REBUILDING YOUR LIFE

REBUILDING YOUR LIFE.

In her speech at the Harvard Commencement, the novelist J.K. Rowling said “Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” This is a great perspective to have when you are down. What is more interesting is the fact that she titled her speech ‘Benefits of Failure.’ Normally, you would not think failure has benefits; this is because people have a sense of finality towards failure. But the more I listened, the more I realised that she was actually talking about rebuilding your life from failure. What does rebuilding from failure mean and what does it take to rebuild your life?

Rebuilding is a process of restoration; it is to have the inner courage to rise above the pain of losing and be willing to embrace new possibilities. In essence, when you rebuild, you reinterpret the story of your life to allow new meaning to emerge.

Rebuilding is not easy because you need to face what happened and allow restoration to place. Yes, it is not easy but it is the best thing you can do, especially when you feel that you have hit rock bottom.

The need to rebuild might have been brought on by different situations including: a broken relationship, public humiliation, compromised health, divorce, traumatic loss, or financial bankruptcy. Whatever happened to you, you should know that no tragedy has the last word on your life unless you give up. Never make an event in your life the story of your life; one chapter does not make the whole book. Moreover, you are not the things that happened to you, things happen to us, but we do not become those things. We pass through the storm, but we do not let the storm exist in us even after the storm has long passed. “When the storm has swept by, the wicked are gone, but the righteous stand from forever.” Proverbs 10:25.

You need to overcome the fear of failure and of being hurt again. Silence the internal voices that intimidate you. Rise above negative criticism. When we seek meaning in tragedy, the kinds of questions we ask ourselves are particularly important. Most people ask questions like “What have I done wrong?”, “Why me?” and “Where is God?” These questions may be genuine, but they will not help you rise above your challenges. Instead, we should ask ourselves questions that lead to deeper meaning and not just blame. Questions such as “What went wrong?”, “I know God is with me but what is His way and will for me” and “What support system do I have at this time?”. These types of questions will allow you to reinterpret the story of your life and thus open for a new meaning to emerge.

Usually, when tragedy strikes, some people stay defeated and never gather the courage to rise and rebuild. They sit in blame, shame, and self-pity. They do nothing about what has gone wrong. But Nehemiah had a different spirit, he had it in himself not only to rebuild but to inspire the whole nation to join the work of rebuilding the walls. We read this in Nehemiah 2:17-18.

“Come, let’s rebuild Jerusalem’s wall, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.” I told them how the gracious hand of my God had been on me. They said, “Let’s start rebuilding,” and they were encouraged to do this good work.”

Whatever it is that you need to rebuild in your life, I pray that like Nehemiah did, you recognise the grace of God that is upon you and start rebuilding your life. It won’t be easy, but with prayer, determination and persistence you will start and finish the work.

The key advantage of rebuilding is the fact that you have a fresh start; you have been given the grace to rise again! you can certainly do it again, and this time do it at a greater scale. “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house.” Haggai 2:9. God is with you, stand firm in His Word which declares, “I am the Lord your God, who holds your right hand, who says to you. Do not fear, I will help you.” Isaiah 41:12.

When we rebuild, we restore, we bring new life to the very thing that was dead or lost. The best part is the fact that God is active in your process of restoration:

“God, your God, will restore everything you lost; He’ll have compassion on you; He’ll come back and pick up the pieces from where you were scattered. No matter how far away you end up, God, your God, will get you out of there and bring you back to the land your ancestors once possessed. It will be yours again.” Deuteronomy 30:3-5 (MSG).

My prayer for you is that a new meaning, full of purpose may emerge from your story and that you may have the courage to rebuild your life. May God restore you and make you whole again. May you have the courage to rebuild your life, business, career, gift and relationship. Make peace with the past and embrace the future – God is doing a new thing in your life: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!” Isaiah 43:18-19.