Fear of Failure

I was reading my book again this morning (the insecurity one) when I got to a chapter about men and their insecurities. The number one insecurity among men?

Fear of failure.

That makes me sad. As I read through the testimonials from men all over the country, I just wanted to give them all big hugs.

And that got me to thinking. Yep. I'm afraid of failure as well, but I've gotten pretty good at it.

I failed at being able to keep a husband for longer than a year and a half.
I've failed at keeping a job for more than 3 years.
I failed at going back to school.
I've failed at being "dateable".
I fail at keeping my house clean.

Who determines failure? Are we REALLY failures? Or do we just fail in comparison to others?

If we hold ourselves up to others, of COURSE we're going to feel like we've failed. Those things what God has for THEM, not necessarily what he has in store for US.

Sometimes... scratch that... a LOT of the time I find myself feeling like a failure just for living in this town. I'm 26, divorced, no children, no "serious" job, no boyfriend, no real direction in life. And Satan likes to grab a huge stick and poke at me and push me down for that.

Those things don't make me less of a person. I'm not a failure. My circumstances do not define me. As long as I'm following God and looking for His will in my life, that's all He really asks of me. That's all He cares about. He doesn't care how I measure up to others.