1831- Failed in business
1832- Defeated for legislature
1833- Second failure in business
1836- Suffers nervous breakdown
1838- Defeated for Speaker
1840- Defeated for Elector
1843- Defeated for Congress
1848- Defeated for Congress
1855- Defeated for Senate
1856- Defeated for Vice President
1858- Defeated for Senate
1860- Elected President
This was Abraham Lincoln’s road to the White House. Almost 30 years later, after his first business failure and the many other failures that followed, he became president of our country during the bloodiest war in American history.
His “failures” were probably the scaffolding that built the fortitude and character necessary to run our nation during such a vulnerable and tumultuous time. So often what we see as stumbling blocks, God sees as building blocks for the structure we need inside to handle His will and blessings.
We have a family motto, “Take the blame. Get the blessing.” If I am not willing to admit when I am wrong and choose to practice militant ignorance instead, the same lesson is going to keep popping up for me to deal with until I am willing to cross that bridge.
