Many years ago, I walked away from a divinely inspired project that I was unable to complete, due to the indecision of a majority. I vowed that I would never again allow myself to be in a similar situation — and I never have. I wore the emotional pain of that loss for years, until the Lord gave me a new project that was so much better that the pain of the loss was replaced by the joy of the gain.
I came to see that the loss of the first was part of my growth as a leader. In the years that followed, I fought off attempts by others who actively sought to wrest the new project from my hands. The lesson of the past helped me to hold on until, by God’s grace, I won out.
So, if you have had to walk away from a project that held much promise, do not allow the experience to embitter you. Who knows? It might well prove to be the making of you. The old may likely not be recaptured, but the new will be so much better that you’ll have no regrets.
What makes our Lord Jesus “a merciful and faithful high priest” is that he himself was tempted and suffered, and so is able to help those who go through the same. (Hebrews 2:17-18) Jesus has been there, and in a worse way than we ever will.
Like me, you will live on to learn many lessons from life, not least of them the willingness to walk away from what you cannot win and gain what you will never lose.