“I’m afraid of failing,” Kristi said to me at the kitchen table.
“You mean about our new Soul Talks Podcast,” I verified. She nodded.
“It’s been a dream of mine. What if it doesn’t connect with people? What if I look foolish?”
We volleyed our emotions and compassion back and forth. “This feels like a big risk, but we’re in it together,” was my message. But then I surprised us both when I commented, “Failure Is Good For Us!”
Kristi asked me to unpack that and immediately we decided to push record and invite our friends in our listening audience into our conversation.
That’s how our second episode of Soul Talks begins: “When It’s Good to Fail.” Like all our Podcasts it’s an unscripted heart-to-heart conversation. We share our feelings and our failures. We give each other grace. We seek Jesus together in the rawness of life.
How Do You Feel About Failing?
Lots of people we talk with avoid failure at all costs.
Pastors may over-prepare for their sermons, as if they could become inerrant like the Bible!
Homemakers may want their house to look like a model home.
Parents may want their kids to make them proud.
Teachers and counselors may think they should always have “the answer.”
I took a risk and then felt like a failure recently. I fell hard because I had high hopes! After emerging out of a 20-year hiatus from writing Christian psychology books, experiencing a great spiritual renewal in my life, being personally mentored by Ray Ortlund Sr and Dallas Willard, and leading Soul Shepherding for seven years, I thought that I could publish an amazing book!
Especially after re-writing it three times!
Six months later I found out that none of the Christian publishers who have survived the Amazon revolution wanted that book.
Kristi has helped me to volley a lot of emotions on that! (This is in the latest Podcast too.)
Her empathy and God’s grace to me helped me get back up from falling down on my bike and take the risk to try again — with joy!
I love Proverbs 24:16: “The righteous one falls down seven times and rises again.” The more we learn to count on God’s unconditional love the happier and stronger we are. We have the security to take a risk.
Failure is OK — If You’re In Jesus’ Easy Yoke!
So with help from Kristi and friends I tried again. I took the risk of venturing on the Lord!
I picked up the guidebook on Jesus’ easy yoke that I had quickly written five years ago for two groups of pastors I was working with and I totally updated and edited it to be a completed book: Your Best Life In Jesus’ Easy Yoke.
I had fun riding this bike! Because Jesus was with me and teaching me. And I’ve been blessed to see how God is using the book to help people in their personal lives and their ministries.
For instance, my good friend Bobby Schuller, the pastor of the Hour of Power, said, “Bill does a fantastic job of helping people understand how to live relaxed, yet empowered lives in the Father’s world.”
I’d love to show you how to experience Your Best Life In Jesus’ Easy Yoke. You can order it here.
(As an added bonus all the profits from this book all go to the ministry of Soul Shepherding for pastors and leaders.)
Subscribe to Our Free “Soul Talks” Podcast
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Also you can listen now to “Soul Talks: When It’s Good to Fail”:
