Counselor's Corner: Focus on Your Progress Not Your Failures

To focus means to be intentional at looking or directing your attention at something specific, making whatever you’re looking at larger than other things around you.

Recently, I found myself focusing on all what was wrong with me, what I was not doing enough of, whom I might not be pleasing, or what I should be doing. I was magnifying all the negative aspects of myself while minimizing what is good about me and what I am doing right.

If you magnify your weaknesses, failures, and mistakes-you will eventually be discouraged and eventually depressed.

Most of the time the originator of focusing on what is wrong with you comes from satan and his cohorts, but we can also play a part as well. What are you believing about yourself? What God says, what other people say, or what the enemy says? Perhaps you are believing a combination of what God says, other people say and what the enemy says about you.

When you focus on what you are doing wrong as opposed to what you are doing right, you get stuck, afraid to move forward for fear of making more mistakes, having another go-around of failures, or letting yet another person down.

You can get bogged down in past failures, and believe the lie that you don’t have what it takes to accomplish anything for the Kingdom of God.

Rest assured, if you are growing in God, desiring to serve Him, or making spiritual progress; the enemy will use old, familiar tactics to slow you down. This strategy is in hopes that you will be so defeated and discouraged by the continual focus on your weaknesses and mistakes that you will not pursue the calling that God has placed on your life.

Challenge:

Focus on what you are doing right. Focus on your strengths. Focus on all the progress that you have made. Remember to focus is to be intentional. Reject thoughts of failure, past sins that you have been forgiven of, and weaknesses that you are in the process of overcoming.

Ask the Holy Spirit to infuse in you the truth of how He sees you and what He thinks of you. Ask Him to show you what your strengths are.

None of us are perfect, we are being made into the image of Christ but we have not and will not obtain perfection this side of eternity.

Forgive yourself of all your past sins, failures, mistakes, and those you may have let down. Ask God to forgive your sins, and let go of the unrealistic expectation that you have of yourself.

Be the best you that you can be.