THE BEAUTY IN FAILURE

Everything happens for a reason. If it's God's will, it will be his way! I live by this motto Queens. In fact, in order to live a #Blessed life you have to be open to the idea that not everything will work out the way that you want it to. Things will go wrong. Plans will be changed. Ideas will fall flat. Yet, nothing happens by accident. We are all apart of a larger plan that was put into motion ages ago. Our job is to take what we have and make something beautiful out of it despite the roadblocks, bumps and bruises.

Plans Can Change to Prepare You

Let's take the story of Joseph for example. As a boy, Joseph had a dream that one day all of his brothers would bow to him. This had his already jealous brothers feeling some kind of way. They sold him into slavery. This was definitely not something Joseph had dreamed of, in fact he had probably forgotten all about his dream of his brothers. Yet, he worked to make the best of his situation.

He worked so hard, he was put in charge of the household he was sold to. Out of the blue, events out of his control were put in action and Joseph was thrown in jail under false pretenses. His whole plan was thrown out of the window. Joseph rolled with the punches, still, kept his faith and ended up being put in charge of all the other prisoners.

Then Pharaoh's baker was thrown and jail and started having weird dreams. Joseph saw an opportunity. He translated the baker's dream and asked him to remember him when he was freed. As many people do the baker forgot about Joseph as soon as he was let out of jail. For two years. It wasn't until the Pharoah himself started having weird dreams that the baker remembered Joseph. Joseph interpreted the Pharoah's dreams and was put in place as second in command. Over 10 years later, Joseph's brothers came to Joseph, not knowing who he was, begging for food. Because Joseph was 2nd in power, his brothers bowed to him when they saw him.

Now, that was a 1 minute overview of Joseph's story, but do you understand my point?Joseph never asked to be sold into slavery or thrown in jail. All he knew is that he had this dream that seemed too real almost like it was prophecy. Yet, he never complained. He made the best out of every situation he was in and in time his dream became reality.

Joseph was a showoff as a kid. He was his father's favorite and he made show of it. When he told his brother's of his dream, that they would one day bow down to him, he told them to mock them and provoke them. This is not the behavior of a future Visor. His time being enslaved and in jail brought Joseph down off of his high horse and taught him humility.

Trust God's timing Queens. It's everything. What's right for you, may not be right for who you are right now. That's okay. God will put you to work and give you the tools to get you to where you need to be and put you in a better position to receive.

Plans Can Change Because there's Something Better In Store For You

I was homeless for seventeen years of my life. For seventeen years I was unstable, hungry, smelly, and had to endure things that no child should ever have to endure. At the time I was upset and angry with God. Now, I understand that it was all for a reason. There are people out there who are going through similar situations, many of them worse. God, allowed me the opportunity to pull myself out of homelessness so that I can tell my story, how I overcame it, and inspire others to do the same.

As a kid, before I understood what my life was, people would ask me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I had this whole long list. I wanted to be teacher, a doctor, a policewoman, a lawyer, an astronaut, all of the above. In short, I wanted to do something to help people, but I didn't know what. It's no accident that I fell in love with all things entertainment and used that to pull me out of my situation. All of those jobs I listed before were jobs where I could help people yes, but on a smaller scale. As an entertainer and inspirational speaker, I will have the ability to reach millions maybe even billions across the country and around the world.

We may have one goal for our life, but God may have a bigger goal. One that we can't even fathom because we are only human with human limitations. In order to prepare you for the larger goal that God has in store for you, God may put you through some challenges that will test your strength and knowledge. Throughout these challenges it may seem like God is giving you cruel and unusual punishment. But God never gives you more than what you can handle. Each challenge forces you into a new opportunity to grown into someone who is more capable of handling the new life God has planned for you. Had my life gone a different way, had I been in a stable living situation, I may not have discovered entertainment as a career choice. Or, I may not have been willing to risk my stability to pursue an entertainment career.

Plans Change in Order to Keep You or Get You Back on Track

Sometimes it's not even that serious Queens. It can be something as simple as missing your train on the way to work, or being stuck with the annoying task of picking up donuts for the whole office before going in. These changes in your plan or routine are so small, but can make a world of difference. In fact, those were just two reasons why people who were supposed to be in the twin towers on 9/11 were late to work and thus weren't in their office when the buildings were struck and collapsed.

We may think we know how to reach our goals. But God know's better and he has no problem with putting his hands on our shoulders and steering us in the right direction.

The Beauty in Failure

Everything happens for a reason. If it's God's will it will be his way. Queens, you were destined for greatness the day you were born. You have all the tools in you to succeed. Yet in our struggle to find our purpose or develop our skills we can get lost or fall of track. Think of it as learning how to walk. You were born with legs and feet. Yet when we're young we eat our toes or play with our feet above our head. Even when we finally learn how to walk, we need to rely on our parents to show us where it's okay to walk. Our parents stop us from walking in the street to keep us safe. If we walk into a wall we learn never to walk too far in that direction again.

In the same way setbacks and failures help us learn. They give us the opportunity to do what we set out to do better than before or to do something completely different yet still better than before.

We've set goals for the Summer and mapped out a plan to achieve them. We've reviewed affirmations, mantras, vision boards, and pivoting. We've equipped ourselves with everything we need to succeed, or so we think. Queens, if something happens that prevents you from seeing a goal through this Summer, don't let that stop your or deter you. Chalk it up as a sign from God that he has something better planned for you. Add the failure to your toolkit of lessons learned and move forward stronger and better than before.

It's a beautiful day to conquer the world, so go forth and slay!

-Queen Maree

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON AUGUST 13, 2018