As you prepare for bed tonight, do you feel like a total failure? Has some aspect of your work or personal life fallen apart? If so, let me encourage you with something I learned from an international business consultant. He said that many of the most successful businesses in the world were born out of failure! I have seen this phenomenon occur in countless personal relationships as well. Just when the couple is ready for divorce, for example, God creates a miracle out of the ruins. Almost any failure, personal or in business, can present a rich opportunity.

Jesus knew this principle, too. In fact, His first public miracle happened because of someone's embarrassing failure. The father of the bride had run out of wine at his own daughter's wedding! But this potential disaster was Jesus' opportunity. Taking the simplest materials at hand (six stone pots of water), Jesus changed the water into wine. Then "...the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine...Then he called the bridegroom aside and said, 'Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine...but you have saved the best till now'" (John 2:9-10, NIV).

If you're defeated tonight, ask the Lord to show you the rich opportunities hidden in your failure. Then let Him work in you to use whatever is at hand to create a miracle in your life.

Heavenly Father, change my attitude tonight. Let me no longer look on my mistakes or failures with a sense of defeat, but instead, let me see each setback as a seed of opportunity...each disappointment as a potential for new growth. Thank you that through You I can start over tomorrow. In Jesus' Name, Amen.