Welcome to the blog of Pastor Alton Stone, from Simpsonville, SC. Pastor Stone is a retired Ordained Bishop of The Church of God, Cleveland, Tennessee with over 45 years of pastoral ministry.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Regaining What We Have Lost (Part 1)

When you experience a loss, perspective is often the first casualty. You can regain it by following these five steps:

  1. Acknowledge what happened. You can’t move past the loss if you don’t. This is the first step.
  2. Empathize with those who suffered. Failure hurts. No one enjoys it. It should be mourned.
  3. Put the loss in context. There is always more to the story. We can’t allow one loss—or even a series of losses—to define us. Failure is not the end unless you quit.
  4. Point out the positive. It sounds trite, but it’s true: every cloud has a silver lining. There is something to learn, something that even failure makes possible. Your job as a believer is to find it.
  5. Keep moving forward. The difference between winning and losing is not the number of losses you experience. Even winners experience failure. The difference is in whether or not you get up when you fall down and keep moving forward.

Losses are inevitable. They make us stronger and develop our character. But only if we maintain our perspective and use them to grow.

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