A setback is a set up for a comeback!

I remember my Uncle, the pastor of the church I attended preaching a sermon that told us not to get defeated by our setbacks. He would say that your failure is Gods way of letting you know you that you need him. But all to often, we view our setbacks as our defeating moments. Those moments, are the moments that we are made into the people that we will be come. As Michael Hyatt said in his article Don’t quite before the whistle blows, it builds character. Here is how Michael Hyatt, using Heather (Dorniden) Kampf, describes how our setbacks help us to succeed in the future:

1. Our response builds our character. Very often in those moments where we are tempted to bail, our character is a stake. Character isn’t fixed. As Oscar Wilde said, it’s made and unmade by our decisions.
When we push through difficulty and see things to the end, we’re developing our character in a positive way. When the urge to walk off the field comes—and it will—ask yourself what kind of person you want to be.

2. Our response tests our true abilities. Whatever we think about ourselves or the future, if we walk off the track, we never really know what we’re capable of or what was truly possible.
Kampf could have finished without giving it her all, and no one probably would have noticed—except her. Instead, she marshaled her strength and found out what her true potential was.

And it surprised her. “That last 50 meters, I hit a gear that I never knew I had,” she said. A setback can bring out our best if we’ll play full out regardless.

3. Our response impacts others. Kampf was not just running for herself. She was running for her team, for her school, for her family and community. The impact of her decision was far-reaching—even down to us discussing it today.

If you haven’t seen the video of the race take a look, it is truly amazing. Life is a series of lessons that we need to learn, when we give up too soon, we rob ourselves of the development opportunity that would have come out of finishing. Whenever I experience a setback I remember my uncles words: A setback is a set up for a comeback.

Question: Have you experience a setback, but you didn’t give up? What was the outcome/Lessons learned from your experience?