Romans 8:28

Dale Eland testifies to God's ability to re-define our moments of shame and use everything for good.

Dale Eland

My daughter had a swimming clinic this weekend and the coach spoke of his experience at the Olympic Games. It was expected he may medal or come close to the podium, but he dived too deep and could not recover enough to place past 7th position. He would have returned to the following Olympics but didn't for various reasons. That is his story and for many where it stops.

Many remember the cricketer Alan Donald for "losing" the game for South Africa at the semi-finals of the World Cup where he simply 'froze' and, had he taken a simple trot across the pitch, would have secured a place in the final and ultimately probably the overall victory. He would have been the hero of the story and not the shame of the game. That is his story.

Many times failures in our life become the defining moment for us, which catapults us into a watershed mind set of 'I am a failure'. That one split second seems to be the 'only' moment and we forget about the other thousand successes or achievements that set us on our initial journey.

Oddly, one defining moment for me was in a play at 10 years old where I tried out for the part of the wicked witch in Snow White. I wasn't particularly talented, but I acted my heart out only to hear that I was given the part of the mirror! While the rest of the cast got amazing costumes and makeup, I got to wear all black (including my face) and say the famous line, "You my queen; brightest star are fairest by far". And course get a shoe thrown at me when I announce Snow White was now fairer. I remember feeling such shame at having to play this role and not some glamourous role; my perceived failure in front of my grade and teachers at the fact that my best wasn't good enough. Years later when I came to know the Lord, I looked back on that day when my feelings of shame and rejection first gave an open door for Satan to start the brainwash that I would never be good enough.

Many adults tell of a teacher that shamed them in front of their class and peers by saying, "You are stupid and won't amount to anything". Many times it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. That one moment of shame overshadows and negates the thousand good or positives moments and becomes that defining moment which brings shame, guilt, or lifelong regret.

I remember saying to my daughter that that one race, that one moment, does not define you or remove God's calling or gifting.

We may have messed up, or someone may have shamed us, but that one moment is not the legacy we leave. Our legacy is not defined by that one moment. Our legacy is defined by the whole - the purpose and destiny. It is the journey we are on - it is our story.

What is your story? What is your legacy? I trust you will acknowledge that those moments of shame, rejection, and mistakes are completely overcome by God's story, His legacy, and His moment of shame. In God's story, that one moment of shame became the greatest story ever written, ever lived. There is no shame in God's story.

I would ask you to imagine that moment in your life when you experienced that most shameful experience. Now imagine God taking a picture of the moment and framing it, then putting it in your home in the most visible part where everyone entering can see it vividly. Now imagine God bringing visitors into your home and beaming with pride showing everyone that picture; explaining how miserably you failed, but how through it, you allowed Him to overcome and how it has brought such treasure into the world. God turns those things that Satan means as evil to our good. It is a moment to redefine ourselves; redefine our story; redefine our legacy.