You ever got on the court and immediately thought:

Buckets

Fully persuaded that you are about to ball out with record breaking results.

That belief in your God-given abilities propels you forward. You believe in yourself like Kanye believes in Kanye! Convinced:

I can, YAY, too!

You square up, lock in on the net, release ->

Straight Air

You brush it off to being a little dusty – needing to warm up. You continue to throw the ball up and nothing.

In life, it’s exhausting shooting your shot repeatedly and recovering from every single:

Flop

The downtime of reviewing our strategy and healing our wounds – strengthens us for the next shot. It humbles us and nudges us to try new things…pivot a bit. For me, not hearing the net sing draws me to the feet of King Jesus. Making it clear that I require:

According to Nehemiahproject.com:

“Godfidence is a complete reliance and trust in God’s ability to achieve the mission and goals that are set before you. It is a sole dependence on God’s power and strength. It is an assurance that God is able in spite of your inability. It is an overwhelming assurance that you can because God can. Simply put, it is confidence in God and God alone.”

This isn’t an invitation to be passive. It’s a call to partner with God as we leap with resilience.

We have to know that the flops are part of the process. You have to work. You may step onto the court thinking you’ve got the skills, but haven’t done the work to sharpen them. We come out the womb skilled, nevertheless, education and practice is required to draw our gifts, talents, and character to maturity.

Perhaps these perceived misses aren’t flops, but required experience that equips us for the next attempt.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28

Each time we go for something or put ourselves out there we are sharpening our skills and resilience. We get to connect with amazing people along the way while learning more about ourselves and expanding our knowledge.

The time in the gym, whether alone with God or with others is more important than the bucket. Hitting the mark is momentary, but the process is ongoing. The valley and the climb is where we spend most of our time. Let’s befriend the growth journey.

In this photo, you can tell from this angle that clearly I was gonna miss the shot! I’ve missed a lot since then. Nevertheless, the grit and determination to square back up and leap again – remains.

Many sit on the sidelines, never going all in on what they want. Don’t let that be you. I’d rather be active on the court than benched pulling splinters out my butt. You will miss the mark over and over, but:

Rejoice for getting your reps in.

Your repeated efforts may feel like defeat in the moment, but remember you are playing the long game which is mostly mental.

To show up again and again, you have to have the mental fortitude to keep going. What helps me is doing my daily 10k steps and talking to God about my actions, results, and need for his power in my life. I will speak life over myself and circumstances – largely drawing from God’s Word. I will also chillax by doing something creative or sleeping. Having tools to navigate the journey with grit and grace is a must.

As you recover from the shots you’ve taken commit to remaining Godfident no matter what.

How do you keep aiming high in the midst of misses?

Leap again,