blevins 3 Comments

Posts contain affiliate links. This means, if you choose to make a purchase, I will make a commission at no extra cost to you. For more information please see our full disclosure.
92 shares
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

My husband has spent the better part of his vacation working on one project. An hourglass. Handmade from Cherry wood. The number of issues he has had with this project have been unbelievable at best. Intended to be a gift to his boss who retired yesterday, the nearly finished hourglass sits on my counter anticipating an early demise. I’ve asked my husband to finish it for me. Imperfect though the hourglass is, it is a thing of beauty in my eyes.

When Failure is the only path to move you forward, failure is a beautiful thing.

For his boss, he will be buying new wood, and starting fresh. But this time, he knows exactly how he wants to put this thing together. With a prototype finally finished and a plan for all contingencies, he will have no surprises and no catastrophic mistakes. His only path forward this week — his only chance for success — came through his failure.

What is your perspective on failure? Is it eternal? Do you learn from your mistakes or allow your failure to define you? Take a look at the lessons I learned from failure.

Dear Homeschool Mom, do you feel like you are failing today?

Maybe it is in teaching a child to read. Maybe it is in helping your child memorize Scripture. Maybe it is in the planning and execution of your housework. These are all areas I am struggling with right now myself. Maybe you have other areas where failure seems to meet you at every turn. Maybe your own path forward — your only chance for success — is through more failure.

I don’t know how many ways I’ve tried to teach this one particular child to memorize Scripture verses. Out of six children, he is the only one who cannot memorize, and he is not the youngest either. Somewhere, somehow, we are going to get God’s Word sealed into his heart. I just haven’t figured out how to do that yet but I am not giving up. My God is mighty and I am knocking at His door. At this point, my only path forward — my only chance for success — is to keep failing and praying and trying until something works. In this case, I think I Corinthians 15:57-58 applies

1 Corinthians 15:57-58 (NIV) 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Homemaking is an ongoing battle in my heart. I want to make my home beautiful and pleasant but I lack skill and I have an artistic  personality given to messiness. I’ve tried and failed at a whole lot of homemaking methods that were “sure to succeed”. To me it seems that keeping house is an exercise in futility. The work is never, ever finished and it seems like there is no point. I’m not giving up! I’m working on my attitudes and I’m working on my methods. If for no other reason than the value my husband places on a neat and orderly home and God’s Word to Honor my husband. I will keep searching and working on a set of habits that will give our home that well-kept appeal.

The only true failure is the one that stops you in your tracks.

Failure is not a happy place to be. I know that — I’ve experienced it. But how different our perspective would be if we could see the end results of our failures. Or what if we could see the eternal perspective. What are the results of that failure in God’s eyes? Each time you fail, you have a choice to come back stronger, try harder, work smarter, and learn from your mistakes. You can become bitter, or you can allow failure to shape your character in more positive ways. The only true failure is the one that stops you in your tracks.

Disclosure

92 shares
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

3 Comments
Christian Life

About Amy Blevins

Amy lives with her husband and six beautiful children in Northern Virginia. Besides blogging, Amy enjoys homeschooling, hiking, reading, singing, teaching, and serving Jesus above all. Welcome.

Comments

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. Birdie says

    October 20, 2013 at 7:43 PM

    Amy, you must of known my heart today! What a timely post! Today is my day of tears because of how frustrated I am with my own skills. The house is not in good shape and attitudes are not good. I am sooo thankful that they (my tears) fell on my dear husband’s shoulder. By the way, your children and you did a wonderful job with your fall decorations! A little goes a long way. Can we remember to ask ourselves, “What does God define as beautiful?”? I understand your struggle and appreciate your good words.

    Reply
    • Amy Blevins says

      October 21, 2013 at 10:06 AM

      “What does God define as beautiful?” YES! Thank you for sharing Birdie. I love this phrase.

      Reply
  2. Crystal @ WisdomSeekingMommy.com says

    October 24, 2013 at 6:37 PM

    What a great visual reminder of how failures often lead us to success… it’s hard to remember that it the midst of a failure – but often seen as the sands of time slip downward!

    Reply

Search

Keep In Touch

  • Shop
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • About Encouraging Moms at Home
  • Brand Inquiries
  • Full Disclosure with Privacy Policy
  • Our Writing Team

Kids Can Learn with LEGO Bricks

Our Latest Shenanigans

This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No connected account.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to connect an account.

Copyright ©2022, Encouraging Moms at Home. All Rights Reserved. Custom design by Pixel Me Designs