Losing does not make you a Loser.

Losing does not make you a Loser.

“THE GREATEST DISAPPOINTMENT IS WINNING ALL THE BATTLES THEN LOSING THE WAR”

― Mouloud Benzadi

“Every one of us is losing something precious to us. Lost opportunities, lost possibilities, feelings we can never get back again. That’s part of what it means to be alive.”

― Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

Is normalcy slowly slipping through your fingers? 

 Does the fear that losing any strength you once felt taunt you?  

The enemy is dancing and laughing all around, because he wants you to see  yourself as losing. The “new normal” is pulling out all the stops to make your present story one where you feel inadequate to handle the challenges. 

In all this fog, God has a different perspective. His reality states:

LOSING DOES NOT MAKE YOU A LOSER.                            

Start looking at your story again. 

Covid-19 has given the opportunity to walk through huge doors of LOSS and GRIEF in a form few have gone through before. Holidays are spent in ‘LOCKDOWN’ mode, where allowable attendees for any inside celebration gets fewer and fewer. Our daughter is studying in Berlin, Germany, so holidays will be filled with Zoom calls and cyber-hugs. 

Feeling your loss is not being a loser.

Honestly, how are you feeling? Pain, anger, doubts of anyone in control?  Denial of the pain will not only be a lie to yourself and God, but left unattended, may form a cancerous, subtle rage that will grow and fester. Relationships will walk on thin ice. Depression will blanket your life. 

Are these emotional ‘Losing’ feelings wrong/bad?

We are not super-heroic Christians, meant to exhibit a life free from all negative responses. How we choose to respond after the battle was fought is the greater factor. 

Walter Hooper calls C.S. Lewis the “…most thoroughly converted man I ever met.” (from an article, The Most Reluctant Convert: C.S. Lewis’s Journey to Faith from Knowing & Doing (Winter 2002) A book review by Art Lindsley.) If you read the book “A Grief Observed” though, it is through intense pain and emptiness where Lewis came to realize God’s never ending, abiding love. At one point in this book, it even appears Mr. Lewis was struggling against the loss of his faith because of his radical doubts and questions. Does this feel familiar? Losing does not make one a Loser.

Like C.S. Lewis, we all have our own personal stories to share. In my last post, Be Genuine and Share Your Story, I encouraged you to sit and think about your present story. How different is this story than the one before April? Are you happy or sad with the way you’re responding to life?

If Losing Doesn’t Make You a Loser, why do I feel terrible?

I believe God is wanting to take all who are interested into uncharted waters. That may even mean some type of loss, but in that loss, how will we respond and who do we blame? 

A few weeks ago, my family and I went to give samples to make sure we were COVID-free. The challenge was of a personal nature. Right at the beginning, the test required putting information into my phone. It sounds simple, but for me… I just went all panicky. No one was around to help as far as I could see, so I just went through my own panic-mode motions. I filled up the tube, dropped it into the bin, and left the building. I needed to get outside for fresh air. The necessary information connecting the sample to ME wasn’t even scanned, so my entire shadowy, anguish-filled walk accomplished nothing.

I was angry, hurt, filled with pain, and believed a lie that I had lost. 

I felt stupid, alone, confused, and received that lie that I had lost.

 God’s Perspective: You Are Not A Loser.

God shared this with me in His loving way: ”You are not a loser. I was carrying you the whole time, even though you could not feel it.” 

When one receives the reality of truth from the Creator of the Universe, it gives life. Do you need that love? That reality from the Lover of your soul? This virus will draw out opportunities to experience God and His GRACE in ways you had not anticipated. 

Creatives, Artists, Friends, allow yourselves to be honest, just as C.S. Lewis and I, to acknowledge the reality of your grief and loss. In that tender place, God will take your hand and you will: